Like most great inventions, Nourish’d was born out of a desire to make things easier. In 2014, Abbey simply couldn’t face the prospect of losing yet another Sunday to weekly food prep, and began looking for a healthy food delivery service to do it for them.

Alas, Abbey failed in her quest to find a food delivery service that didn’t supply meals full of processed carbohydrates, added sugar, preservatives and ingredients she’d never heard of; let alone a service that could cater to food intolerances. Sensing a gap in the market, she decided to fill it herself.

It was then that the brand was born. Abbey and her team began creating meals with no fillers or preservatives, and catering for a range of dietary requirements, eventually offering a rotating menu of over 60 dishes.

Eight years later, with more than a million meals delivered to over six and a half thousand suburbs across Australia from their base in Brisbane, it’s clear Abbey wasn’t the only one looking for a healthy and convenient alternative.

Framing the right narrative

As successful as Nourish’d has become, the brand wasn’t an overnight success. Abbey says it took a total rebranding for the company to truly find its feet.

“We actually started as Caveman Kitchen, a paleo food company, which was born out of seeing commercial opportunity and a gap in the market where we could fit,” Abbey says. “But it really became something when we realised Caveman Kitchen wasn’t our brand, Nourish’d was.

“Nourish’d brings freedom in health and freedom in food. It’s not about restrictions, it’s about living your best life. We rebranded and settled on our vision to have a real and positive impact on the health of humans.

“That’s when Nourish’d really became something.”

Commercial success is critical… but passion is everything

Abbey knows first-hand the difficulties faced by those looking to start a business, and says it takes real passion to push through them.

“Starting a business is challenging,” she says. “I think that’s true regardless of what industry you’re doing it in, how old you are or how much experience you have. The thing that will keep you going everyday is not necessarily commercial success, but having a vision, having values, and having an underlying driving force that isn’t just, `I can get rich with this’.”

For Abbey, Nourish’d has provided her life with purpose – something she had been searching for without necessarily realising it.

“I was not this person that just woke up knowing exactly what I wanted to do,” she says. “It came out of nowhere. I’ve found my purpose now, but that purpose isn’t being the biggest company, the fastest growing, or feeding the most people. It’s actually changing lives – not just for our customers, but for me and for our team.

“You have to have a reason to show up to work every day that is not just commercial success. If you want longevity, you have to have some sort of purpose.”

But as important as it is to be passionate about what you do, Abbey says it’s also important to have the substance to back it up.

“You have to be financially literate,” Abbey says. “It is so important to know your numbers. I know it seems boring, but they tell a story and that story is going to set you up for success.”

Leading from the front

Over the course of building Nourish’d into the nationwide brand it is today, Abbey has learned how to be a leader – and she’s had to learn those lessons in real-time.

“There are no guiding posts,” she says. “There are not many companies [like this] that have come before us… we are kind of creating something new into existence, which is fun, but it’s really hard at the same time.

“Staff and culture are really important. People want different things out of a workplace these days… people come here and they trust me to lead them to a certain place. I really want to make sure that by the time they leave Nourish’d and go onto their next thing, that they’ve got the skills they wanted, that they’ve developed the emotional capabilities they wanted, and they’ve grown into who they want to be.”

Ultimately, however, Abbey says you have to remember to look after yourself, too.

“Take care of yourself, because if you fall, everything falls,” she says. “You have to take care of yourself first, so you can take care of everybody else.

“The Brisbane Business Hub is a phenomenal resource for local businesses, and truly sets up pathways for business success.”