Her Magazine is New Zealand’s only women’s business lifestyle magazine! Her Magazine highlights the achievements of successful and rising New Zealand businesswomen. Her Magazine encourages a healthy work/life balance.
Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/86221
:common thread Charlotte Knight NEW ZEALANDER LIVING IN ENGLAND FOOD DRIVEN ENTREPRENEUR WHEN CHARLOTTE KNIGHT DECIDED to give a southern hemisphere lilt to the rather staid and traditional dips market, she did it with a belief that food is more than fuel – it engages the senses, inspires the imagination and nourishes the soul. Consequently, when she created the harmonious collision of tastes that define G'NOSH, Charlotte fashioned a rare culinary experience; one that combines easy-going sociable food ('nosh') with a love of gourmet. WHAT HAS BEEN THE HIGHLIGHT OF YOUR CAREER TO DATE? My biggest and bravest highlight was when I stepped out of my corporate career to follow my dream and marry my two passions – food and business – and turned an idea into a now growing food brand on some of UK's leading retail establishments: Selfridges, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Wholefoods. Four months on from the first launch, I secured my first national listing in the biggest online supermarket in UK. This helped the brand to start get notice nationally. Winning the Great Taste Award this month was a highlight – acknowledged as the 'Oscars' in the specialty food world in UK. Ultimately hearing customer feedback; adrenalin is fired by seeing products I created on the shop shelves, and watching customers love them. WHAT IS YOUR FOOD PHILOSOPHY? Creating food with wholesome and honest ingredients that sing out and taste as fresh as if you made them at home. I believe that food is more than fuel. It engages the senses, inspires the imagination and nourishes the soul. I also feel food should always be exciting and an exploration of new flavor combinations, hence the more innovative combinations of our dips (for the UK market anyway). The Beetroot Risotto featured here was inspired by my love for the earthy vegetable. I grew up eating the stuff in New Zealand. It has only recently become on-trend here in the UK and to me it made sense to create a beetroot dip that was bold in flavor and colour. It happens to be one of our biggest sellers! I love to take inspiration from countries all over the world. I have been fortunate to travel greatly in my corporate career and I hunted out all the good foodie haunts on my travels, especially in the Middle East. I decided to give a southern hemisphere lilt to the rather staid dips category in the UK. I was dismayed with the poor customer choice in dips here, so I did something about it. The result was G'NOSH – a brand responsible for some of the hottest dips in the UK. With my food brand, G'NOSH, it is about combining easy-going sociable food ("nosh") with the love of gourmet (that's what the 'G' stands for) and revolutionising snacking with sharing gourmet dips. Sharing is at the heart of my brand. We all love to share great food. A sharing style of eating is something synonymous with eating in NZ 36 | www.hermagazine.co.nz and I wanted to rev that up a little here. I have created a brand that can be celebrated in a shared experience with friends and family. HOW HAS YOUR CULTURAL BACKGROUND AFFECTED THE FOOD YOU PRODUCE? I am a Kiwi but left in my mid 20's and have now been living in the UK for 13 years. While we have a fantastic variety of food in the UK, and it's definitely come some way from when I first landed here, the dips range was starving for some excitement. It consisted of humus and 1970's party packs! I always look to NZ for ideas and that is what inspired me to develop a range. I call on my heritage of living on fresh, honest food in NZ, all the time, to create product that is an adventure, exploding with taste as fresh as natural as if you made it at home. ARE YOU WORKING ON OR THINKING OF ANYTHING NEW AND INNOVATIVE FOR THE FUTURE? Yes. To curb the competition in a heavily dominated own-label market (i.e. supermarket brand) you need to keep innovating. We have a new range launching in the UK autumn that will hit the sweet spot of the busy "to-go" lunch time trade, which is very exciting. G'NOSH is a premium food brand, not a dip brand. We have plenty of ideas in the pipeline; just need the time and money to make them all happen! ARE THERE ANY NEW ZEALAND FOODIES THAT YOU FOLLOW WITH INTEREST? I have been working closely with Peter Gordon in the UK. My product featured on his menu over the Olympics at Kiwi House barbeque, which was fantastic and I am a regular diner at his London restaurant, Providores, which is always counted on for great cuisine and a touch of "home". I love adding cookbooks from NZ to my collection and two of my latest faves are Al Brown's "Stoked" and "Pipi" by Alexandra Tylee of Havelock, which I adore. Simplicity, with uncomplicated excellence. I hear Michael Meredith is pretty hot but I am yet to taste some of his fine culinary repertoire. IF THERE WAS ONE THING YOU COULD TRY, AND KNEW FOR CERTAIN YOU WOULD NOT FAIL, WHAT WOULD IT BE? I wish I could play the acoustic guitar like Ed Sheeran, but even better, play guitar WITH Ed at the Albert Hall. I have learnt that fear often holds us back from living out our dreams. But from my recent experience, it's most definitely worth letting your dreams be bigger than your fears!