Name
Charlie Fermor
Age
38
Job title
Co-founder
Company and location
Freddie’s Farm, Kent
Education
BSc Agriculture and Food Marketing, University of Reading
Favourite food/drink
Anything fresh and in season – at the moment I can’t get enough of spring cabbage charred on the barbeque and wild garlic anything. I love eating with the seasons!
What inspired you to enter F&B?
I grew up on a farm, so food has always been part of my life. But it wasn’t until we started a family that I really saw the gap for proper, healthy snacks made from British ingredients — the kind of thing you’d be happy to give your own kids. That’s what led to Freddie’s Farm.
Tell us about your role
As co-founder, I wear a lot of hats — from sourcing and production to new product development and making sure everything we do stays true to our values. No two days are ever the same, which is half the fun.
What does a typical day look like?
My day usually starts early — we live and work on the farm. Luckily, my commute is just 300 metres. I’m up around 6am to walk and feed our two dogs, Twiglet and Biscuit. Then it’s straight into the factory to get the team up and running, before heading back home to help get the kids ready for school.
By 8am I’m back in the factory. No two days are the same — I might be supervising fruit and veg prep (sorting, washing, grating), managing the dehydrator, or cold-pressing our Fruit Shapes and Berry Bars. We handle all our manufacturing on-site, which means we can maintain full traceability and quality control from plant to packet. We’re BRC certified and committed to reducing our environmental impact wherever we can. One of the things I’m proudest of is our fully kerbside recyclable paper packaging — this kind of innovation is still too rare in the kids’ snack category.
There’s always plenty of logistics to juggle — pallets going out to Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Amazon, and now the UAE. It’s exciting to see the brand growing.
Around 6pm I try to fit in a run and settle in for bedtime stories with the kids — and finally, a well-earned seat.
How did you get to where you are today?
Farming is in my blood but venturing into food manufacturing was a whole new frontier. The motivation was simple: I wanted to add value to what we grow on the family farm and reduce waste by using produce that might otherwise go unused.
While studying agriculture and food marketing at the University of Reading, I came up with my first brand: Perry Court Farm Apple Crisps. It started with a table-top dehydrator in my Uni accommodation — much to the delight of my housemates! We won a prize for the project, and I decided to turn it into a business.
I headed to the US and brought back the UK’s first commercial-scale dehydrator. Using out-graded fruit from the farm, I began manufacturing apple crisps. For several years, I ran a white label manufacturing business, helping food start-ups bring their kitchen table ideas to life.
But the mission really came into focus when we had our children — Freddie and his little sister Ottie. We realised how few truly healthy, honest snacks existed for kids. That’s what inspired Freddie’s Farm: to create something better for our own family, and for others.
When you’re having a bad day, what cheers you up?
Exercise is my go-to — a walk through the orchards with the dogs can totally reset my mood, and a long run through the Kent countryside always puts things into perspective. Running your own business can be incredibly all-consuming — getting outside is often the only way to fully switch off.
That said, nothing beats the buzz of spotting someone out in the wild enjoying one of our snacks. Those moments never get old — they remind me exactly why we started all this.
What’s your favourite part about the food sector?
There’s something incredibly rewarding about creating something tangible — real food made from real ingredients — and then seeing it on shelves and in lunchboxes. I love the constant innovation, and a real sense of purpose when you know you’re feeding people, especially kids.
If you could change one thing about the F&B sector what would it be?
I’d like to see more transparency, especially in children’s snacks. Parents have the right to know exactly what’s in their food, where it comes from, and how it’s made. Right now, there’s still too much smoke and mirrors.
Big Food companies often reformulate products just to ensure HFSS compliance, but these changes often rely on artificial ingredients. This can significantly devalue the nutritional benefits of the product. I’d like to see more focus on quality of ingredients and how they’re processed — those factors can really affect how the body reacts to the food.
What’s next for you/what’s the dream?
Our dream is for Freddie’s Farm to become the go-to household brand for healthy kids’ food — not just snacks, but a full expanded range of products that families can trust and feel good about. We want to stay true to our non-UPF values, using real ingredients that are as close to nature as possible. We’re committed to supporting British farming and keeping our supply chain transparent so that parents know exactly where their food comes from and how it’s made.
