MeasuresStoriesVideosAbout RoBook a chat
About Ro

I learnt margin the hard way, running my own food business

For nine years I built Muddy Boots, from one market stall into Waitrose, five London shops and our own factory. Sales kept going up, but the margin didn't.

So I built Measures, my own margin process, from what the factory taught me, and my own software to support it. Now I bring it to manufacturers and food businesses.

Based in Telford & Geneva. On site in the UK for every project, with the site weeks agreed at the start.

Ro in a navy MARGIN t-shirt against a concrete wall
From a market stall to margin

Every lesson cost me money first

  1. 2008
    Ro and Miranda at their first Muddy Boots market stall

    The start

    One stall at Hereford farmers' market. On every sale, we knew the margin.

  2. 2010–12
    Muddy Boots burgers on a Waitrose shelf

    Scaling up

    Waitrose, then 170 stores. Burgers by the thousand.

  3. Every store
    Ro in hi-vis on a night delivery

    Delivering it ourselves

    Pallets to the depot at night. Sales up, margin squeezed.

  4. 2014
    A Muddy Boots shop front

    Our own shops

    Full price, and the margin came back.

  5. 2015
    The Muddy Boots factory being built

    Our own factory

    A cutting room, a team of 50, and every cost on the table.

  6. Now
    Ro at a taping machine

    For other businesses

    Timing jobs and weighing yields, clipboard in hand.

What nine years taught me

Three hard lessons, and each one is now part of how I work.

The factory came too early

It needed five shops to break even. Some decisions cost you three years later.

Not enough customers

When one customer is 60% of your sales, they own you.

Not enough margin on each sale

A cup of coffee makes roughly 90% margin at production. A sirloin, nearer 30%. Know your margin before you start.

Then a three-site bakery, 2018 to 2020, where I built the first version of Measures. The Margin Department followed in 2019.

Fancy a chat about your margin?

Half an hour on a call. Tell me about your business, test me as hard as you like, and I'll tell you where I'd look first.

Book a chat