Nick’s story (as told by Dave)
The story behind how Nick’s BB adventure began
Back in the old days, we used to cook food on Thursdays and Fridays, and preparation for cook days was a job in itself. On Wednesdays I would say goodbye to Kev as I set out on a weekly epic quest to find all of the ingredients needed to cook our food. As we grew each week, the hardest thing to find was the ever increasing quantities of mix of vegetables required.
I would drive from our office in Earlsfield all the way up to our kitchen in Acton, stopping at every supermarket along the way, trying desperately to find the quantity of vegetables required. The last place I would visit would always be Sainsbury’s in Hendon, because they usually had a big batch of veg to finish the run.
At that time, BB was a very new start-up and we were growing rapidly. That meant that each week we needed more ingredients than the last and we really should have been switching to larger scale suppliers. Looking back now, we were massively in the weeds, and couldn’t see how silly the whole process was.
One week, after a particularly unsuccessful quest, I approached Hendon needing 120kg of vegetables and feeling a bit panicked. None of the staff were being particularly helpful, and the response I received was, ‘if it’s not out on the shelves we don’t have it’. Failure wasn’t an option, so I looked for a friendly face to see if there was anything that could be done.
There was a younger chap working on the frozen section and he had a friendly(ish) face, so I approached him and explained my problem. ‘Hold on, I’ll check out back for you’, was the polite and friendly reply, accompanied with a smile. About five minutes later, he emerged with a trolley full of vegetables: 120kg to be exact. I couldn’t believe my luck. I thanked him profusely and made my way to the checkout: my day saved. This was my first interaction with Nicolas Tan.
The next week, we needed 130kg of veg. I turned up at Sainsbury’s Hendon, mildly stressed about the shortfall, but Nick was there, ready for action. I found him again at the freezer section, explained the situation, and he dashed out back to get the goods. In a few minutes he was back: 2 out of 2 for Nick Tan.
The week after, I arrived at Sainsbury’s at roughly the same time, but this time around instead of me searching for veg, Nick was there waiting with 140kg ready to go. At this point I knew he was our guy.
I asked Nick what his vision was, and where he was going in terms of his career plans. He explained that he had an interview with British Gas that week and that he wanted to pursue a career as a plumber. I wished him all the best with the interview and gave him my mobile number on the off chance he was unsuccessful. I was a bit gutted that we were going to miss out, but happy that Nick was on a path to personal development.
Over the next few weeks I didn’t see Nick, but a few weeks later (whilst I was on the lookout for 180kg of veg), he was back! I asked him how he got on with British Gas and he explained that he was unsuccessful but had been encouraged to reapply. I took this as my chance to explain to Nick who we are and what we do, and walked with him down to the pet food aisle. I walked through some of the realities about pet food, some of the ingredients used and also the issues that our own dogs had faced. I explained about BB, what the company stands for and why we are different. I essentially gave Nick a 30 minute lecture about dog food (that he didn’t ask for), and hoped that I could buy him into our dream. The next day, Nick turned up at our offices. Wearing a suit and holding a notebook, we opened the door to him and he immediately announced ‘I’ve quit my job, now I work for you’. We were absolutely delighted.
This week, Nick celebrates one year at Butternut Box. He has treated the company as his own from day one. Over the last year, no one has put in more hours, more effort or more grind. He has worked pretty much 7 days a week and is no stranger to sleeping on the office floor. He is the driving force behind our production process and has become a leader in the company. We have come a long way over the course of the last year and Nick is a huge part of that story. On a typical day, he will be managing up to 11 people. He cares deeply about the happiness of those around him and the quality of the finished product heading out to our customers. Nick now reports into Tony, our Head of Production, and is on clear path of personal and professional development. Nick was the first person to ever be granted employee stock options.
We were incredibly lucky to find each other and Butternut Box is blessed to have such a hard-working and humble young man as part of the team. Given Nick’s propensity to sleep through his alarm clock, he is lucky to have us too.
Three fun facts about Nick:
· He speaks fluent Filipino
· He was the 9th best sniper in Europe at the video game, Call of Duty
· He once woke up in Nottingham with no idea how he got there (so he says)
