Adviser of the Month: Manon Galizzi

Congratulations to our Adviser of the Month for August, Manon Galizzi, founder of the food and beverage product development agency, EPICSI.

Like many food entrepreneurs, Manon discovered her passion as a child. She explains how she went from baking “cakes” in the kitchen to exploring the science behind food:

“Ever since I was a child, I have always been fascinated by food. I loved exploring new flavours and textures, much to the dismay of my parents who would often catch me in the kitchen trying to bake a cake, even though the results didn't quite look like one!

“Nutrition was my way of getting closer to my passion for food, but it wasn’t until I learnt about R&D in the food industry that I realised I could finally unleash my creativity and explore the science behind food.”

What got you interested in the science behind food?

It was a coincidence. Even as a kid, I was a foodie, mixing different flavours. I sometimes hid under the kitchen table, cooking and baking. My parents have always been very supportive, even trying my experiments. I didn't know what R&D was until much later, but I knew I wanted to do something with food.

I started as a nutritionist, but during my internship realised that something was missing and that it was not my calling. I was looking at Master's degrees when this career found me – research and development in the food industry and food science. It had all of the creativity I wanted!

The job description was to create biscuits or drinks, then eat them and repeat the process again and again. There is science behind it too but basically, this was the job description.

I did a Bachelor's and a Master's to get there. This is how I found R&D. There was quality and production but formulation was definitely my jam and I did another degree to specialise in it.

What brought about the decision to start your own business?

When studying in my line of work, you are trained not to be an entrepreneur but to work in the food industry, in the big corporate world. And that is what I did.

I worked in a flavour house, where I learnt about flavour science and the hundreds of ingredients you can find. It was so much more complex. I learnt about flavour profiles, the lexicon, all the languages, all the complexity.

I wanted to use my knowledge to see the big picture and how they made a product. So, I worked at Pladis, which makes McVitie's biscuits, Jacob's Cream Crackers and Twiglets. I was so proud to be working at such an iconic brand.

But the more I worked in the food industry, the more I saw its “dark” side. For big corporations, it was more about cost than innovation, creativity and science. It became more about development rather than research and development. To me, R&D is a package deal. It wasn’t about the customers anymore but about costs. I lost my calling again.

My calling was creativity, but I also wanted to help people. I was trying to think of a way to combine creativity, food science and helping people. That is how EPICSI was founded a year and a half ago.

How can EPICSI support small businesses? 

EPICSI is a food and beverage development and consultancy agency that specialises in flavour profiles.

Working with start-ups is important because they have this candour, this innocence. They don't know about all the complexity behind creating a product. They come to me with this dream and a spark in their eyes.

They want to create a product that is good for people and consumers and is full of flavour and pure. They want to survive and create something different from the big corporations and competitors. I love this energy, this enthusiasm and I know I can help them with all the hard bits.

The first thing is to understand the characteristics of the product they are after so I start with a workshop.

At the workshop, we try different market products that are in their category, or not. It can also be focused on flavours or texture. This is done to create a brief of the characteristics of the product and find benchmark products.

They can then take this data and work directly with a flavour supplier. If they decide to continue to work with me, we then use the mapped-out characteristics for product development.  

Watch this webinar for a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to setting up and running your business while staying compliant with food legislation:

What is the biggest misconception about food science? 

I always ask the question: ‘What type of flavours do you want for your product?’ The answer is usually chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and maybe lemon. Whatever the product, it's always the same.

The biggest challenge is how to educate them to understand the science of flavour, the flavour profile of their base and the main characteristic of their base to be able to design a product that completely fits their target consumers, as well as find a flavour that fits their product.

It's more about understanding the science behind the product you have and how to design a better product in the future.

Biggest lesson you have learnt since becoming self-employed 

A big lesson was looking after my mental health and wellbeing.

I thought being an entrepreneur meant working 200 hours a week, working weekends and not seeing your friends, family and your partner would just understand until everything was settled. You could come back to your life once your business was working.

I realised this was not sustainable. So, one of the first things was to have non-negotiables. For example, at 6.00 pm I shut off work and try not to have notifications on, so I decide when I look at my emails or my phone.

The weekends are non-negotiables as my friends and family are my support and I need them.

I advise people to have an SOS box of things that spark joy and can pull them out of that anxious or negative mood. It could be a song, a favourite tea or coffee or even a 10-minute walk outside.

Do you have any exciting plans for the future? 

At the moment I am trying to diversify my services. The consultancy is a big part of my business, but I want to try to get into mentoring and help people better.

Consultancy can be quite expensive as a project can take weeks and months, but a mentoring session or a course can be easier on a budget, especially for a start-up. I'm trying to understand the services that can help people with smaller budgets and shorter timescales.

Joining Enterprise Nation 

This was again a coincidence. Enterprise Nation found me. I follow a lot of food and beverage start-ups and someone on my feed mentioned the platform and StartUp Show in January last year.

I could not go in person but joined online and was amazed at how professional it was. I watch a lot of webinars and the sound was great, the panel and host were great. I thought it was a very professional platform and wanted to be part of it.

I became a member straight away in January this year. After that I learnt the perks of being an adviser; being able to post content and host webinars and so became an adviser in April this year.

How has Enterprise Nation helped your business?

I'm one of the biggest fans of the platform and showcase it at any networking event I go to. As a member, Enterprise Nation helped develop my business. As an adviser, it has everything on one platform; the networking events, connections and messages to the other members or advisers and the groups, where you can chat about specific topics. It is a personalised platform that follows your growth and journey.

As an adviser, it is very good to be able to be visible and Enterprise Nation obviously has a big network. Being able to host webinars and post content creates that authority, especially in my line of work which is very niche.

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