Melissa Snover, Founder & CEO of Nourished and Scripted
Founder and CEO of Nourished and Scripted (operated under Remedy Group) Melissa Snover (aka Melissa Burton) is an entrepreneur, visionary, and a trendsetter in the world of food technology and 3D printing. She is passionate about developing innovations which offer solutions to her customers, challenge her competitors, and disrupt current market offerings.
She is currently the founder and CEO of Rem3dy Group, which pioneers personalised health solutions across nutrition and medicine under the brands Nourished and Script. Nourished is the world’s first truly customised nutrition product which uses patented 3D printing technology and a vegan encapsulation formula to combine seven different active ingredients into one personalised nutrition gummy stack.
Scripted is positioned to be the first 3D printed personalised medicine dispensary brought to the pharmaceutical market. Having conducted clinical trials in a hospital in Spain, Melissa and her team are optimising their solution which will allow for more accurate dosages and customised prescriptions for patients.
The foundations for Nourished and Scripted were set in motion by her first 3D printing food tech company, Katjes Fassin UK Ltd (aka Katjes Magic Candy Factory). Early in 2015, Ms Snover partnered with the successful German Katjes family corporation and immersed herself in the world of food technology and 3D printing. Katjes Magic Candy Factory is an innovative, pioneering concept which allows the consumer to 3D print delicious vegan gummy candy in anything from Sweet Selfies and logos to 3D messages and shapes in just 5 minutes.
Ms Snover has successfully launched her 3D printers into speciality retail outlets throughout Europe, the USA, the Middle East, China, New Zealand and Australia. Often her company is hired to 3D print customized candy at private parties and corporate events all over the world by prestigious clients such as KPMG, Facebook and Nickelodeon. Ms Snover is also frequently asked to give presentations on the benefits of 3D printing in the food industry at exhibitions and to share her entrepreneurial journey with aspiring business owners and students. It was whilst travelling internationally last year to one such speaking engagement that Ms Snover first came up with the idea for Nourished.
With a keen interest in nutrition and a consumer of supplements, she carried a container of personally selected vitamins, supplements and active ingredients with her when she traveled. On this occasion, she accidentally spilt them all over the floor at airport security. Crawling around in her suit and heels picking them up, she was inspired to develop her own 3D printing technology which could combine multiple active ingredients into one personalised product without compromising their efficacy. Nourished was launched exclusively in the UK in the summer of 2019, and it offers the customers the benefit of taking all their preferred vitamins and supplements in one good stack with less hassle, less waste and lower cost than buying and taking them all individually.
Still in her thirties, Ms. Snover has already won numerous awards and prizes for her business achievements, having been recognised as Innovator Award Winner 2019 at the Women in Tech Awards, Start Up Entrepreneur of the Year at the Nat-West GBEA in 2017 and Insider Magazine 100 Most influential Women 2014, to name a few. Nourished has also won multiple awards since launching late last year including Best Food Tech Innovation 2019 at the Food Matters Awards, Start-up Company of the Year 2019 at the Silicon Canal Awards and Supreme Champion at the Future Food Awards.
For her success at an early age, 23, studied Business Management and Political Science at the University of Colorado Boulder, USA and the renowned Lancaster University, Great Britain. She co-founded the financial services company Burton Mortgage Services, which she managed to guide to treble-figure growth in its first three years. In 2009, the target-oriented entrepreneur, who has American roots, sold her interest in Burton Mortgage Services and redirected her creativity and skills to the confectionery industry.
In 2010 she founded the company FTF Sweets Ltd, UK, creating the world’s first vegan, natural and allergen-free fruit gum with the brand name Goody Good Stuff. In 2013, as an owner and Managing Director of Goody Good Stuff, Ms Snover sold the company to Cloetta PLC. By the time she withdrew from the company in February 2015, Ms Snover and her team had developed a sales network with 30,000 sales points in more than 33 countries worldwide – all in less than 40 months; making Goodie Good Stuff one of the fastest-growing brands in Europe.
Ms Snover’s unique understanding of current trends and a strong interest in technology has created her vision of the future for the food and health and wellness industries, which includes integrating 3D printing with best food practices that can customize products for each consumer’s individual needs and desires. When Ms Snover isn’t working directly on her own businesses, she is often invited for speaking engagements and interviews around the world, most notably:
The United Nations
Fox 31 Denver Good Morning Show
Sat 1 – Fruhstruck
Good Morning Sacramento
Speaker for Entrepreneurs at TIPP Agreement Negotiations – Houses of Parliament
Her Majesty The Queen’s Royal Garden Party (Guest)
HSBC International Managers Conference
UK First Women Conference
Nectar Business Awards (Judge)
UKTI & International Chambers of Conference Speaker (various)
UK DIGITAL CONFERENCE
The Ian King Live Show, Sky News
Talking Business with Aaron Heslehurst, BBC World News
Free time for Ms Snover is a rare commodity these days, but she makes time each day for a run. When time allows, she also enjoys playing golf, reading and supporting her charities.
Who do you most admire in business?
I really respect my business partner Bastian Fassin, who has been a valued mentor and friend to me for the last five years since we launched our previous 3D printing food business together.
As the CEO of one of Europe's largest confectionery manufacturers, he has incredible resilience, passion and vision. He has hundreds of people in his team in Germany, and I am always stunned at how he knows each one individually because he has taken the time to get to know them all.
Investing in your employees and making them feel vital to the business is important no matter what the size of the company and the return on investment is obvious as many of his team have been there for 30-40 years!
What companies or brands do you like or do you think are getting it right?
As Nourished is a D to C subscription model, we have spent a lot of time researching and trailing similar brands. Companies like Graze have done an amazing job of optimising their packaging and streamlining their logistics fulfilment based on their customer's requirements.
Beauty Pie is disrupting the beauty industry by cutting out the retailer and creating a sense of community with their customers, and are really effective on social media. I also recently visited Gousto HQ and was super impressed by their business model and structure, and their meals are absolutely delicious!
What is the best advice you have ever received?
"If it was easy, everyone would do it!" This is very appropriate advice when launching a new product and every time we come up against a challenge. I have to remind myself that creating innovative technologies and disrupting your industry is difficult because no-one else has ever done it before.
At Nourished we have invented our own 3D printing technique and ingredient encapsulation formula, so there is no guide book we can refer to when we encounter a difficulty. It is the way in which you overcome those obstacles and find a solution which sets you apart from your competition, and hopefully, your experiences allow you to path the way and inspire other budding entrepreneurs and visionaries.
What drives or motivates you each day?
Throughout my career, I have been passionate about making products which make a positive impact on people's lives using innovative solutions. Hearing the incredible feedback from our customers is the biggest motivation for me, and really makes all of our hard work worthwhile.
What are your thoughts on the future of social media?
Social media can be a powerful tool for start-ups to market new products and communicate directly with their target demographic. I feel like social media channels are being stripped back to their roots of being a personal journey with the removal of 'likes' and some influencers losing a lot of their credibility.
I believe consumers now want to see brands on social media be a lot more personable and create a sense of community with their followers, which is a much more authentic use of social media platforms.
Do you have a mentor or do you mentor anyone?
I believe mentorship programmes are hugely important for aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners. Social media has given entrepreneurship certain glamourous limelight which can be very misleading when, in reality, you are working incredibly long hours and under a huge amount of pressure.
Mentors offer realistic guidance and expertise, which can be invaluable for new business owners. I have been a mentor several times in the past and feel a sense of comradeship and gratitude from working with entrepreneurs and helping to make their vision a reality.
How do you network?
I often get asked to speak at conferences and seminars focusing on food technology and nutrition and find these are excellent opportunities to network with like-minded peers in my industry.
I also attend networking events hosted by the Chamber of Commerce and local communities which can be very valuable to meet other businesses in the Birmingham area where we are based.
How did you get into this line of work and What advice would you have for someone looking to get into the same line of work?
I founded my first business, a financial company, at the age of 23. Unfortunately, I wasn't passionate about it and didn't feel like I was making a real positive impact, so I sold the business a few years later.
As a vegetarian, I found it very frustrating that I couldn't find candy without any galantine in, so I set about creating a vegan gummy range called Goody Good Stuff which was the first of its kind on the consumer market.
I would advise anyone looking to start their own business to make sure it is something they are truly passionate about and that they really see the value in it.
Nourished came from my own desire to make my nutrition regime more convenient and enjoyable, and I now love eating my personalised Nourished stacks each day. So I think it's really important to create a product which you, yourself are interested in and would purchase.
What do you wish you had known when you started out?
When I was younger, I used to get really worked up if something went wrong and I would lose a lot of sleep and really taunt myself over it. Now with a few years of experience behind me, I have more resilience in the face of challenges and have learnt to cope with setbacks better.
I wish I knew back then that everything would be OK in the end and that, somehow, I would make it work; but that is almost impossible to do without experience and hindsight!
What's the most common reason for people failing or giving up?
I believe one of the main reasons that such a high percentage of start-ups fail is because of their founder's lack of commitment and resilience. Running your own company is not about picking your own hours; it's about putting in all the hours it takes to make it a success and never giving up. Being an entrepreneur can be incredibly lonely, testing and stressful and is certainly not for someone seeking status or looking to make some quick cash!
Another factor I think is down to a lack of support, whether that be financially, externally or even from family and friends. I have always been extremely lucky to have an incredible support network around me including family, friends and business partners and I have always sought out and taken advantage of government and local programmes to help the growth of my businesses.
What are you most proud of in your life?
Probably the achievement which has made me the gratified is also the one I have found most challenging. My CTO Martyn Catchpole and I spent 18 months inventing the world's first FDA and EFSA compliant food 3D printing system for Nourished, which now has its own patent.
We faced many hurdles along the way, but the fact that we have now implemented 12 machines into our factory that they are making thousands of bespoke products every day makes me very proud.
How do you define success?
I don't think about success in a traditional way. Focusing on each, and every day and how you can make the most of your relationships, business, and how you can give something back throughout is what is most important to me.
What do you think your unique skill(s) is that has helped you become successful?
I am extremely stubborn, resourceful, and a good problem solver; all of which has allowed me to become self-reliant and tenacious. I have self-taught myself mechatronics, coding principles and ingredient technology by trawling through internet chat rooms and reading an extensive amount of literature.
This has allowed me to overcome challenges throughout my career and has given me a unique set of skills which I have been able to apply to my business models to create impactful solutions.
What valuable lessons have you learned so far that you could share with our audience?
I have learnt through managing and dealing with a wide variety of employees, suppliers and business associates that in general people naturally want to live up to a good reputation.
If you put your trust and enthusiasm into people, they very rarely disappoint. Also, I've learned it's impossible to win an argument and if you continue to fight, the other person will either think you are wrong or have their ego bruised so badly it will damage your relationship completely.
Is there anything new you are working on that you would like to share?
We are constantly optimising our current offerings and developing new and innovative technologies. We are currently working on a project for the pharmaceutical industry, but as it is pending its patent application, I am unable to talk about it.
Where's your favourite place?
Wherever my family and friends are!
What is your hobby?
Long-distance running, snowboarding and playing golfing (when I get the chance!)
Best holiday of choice?
Anywhere I can snorkel!
What are you not very good at?
I can't whistle or snap my fingers!
Which words do you overuse?
"Baloney pants!"
Your social media platform of choice?
When are you happiest?
When I'm creating something new
Your favourite writer or author?
Paulo Coelho
What living person do you most admire?
My mum and dad
A positive phrase you like to share with people.
"If it was easy, everyone would do it."