- The Startup Slice
- Posts
- 🚀 Your Weekly Slice of UK Consumer Startups #14
🚀 Your Weekly Slice of UK Consumer Startups #14
How Far Would You Go to Understand Your Customers? Tim, founder of SAUCERER Went to 300 Stores to Find Out.
The Startup Slice
August 03, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
Hey 👋
The Great Taste Awards are out, the Sidemen are launching RTD coffees into retail and Dragons’ Den is back. More episodes are scheduled for release later this year… BBC, why must you tease us? Look out for our post next week dissecting the latest episode! 🐉
Also, this week we chat with he who must not be named, the sauce lord himself, Tim Hillgarth, founder of SAUCERER. This week, he completed his 30-day challenge to visit 300 stores, which he’s calling the Marathon de Sauce.
📱 From the Feed
 All Things Butter Organic Salted takes home a 2nd star at the Great Taste Awards 2025. | 🏅 Great Taste Awards: we selected 10 brands that seriously impressed the judges and picked up a star, 2 or even 3 at this year’s awards. ☕️ The Sidemen launch coffee RTD into retail: From fried chicken and vodka to cereal and now SIDES iced coffee, is set to hit UK and European shelves soon. |
👀 ICYMI: Brand Moves Worth Watching
⛱️ Living Things Soda’s Resort: bringing a taste of luxury to everyday life, an activation that reimagines office and retail sampling as a micro-holiday escape. Bellhops delivering drinks desk-side, curated “al-desko” experiences, and a full refreshment itinerary. ☕️ Amala Chai serves India and UK Prime Ministers: A surprise visit to Chequers turned into serving chai to Modi and Starmer: “From one chaiwala to another”. 🚀 The Dreamers F&B Incubator: Lean Kitchen Network’s Founder launched an incubator to help early-stage founders avoid expensive mistakes, build sustainable businesses, and grow with the right tools, not burnout. |  It’s chai time with Amala Chai’s pop-up at Chequers. |
💡 Bitesize Playbook: Tim Hillgarth, Founder @ SAUCERER
Tim Hillgarth, Founder of SAUCERER at Fortum & Mason (Marathon de Sauce finish line)
Elevator Pitch: What is SAUCERER?
The Saucerer is pasta sauce for the next generation – conjured in our kitchen, devoured in yours. Inspired by my mum’s cooking and restaurant kitchens, not factories, we make bold, clean-label sauces that turn a basic bowl of pasta into something magic.
What inspired the Marathon de Sauce?
The name’s a nod to the Marathon des Sables – a desert race I did years ago. But this was a different kind of endurance: 300 store visits in 30 days, because I can’t afford a full-time sales team (yet). It was about reconnecting with stockists and reminding myself that nothing beats showing up in person, sauce in hand.
What’s the biggest takeaway from the challenge?
Use a bike with gears – London’s hillier than it looks. But seriously, being out there in person beats any marketing campaign. People want to know the story behind the jar, and I heard firsthand how customers are ditching ultra-processed foods and paying more attention to ingredients. It was a massive reset.
You’ve collaborated with some great restaurants. What makes these partnerships exciting for you?
We want to bridge the gap between restaurant quality and home convenience. The first was with Tom’s Pasta – a Hot Honey sauce inspired by his love of ‘nduja. From there came amazing projects with Northern Pasta, Eleanor Wilkinson on her Chimi Pesto, and most recently the amazing Grasso in Soho – and our first big jar format. Each one brings new ideas, new energy, and a chance to make sauces people actually get excited about.
What’s next for THE SAUCERER?
First, a breather. Then: more sauces, more collabs, more retailers. We’ve got a wildcard launch coming soon and plans to keep shaking up the pasta sauce aisle – one properly good jar at a time.
Thanks for reading this week’s edition! 🥳
📥 Been forwarded this? Sign up here to get the next edition.
📨 If this landed in spam, move us to your main tab.
🚀 The Startup Slice