Wylde’s Nick and Ella for Food Hero award

Wylde Market runs the UK’s online farmers’ market, connecting the UK’s best independent food

producers with consumers across England, Wales and Scotland

Wylde has just completed a successful crowdfunding campaign and has embarked on a

marketing drive including sponsoring Tom Parker Bowles’ and Henry Jeffrey’s podcast

Intoxicating History

24/4/25, Twickenham, London: Nick Jefferson and Ella Cooper, the founders of Wylde Market,

are “delighted, tickled, and quite pleasantly surprised” to have been shortlisted for the British

Library’s Food Season inaugural Food Hero award.

The British Library Food Season, now in its seventh year, is an influential and exciting

programme of debate and discussion hosted by the Library at its St Pancras headquarters. This

year’s season runs from April to June and will include food royalty Claudia Roden, Ken Hom,

Angela Hartnett, Prue Leith and many, many more.

This year, for the first time, the Library has created four awards to go alongside the

programmes. Its central award, the Food Hero Award, recognises people who’ve had “an

outstanding positive impact on the food we eat, food culture or our understanding of food.”

Nick and Ella are on the eight-nominee shortlist.

“We really are so pleased,” said Nick. “Yes, our goal is to put great food on people’s tables, but

really, we are trying to disrupt Britain’s dreary supermarket-dominated food distribution system

by creating a national farmers’ market that gives small producers a country-wide reach. We are

so touched that the British Library has recognised this.”

This is what the Library said in its award citation:

“What makes Wylde stand out … is how Wylde is challenging head-on the food system status

quo. Wylde is fearless in questioning the role of supermarkets and showing how a reliance on

them is damaging to the food system, health and the environment.”

Wylde was launched in September 2023 by entrepreneurs Nick, 48, and Ella, 29, with a mission

to revolutionise the UK’s food distribution system by making the country’s best regenerative,

organic and biodynamic produce available by direct delivery to consumers nationwide. And all in

one box.

The company works with scores of farmers, fishermen, foragers, hunters, artisan producers,

brewers, bakers, wine importers and many more. All the produce is of the highest quality. Wylde

lists food and drink on its online marketplace and delivers aggregated customer orders

anywhere in Great Britain, apart from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.

On March 9 Wylde completed a successful crowdfunder raising more than £300,000 and

smashing its £175,000 target. The company plans to use the money to fund an aggressive

customer acquisition campaign.“We’ve a very loyal customer base,” said Ella. “Once people try our producers’ food, they love it,

because it is such good quality, and they come back for more. So, our plan is to get our brand in

front of as many people as possible to encourage them to give us a go.

The business launched to the public in September 2023 and has demonstrated strong growth.

The number of producers on the market has more than tripled, from 20 at launch to more than

60 now. At launch, customers’ average order value was £55. It now stands at over £95.

Meanwhile Wylde Market has already done a great job of reaching customers. A year after

launch in September 2024, the business had 10,000 subscribers. That’s more than doubled to

25,000 today.

Ends

Notes to Editors

· Wylde is the UK’s online farmers’ market connecting customers directly to farmers,

fishermen and artisanal food producers. It offers products that are fresher, more

sustainable, and of higher quality than those found in the supermarket.

· The market is all online. Customers can shop from their phone, tablet or laptop and

everything arrives in one convenient box on Fridays with nationwide delivery.

· Producers can access new customers across the UK and, because they set the price of

the produce, they get a fair price for what they farm, catch or make.

· As the business holds no stock and, at its core, puts producers in touch with consumers

and arranges delivery, it is highly scalable. 80% of sales are generated from outside of

the M25.

· The UK online grocery market is worth £22 billion and is set to grow by 22% in the next

five years. The UK organic food market is now worth £3 billion.

· Wylde Market’s founders Ella Cooper and Nick Jefferson were named in Delicious

Magazine’s feature 15 food heroes making a change in 2025

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