Established in 2017 by friends Tom Walker and Gaz Booth following an argument over whether coriander belongs in guacamole, UK dips brand Holy Moly has seen impressive growth over the last eight years.
What was a stupid argument got us thinking: why do guacamole dips in the supermarket taste nothing like homemade dips?
Tom Walker, co-founder, Holy Moly
“We both made our own guacamole and didn’t buy the stuff in the shops because it’s often full of preservatives and dried ingredients, with dairy added - just things that you wouldn’t do at home,” Walker told Food Manufacture.
The duo recognised that the category was dominated by own label, with the opportunity for a challenger brand to come in and shake things up – but creating something “fundamentally better and different” would require them to “produce it in a totally different way”. And of course, they needed to ensure they could package up something that tasted homemade!
The answer was two-fold and inspired by trends seen across the pond.
The first part was high pressure processing (HPP) – a technology that has been trending in the US and can be used to lock in nutrients and add serious longevity to the shelf life – and, importantly, do it ‘naturally’.
The second was producing the product at source. And within a few weeks, Walker and Booth found themselves in rural Mexico on a fourth-generation family-owned avocado orchard which were using ‘wonky’ avocados to make guacamole.
A deal was struck, with the next part of the puzzle getting on shelves.
Whilst the duo managed to get in front of two major supermarkets relatively quickly, the friends found themselves at a crossroads as they were told there was “no role for brands” in a category led by own label.
Both retailers loved the product but were keen to produce it under a private label – but rather than cave in, the two stuck to their guns, firm in the belief that the category just needed the right kind of challenger brand to disrupt the market.
“We carried on pursuing it and we managed to get in front of Ocado and Waitrose. They were the ones that gave us a break. Since then, we’ve been growing and growing.”
This was still a ‘side hustle’ for Walker and Booth at this point, but after about 18-months of growth, when the brand managed to secure a major listing in Sainsbury’s, they agreed it was time to fully commit and quit the day jobs.
And it paid off.
“We’re now in around 16,000 distribution points across almost all grocery retailers. Our compound annual growth since launching has been 67% and we’ve gone from two products to 20 products.”
Walker still describes the business as a plucky start-up – but it now boasts a team of 15 in Milton Keynes; and operations across Mexico, South America, Portugal and the UK.
“We’ll be closing on around £16 million worth of retail value sales [for last financial year]. And this year we’re expecting £21 million of retail value sales.”
Avocados remain the bulk of the business, representing around 80%; and a big, new driver for the brand has been its smashed avocado – essentially avo pre-prepared for your toast.
“It means you don’t have to play the avocado lottery,” said Walker, referring to the often underripe avocados you find in store. “In the last three years we’ve had growth of 89% on the smashed avocado product.”
But the brand has also been innovating in other areas, with, for example, its range of cheesy dips and more recently its break into the meal kit category.
The Holy Moly Fully Loaded Nacho Kit (500g) launched into Sainsbury’s in April, with a roll-out coming in July in Asda stores too.
Priced at £5.99, the kit includes 2-3 servings of:
- Crunchy tortilla chips
- Holy Moly Original Guacamole 150g
- Holy Moly Red Pepper & Tomato Salsa 75g
- Holy Moly Nacho Chilli Cheese (to be served hot) 75g.
“It’s the first time that kind of a meal kit has been placed in that category.”
The brand has also launched a new ‘chip and dip’ snack pot – a product that took around four years to finalise and comprises a mini pot of guacamole complete with a ‘top hat’ of tortilla chips.
“That’s launched into Sainsbury’s meal deal section in over 900 stores, and will soon be in WHSmith travel stores, and on LNER Trains. It’s taken our best-selling products and put it into a new category, that’s a much, much bigger category, with the aim of getting in front of a whole new audience.”
Walker acknowledges that the dips market is still very much dominated by own label but noted that Holy Moly’s growth is significantly higher.
“Holy Moly’s compound annual growth has been 42% in the last three years. Own label dips have been growing at 3%, so you can see the difference. Other brands are delivering 20%. So we’re delivering more than twice the growth of other brands and massively more than own label.”
Part of this growth has been fuelled by rising interesting in natural, minimally processed foods.
“I think the way in which we produce and the utilisation of that [HPP] technology really plays into the trend we’ve seen more recently – of consumers being increasingly aware of what goes into their food, and a particular focus on ultra processed foods (UPFs).
“Consumers are more conscious of what they’re eating and what’s in their ingredient deck. All our products are natural and we’ve insisted, even though it’s made it really difficult, that we will maintain those original principles of being like homemade – only having kitchen cupboards ingredients.”
