Dr Rupy: On the podcast, we are opening up the critical conversation around childhood poverty and hunger that, quite frankly, I'm embarrassed to have to be talking about in 2021. But rather than complaining or pointing out a desperate situation, I really want to shine a light on some incredible initiatives. And on that note, I want you to ponder this. Can we use hunger to end hunger? This is the simple, revolutionary formula that my next guest and his colleagues founded over 10 years ago. Owen Burton co-founded One Feeds Two, a charitable organisation that partners with food brands and work to provide school meals to children living in poverty across the globe. And the process is painstakingly simple. They partner with relevant organisations, and that could be as different as small food brands or even a nationwide burger chain restaurant. They license their logo and the partner offers to give one school meal per meal that they sell. The partnership launches, every four weeks, the partner will send them a number of how many meals that they have offered to donate. They send them the invoice, and then the money goes to One Feeds Two, and they partner with free school meal initiatives across the globe who they fund. It is that simple. It is incredible that One Feeds Two partners have now donated over 10 million school meals, and in 2021 alone, they hope to donate over 6 million school meals. The meals are locally sourced, largely plant-based and typical of the local cuisine, whether that be as far-reaching as somewhere in Malawi. And they try and ask themselves the question, what the kids would be eating if they were eating at home. One Feeds Two partners with different sorts of food companies to help them make this happen, and they've recently partnered with other people in the UK and the USA as well. On the show today, we talk about Owen's travel and corporate background, the early foundations of One Feeds Two, why school meals are magical and the impact on poverty but also educational attainment. What we can learn from One Feeds Two as it relates to childhood poverty in the UK. And we also talk about Owen's current projects as an entrepreneur and his new drinks brand, Fount. I think you're going to love this episode. Hopefully, you find it inspiring, and if you are thinking about initiatives, then do go check out One Feeds Two. It's an incredible, simple formula that is having massive impact across the globe, and I think we can all learn from them. Owen, thank you so much for coming on the pod. I am super excited to get into the incredible business that you've created, the initiative, where it came from, but I just wanted to ask how you're doing at the moment.
Owen Burton: Yeah, we're good, thanks, Rupy. Thanks very much for having us to talk to you today.
Dr Rupy: Definitely. So, One Feeds Two, this is an incredible organisation that's been going on for a long time, but I feel right now we're at a moment where it's become even more of an issue that a lot of people are become aware of, and I think the pandemic has really put a spotlight on child hunger. I know your organisation is focused perhaps slightly further away from home, but I think the ethos of the company that you created is something that we could all learn a bit about. What I wanted to get into before we get into One Feeds Two actually, is a bit about you and what your foundational years were like and how that might have influenced your aspirations and bringing this initiative to fruition.
Owen Burton: Yeah, so I was actually, I was born in, I was born in Zimbabwe. And did most of my my preschooling in in South Africa. I've still got lots of lots of family in South Africa. High school and university, early career days were all in Australia. And I was, yeah, I guess very lucky in that I I had some opportunities to travel through Southeast Asia. I did that as a university student. I spent a spent a few summers in in Vietnam on an overseas study program, which was designed around work experience, aid work, and English teaching. And I mean, kind of, essentially a kid from country New South Wales in Australia being deposited in in Hanoi, just wonderful, colourful, flavourful experience. You know, that, you know, gives me goosebumps, you know, it's now amazingly 20 odd years on. And and so, yeah, I saw a lot of, saw a lot of the, I guess, the developing world in inverted commas through through some of those experiences. And and then I've been really lucky. I after university went into management consulting, and some of my project work took me to incredible places like India and Singapore, being based in Singapore and doing projects across Asia, and just kind of seeing this wonderful variety of different countries from from some really poor countries through to, you know, the most developed and, you know, all all the all the colour that comes with all of that. So, yeah, I guess, you know, that's that's kind of some of the background. I'm not sure, I don't I don't know that I've ever sort of explicitly joined the dots on on any of those particular life experiences and thought, well, that's why, that's why One Feeds Two should should exist and and is and is worth is worth the time and effort in kind of building it out. But, but it's got to be and I guess when you travel to all those places, the kids are such a visible part of of the landscape and you and you know, they're always, they're always opportunities to kind of interact and they're they're things that resonate and and kind of stick with you as well. So, definitely. I think I think that actually, you know, when when you then start talking about, well, there there are kids and there are kids that don't go to school and there are kids that go to school hungry, you kind of think, well, wow, if there's something you can do to to nudge things, uh, nudge things forward and and help out, it's kind of quite exciting and, uh, certainly something that kind of, yeah, grabbed me.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, definitely. I mean, to to go back to why I struggled to figure out your accent, I kind of understand now, given that you were born in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Australia. And most, a lot of people get the two mixed and conflated and usually I'm like, no, there's there's a huge difference in the South African accent, an Aussie accent, a New Zealand accent, you know, but but now I can still sort of see the twangs in all those different elements of your upbringing. And I I I I definitely get that about Hanoi in particular. I I I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Hanoi just after I qualified as a medic in 2008, 2009. It was incredible, incredible country. I think at that point it it had become a bit touristy. It was still, it's probably, I mean, obviously not right now, but in the last couple of years, it's definitely getting even more so. But perhaps when you were there, it was perhaps a little bit more genuine in terms of its its rawness and and the colours and everything else. And just while you were talking there, I just, I know we're in the middle of a pandemic, we're all in our own houses and we're talking about travel and stuff. And it just evokes so many good memories of travelling in between university years and stuff and and actually seeing those different experiences. I can imagine, particularly being in Southeast Asia where the kids are playing outside or working, helping their parents, a lot of the families are subsistence farming or in agriculture, which is quite low paid. Perhaps that may have planted the seeds in in why you you started One Feeds Two in the first place. But to to to go a little bit after your sort of your educational years, what what were your early careers like in in your early 20s?
Owen Burton: So I guess it was, it was sort of the consulting lifestyle of of quite a lot of travel, sort of quite intense work hours, endless amounts of of researching, um, researching whichever industry you happen to be, happen to be working on or or the nuances of a business within a particular market. Yeah, and it was, at that point in time, I was based in in Sydney in Australia, which is just an incredible place to, incredible place to be. Um, so life was quite good when it when it wasn't work as of, you know, lots of, lots of beach and, you know, great, great bars and restaurants and, um, you know, weekends away with with groups of friends to to various beaches or vineyards and and all that kind of thing.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, I I loved my time in Sydney. It was amazing. I I was there for for two years. And I was, I was based just outside Manly. And you can imagine with a bunch of medics, it was probably quite similar to your experience with your consultant friends and stuff. And you do weekends away to like Seal Rock and Hunter Valley and we went to Margaret River as well, a bunch of us. Uh, you always have like a group of friends to do stuff with because everyone's just excited and wants to explore.
Owen Burton: And, and actually through what what my experience was was working with, you know, the the the Brits who who had come for a year or two to to sort of live and and live abroad and and do some travel, you know, it didn't matter what it was, they were always up for it as well. And actually, kind of as an Aussie, you know, sometimes you can become a little bit complacent of all of all those great things that are on your doorstep and and you kind of, you kind of think that you'll kind of get to some of those good things eventually. But actually, yeah, it was one of one of the things I was very fortunate to have was was a was a great group, um, and many of whom sort of fit fitted that profile of, you know, we're here for two years, so, you know, if if we don't go and see X tomorrow night, we might not get to do it. So, you know, lock it in and and and yeah, sort of seize the day.
Dr Rupy: Definitely, definitely. And I think that, you know, attitude of learning and trying to enjoy a lot more of what's on your doorstep is, uh, sort of now something that I'm trying to practice during lockdown. I mean, yeah, we can only go to the park, but a lot of people don't actually have parks around them, um, to enjoy. And, you know, when lockdown restrictions ease a bit and perhaps we won't be able to travel internationally, there are so many places in the UK that I really want to go to. Um, and experience and I've been looking through all the different pictures and stuff. And so, you know, wherever you are in the world, wherever you're listening to this, there are some incredible spots of beauty that we should start appreciating a bit more. But I I wanted to get to, um, around those consultancy years and and I've got a couple of my of my friends who are consultants and and that really does resonate with me in terms of the lifestyle of long hours and learning something completely new of a new industry and presentations and and all the rest of it. When when do you remember the idea of One Feeds Two sort of popping into your head? What what what were the early sort of ceilings of that?
Owen Burton: So, um, I guess the, I guess the backstory to to One Feeds Two is that in in 2010, uh, I did a project in Johannesburg. Uh, and it was working for, uh, the not-for-profit, um, of the Virgin of the Virgin Group, uh, called Virgin Unite. And they had a and have a centre of entrepreneurship, um, based, based in Johannesburg at the time. Uh, and it was the basic premise for for the centre was, uh, you know, somewhere that could support young entrepreneurs, um, really micro-level businesses, um, help, help them get started, help, help them become sustainable with with a backdrop that was actually, it's quite unlikely that the economy can grow quickly enough to provide enough, um, sort of corporate style jobs for for the population. And so actually, um, you know, entrepreneurship would was a was a really important aspect of economic development and and kind of progressing the, um, quality of life and and delivering some of the improvements that that people are looking for. It was, I mean, it was an amazing eight or nine months. Um, like, just met incredible personalities, particularly amongst the entrepreneurs, but, um, we we were also very lucky that we had, um, sort of the benefit of the the Virgin network. And so we had lots of established international entrepreneurs who who'd come through, um, and and visit the centre. They'd want to spend time, um, you know, sounding out some of the young entrepreneurs, giving them ideas, um, some of them went on to to mentor. And, um, and actually one of, one of the people doing that was a guy called Mark Christophers, um, and he had set up and at that point in time recently sold the the West Cornwall Pasty Company. So he'd been in the food industry, he'd been very successful. Um, and he he put a lot of time and effort into the centre, spent a lot of time with us, uh, and that then extended out into, you know, we became good friends. Um, sort of again, work hard through the day and then and then kind of enjoy, enjoy Johannesburg in the evenings and on weekends. We we stayed in touch, you know, when we're both back in, back in the UK. Um, and the Virgin Group put Mark in touch with a young Scottish entrepreneur. Uh, he was a former corporate lawyer who had set up a gourmet soup business out of a van, um, and he was, he was selling these soups, um, just outside of Edinburgh University. And for each soup that he sold, he was doing a one-for-one concept called One Feeds Two, and he was, he was donating a school meal for each, for each soup that he was selling. And, um, that was kind of the start. It was kind of the three of us kind of got put together and it was, well, this is a really interesting idea. The and I guess the idea in itself is that, you know, it's, it's really simple. It's, it's that one-for-one concept of, you know, buy one, give one, um, or sell one, give one in the case of, in the case of our partners. And, um, and then at the core of it is that that one is, it's a school meal. And and the school meals kind of, I'm sure we'll talk more about it, but it's just this incredible, it's an incredible thing to facilitate educational outcomes. Um, it's so much more than just the meal, but even just the meal is is such an important, such an important thing on on its own. Um, and so yeah, between the, between the three of us, we, we realised that, um, JP Campbell, who was, who was the, who was the, the Scottish, um, guy with the soup van, um, so JP, Mark and I, we really worked on this idea of, okay, well, how can we take that One Feeds Two concept and how do we, how do we make it accessible to to the whole food industry? Um, you know, uh, child hunger is a bigger issue than any one company can can solve. Um, and so, you know, it it makes sense that we kind of democratise it a little bit and and package it up in a way that it's readily accessible to to all sorts of different companies who who operate in in food. And really, so that that was kind of the, that was sort of the background to it and that's sort of where it all kind of came from.
Dr Rupy: That's amazing. So over the last 10 years since the concept was founded, it's it's pretty much stayed the same. Am I, am I right? The foundational principles of One Feeds Two or one sell, feed, sell one, feed one.
Owen Burton: Yeah, exactly. I mean, and I think, and and I think what's, what's amazing is that, um, yeah, so much of the beauty of it is is in the simplicity. Um, and and and you're right, actually, there's, there's always the temptation to, you know, try new things and but but actually, a lot of, a lot of what we've done over the years is kind of exercise the discipline of actually, really, what is this at the core? Um, and and actually, how do we, how do we stick to that and and just make sure that, you know, that that really simple concept, which is really our nugget, um, that's preserved and not compromised in any way. Um, and, um, yeah, and so, you know, when we, when we bring on new partners, it's, it's all, it's about, okay, how can we, how can we grow this movement, but also how do we make sure that the growth doesn't compromise what's already there? And over the years, we've made lots of choices that that probably have meant slightly slower growth, um, but it's been well, the general view has always been, well, actually, let's, let's build something that can last and and if we're going to feed some children, you know, a particular school today, let's, let's make sure we can be there tomorrow to be feeding them again tomorrow because just doing it once, um, that that's, that that's not going to do anything. It's, it's that school meal being, being reliably there day after day, um, that that that is the thing that that will actually drive the outcomes that we're looking for.
Dr Rupy: This is super interesting for me because I suppose from a selfish point of view, um, I I started colouring medicine, a nonprofit a couple of years ago, which is an educational process by which we get dietitians, professional chefs and doctors to educate, um, medical students and how to cook as well as the foundations of nutrition. We're also applying that to, um, medical, uh, professionals and graduates. And then we're also looking at upskilling, uh, in in catering arenas as well. So chefs have the sort of foundational tools to create nutritious meals. But I guess going back to the listener, I imagine there are some people who have these like incredible ideas that are businesses for good or they have initiatives or charity ideas that they they want to start. And the one thing that really sticks out for me is the simplicity of the message that that such that you can, you can go to, uh, businesses and say that this is the concept and this is what we're doing. But I guess getting down to the nitty-gritty, how you, JP and Mark were able to start this as a side hustle until it kind of goes into something that you do full-time. What what were those sort of building blocks like?
Owen Burton: I guess what one, one key part of One Feeds Two is is that, so it's a, it's a charity rather than a business. Um, and it continues to be the side hustle for all of us. Um, and not really side hustle because it's, it's the, it's the side passion project, really. Um, and again, um, you know, so so each of us have our, have our day jobs. Um, and and the day jobs pay the bill and I and and uh, and then and then this is and this is what we do, do in and around that. Um, and we've, we've, you know, even as we've grown, I guess, potentially we could, we could look at ways of changing that, but but actually at the end of the day, we want, it comes back to the simplicity. You know, it's quite a simple concept to explain to prospective partners. It's quite simple and easy for for our partners to launch it and then and then to operate it on an ongoing basis. Um, we don't have any ambitions of of having a a team of, you know, one feeds two employees, um, because actually, we we we love the fact that this is, this is lean and light. Um, you know, it's very, very low cost to administer. Um, and, you know, we genuinely want the the funds that come in to end up in the hands of of the people who are spending money on on the school meals. Um, so, um, at various points in time, we've definitely, um, pretty much worked full-time on it. And to be honest, we've kind of done that in points of in time where we've been focused on actually, how, let's, let's sort of invest the time in making it lean and light so that it doesn't require all of our time at other points. Um, and and then I guess it's probably, it's also, um, you know, it can't go without saying that we are have been incredibly lucky with, um, the number of people who sort of come out of the woodwork and offered to help us pro bono. Um, and so, you know, we've, we've benefited from on that front from, you know, a branding and marketing agency, um, lawyers, um, we've had, we've had PR support, um, etc, etc. And, um, in many ways, you know, the, you know, technically the the team is is the three of us. In reality, all those people are every bit, every much as a part of the team as as any of us are. Um, and they've kind of alleviated the need for us to build a team out because, because, you know, touch wood, um, you know, they'll continue in that vein, but, you know, again, the concept, the concept gets them and and they're and they're they like being a part of it. Um, and, uh, I I love that side of it.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, I I I just love the simplicity of it. And I and I know your operations have been responsible for, I think is it over eight, eight million school meals donated?
Owen Burton: Uh, we're just about to announce 10. So, yeah, we've, yeah.
Dr Rupy: Oh, wow. Okay. Don't worry, it's one of those numbers that, you know, our presentations are always, almost by definition, they're always out of date because the second we update them, you know, another school week passes and and the number goes up again. So, um,
Dr Rupy: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's literally like thousands every day. Um, it's absolutely incredible. I mean, I I know your operations are are focused on poverty outside of of the UK and and the immediate, um, needs. But during this year, obviously during the pandemic, I think for everyone, it's been pretty shocking to understand how bad food insecurity was on our doorstep pre-pandemic. I remember we have a a module in colouring medicine that we teach to the medical students all about food insecurity in the UK. And I think a lot of the students are quite shocked to hear about the millions of families that are relying on food banks. And I wonder, given your perspective and your experience in this, in this charitable world, what can we learn from One Feeds Two that we could potentially apply to our own societies today and and if you have sort of any any guidance for for for charities in the UK?
Owen Burton: Yeah, I mean, I think, um, look, I think there's, there's a lot that's different. You know, I think it's probably worth saying up front, you know, immediately put my hands up and say, look, the UK is a very different place and so there'll be, there'll be very many, not just differences in nuance, but but fundamentally different, fundamental differences that that the solution for the UK will need to be different to to a One Feeds Two or or even the model that our our school feeding, um, programs that we support adopt. Um, but I mean, I think, I think some of the things that we we see working, um, that I do think translate from from from, well, across countries are things, things like I described before about the, you know, the the village chief and the elders and their their value on education, their focus on it, um, and that really setting a tone. Um, you know, I think that messaging and and that being kind of part of the the the culture that, you know, the kids know that, you know, how they, how often they go and how well they do is important and it's kind of the people checking up, you know. Kids will be kids, but, you know, also, you know, this isn't, this isn't just something you go through the, go through the process and go through the motions on in terms of turning up to school. This is, this is, this is a serious, it's a serious thing and, um, I mean, so many socioeconomic indicators are just so much better with as literacy levels increase. Just reading and writing skills just make such an extraordinary difference. And if you think that, you know, the young girl will one day be a mother and her ability to read a prescription, um, and or to to read the label on on some tablets and and then kind of use those tablets correctly for their children to to help with homework, to do the bookkeeping, to, you know, so just home economics, all those home economics things that will just be done, um, in in a in a better way. Um, the people's ability to research options and, you know, make, make better choices. Um, just improves, improves so much more. So I think, I think there's definitely something about kind of community leaders and and consistency and just the daily grind of repetition, you know, being and being consistent about, you know, that this is, this is what's really important and long-term, this is the thing that's going to to to move the needle. Um, I think, I think the other thing that we see that's that's really extraordinary and and and heartwarming is the the number of people who volunteer their time to support initiatives like this. Um, so, so again, kind of referencing the the trip to Malawi that we most recently did, you know, there was a lady there who walked two hours each morning to get to school in time to to help prepare the school meals, stoke the fires, get the pots ready, carry the water, all that kind of thing. She didn't, she didn't have children at the school. Um, but she did that, you know, five days a week, and then tidied up at the end of the day and walked home again. And and she just, and she was, she, you know, kind of, you know, kind of didn't get why we thought that was amazing because, you know, to her it was just sort of, well, you know, this is such an important thing for this community, why, why wouldn't I be doing this to to contribute and to help? Um, so she, she always sort of sticks out in our mind and and similarly we had, um, we had quite a lot of time with one of the senior teachers at the school. Um, and, uh, and he, he basically would turn up to work a couple of hours early each day to kind of oversee the operations again because he could see the difference that the school meals made to to the to the day that each child had. Um, and, um, I mean, extraordinarily, uh, we were talking to him about how many of the children would eat something other than that school meal. And at that point in time, he said 50% of the kids, for 50% of the kids, that would be their only meal. And he said, actually, it gets much worse than that. Um, as as we get further away from the harvest and and stores have been depleted, um, uh, and and, you know, in that particular school, kind of 80, 90% was was not unheard of for for the kids to to only get that. So then your school meal goes from being something where you're supplementing the nutrition to to being the only nutrition. Um, so, yeah. Um, but I think, I think that whole community, that that sort of sense of volunteering of, you know, people getting involved, um, and doing little things, you know, some of them doing the extraordinary around, you know, the two hours each day. Other people who who's lives can't accommodate that, but but finding, finding ways that they can support. Um, so around that particular school, they had, um, they had a a team of women, um, and basically their their role was was just to know where the kids were, how many kids there were, which ones were going to school, which ones weren't. Um, and and if there were children not going to school to to kind of rally around the family and and kind of understand what some of the barriers were in place. Um, so quite, quite extraordinary sort of sense of community, um, and this kind of idea that, you know, sort of mindset, look, we're all in this together and and we'll all be, we'll all be better off if if we can kind of give you a helping hand and and and kind of help help you out. Um, and now, how, you know, I think there's there's probably a UK version of of something like that, um, that that could that could be quite extraordinary as well. Um,
Dr Rupy: Absolutely. I I I think, you know, now is the time to tap into this incredible sort of, almost global culture of empathy. Everyone has never experienced the same suite of emotions at the same time, everywhere, I I think in the history of humanity. So now I think is the time to sort of tap into that community, sense of purpose, uh, communal values, sentiment to to create initiatives like this. And you know what, there's probably a One Feeds Two concept in someone's mind and hopefully someone listening to this as well, who wants to take action on it and and start the process. And the fact that, you know, you've been able to do this on the side of of your job, even though, you know, it's it's been your 100% job at some points in the past as well. You know, that that's that's pretty inspirational. And there's a few people out there that I want to shine a spotlight on actually because they are doing some incredible things for, uh, UK, um, based poverty and and hunger and children in particular. But I think your experiences, um, are and those stories are are super, super inspirational. What I want to ask, um, as we close, I guess, is, um, I suppose if there was, I mean, you've already achieved so much, so I feel a bit cheeky asking about what the moonshot might be for One Feeds Two. But let's say in another 10 years time, what where would you hope One Feeds Two to be? And what sort of changes would you have hoped to inspire, um, in in either at a community level or even at a at a political governmental level?
Owen Burton: Look, I I guess, um, I guess one, one part of the answer to that would be, um, a couple of years ago, we we extended our, we extended our footprint to include the US as well. So we we found, we found, we found three guys there with sort of similar sort of backgrounds and interests and and also with day jobs. Um, uh, who and they were, they were doing various roles in the food industry. Um, and so we now have One Feeds Two USA, um, uh, which is, which is wonderful and really exciting. Um, and yes, I think, I think the, the future will hopefully include, you know, bigger versions of One Feeds Two in the UK and and and the US, but also hopefully in other countries and parts of the world. And we're and we're we're doing some work and work at the moment on on looking at some of those opportunities. Um, again, also doing it quite patiently because we need to, we need to make sure that the extension doesn't compromise what's already there. Um, and we also need to make sure that, you know, the extension works in those, you know, it's a simple concept, but actually does that, make sure that that simple concept can translate and can work in in those other, in those other places as well. Um, look, I think, I think in 10 years time, um, you know, hopefully we can do another podcast and and hopefully the story is that, you know, that simple core of an idea is still that simple, is still the mainstay and that's still what we are all about. Um, and but but that we're doing it on a on a much, much bigger scale. Um, I think, uh, you know, I've talked a bit about our partners and and how varied they are. Um, you know, what's been amazing is we've we've been able to kind of adapt this simple concept to work in in really different, um, business, business models within the food industry. We've got catering companies, we've, you know, I I listed some of them before, you know, um, burger chains, recipe box companies, etc. Um, but I think there's still, there's still other niches that that we haven't had partners in and and, you know, so much potential for us to have many partners in in each of those niches as well. Um, so I'm really excited about seeing, you know, how One Feeds Two, you know, we've never had a hotel partner, for example, an airline partner. For me, for me, they're like obvious places where this concept could could find a really, a really great home. Um, and to be honest, the list, beyond that, the list, the list does go on and on. Um, but, uh, you know, for me, I think in over the next 10 years, it'd be really great to see how we can, how we can kind of build out our number of partners in in in more of these kind of different niches and show that actually this simple concept can work and and does deliver what what customers, employees and all various kind of stakeholders are looking for. Um,
Dr Rupy: Yeah, yeah. I I mean, just the messaging, um, and the fluidity, the the sort of parallel, the the there's so many concepts in the brand itself that just really, really do appeal to me. And even like what's on your website, hunger to end hunger. I just, I just love sort of the, uh, the the the the it just evokes so many, uh, emotions of of community spirit. I I mean, you're you're such an inspirational character. The fact that you you've done this with with your partners and stuff. You must be working on some, uh, other entrepreneurial ambitions right now, I'm sure. Uh, and actually, I was going to ask, what what has your, what is your day job been throughout this whole period? Has it changed? Have you, have you still been in consultancy or something else or what's that look like?
Owen Burton: Yeah, so, so yeah, the the first couple of years were all consultancy. Um, so, so yeah, working, working as a management consultant. Um, and, and then recently that's, that's transitioned as you suggest to sort of more entrepreneurial endeavors. So, um, last year I I launched a business called Found Drinks. Um, and the the concept is about, uh, you know, look looking at the refrigerator, uh, of of drinks at a shopping centre and you you just kind of see a lot of, a lot of tap water that should be free, wrapped in plastics and kind of dosed up with lots of sugar and artificial sweeteners, colours and preservatives. And so kind of found, found's been my kind of attempt to say, well, actually, let's, let's go back to drinking the tap water, but for people who like different flavours, and actually let's, let's just sell, let's just sell the the the flavouring, but let's do it in a way that doesn't have any of the artificial ingredients, doesn't, doesn't have the added sugar, and and actually let's, let's kind of make it as as, uh, you know, as as health promoting as possible. So we put vitamins, minerals, some really interesting botanicals into those as well. Um, and, uh, and I and I guess that the kind of thematic parallel between the two businesses was, you know, for me, the school meal was this amazing, magical thing you could do to to drive educational outcomes in in these, in these developing countries. Um, when I, when I look at sort of food and drinks in in somewhere like the UK or the US, um, you know, we all drink six to eight times a day. And if, and if even a couple of those drinks are either sort of quite badly polluting or or not particularly healthy, um, you know, we're, we're doing a lot of damage as a society across, across a lot of people that many times every single day. Um, and so in terms of, you know, kind of where, where to play and where, where to kind of try and do something that that can make a big difference, this kind of for me felt like, felt like the, the one small change you could make to potentially have a, potentially have a big impact.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, definitely. I mean, we've been discussing some pretty hard-hitting subject matters on the podcast of late. Um, things like environmental, uh, and climate change, uh, food insecurity is one, but also financial insecurity. So we had a conversation with George Monbiot and Professor Guy Standing about universal basic income, uh, providing a layer of financial security. And and that sort of concept has has obviously heightened to, uh, to to become something that a lot of, um, uh, people are aware of now as as a construct for society. But I think, you know, looking at the lens, and I know you've got, uh, some, some young children as well, perhaps that sort of lens of a parent has made us all a bit more conscious about the environment that we're leaving for our our kids and and grandkids going forward. And, you know, the the the the entrepreneurial ambition that you have now with Found Drinks, I I think almost mirrors that. It's like, how do we create a healthier planet such that health is the default option and it thrives regardless of, you know, your ability to pay into wellness at a premium. And I think just looking at from an outsider, it's it's seems that that might have had an influence.
Owen Burton: Yeah, no, definitely, definitely. And, um, yeah, I I you know, I I think you're right, actually, when you're, when you are a parent, you can't, you can't help but project forward and and and think you you've got these younger lives, um, who who'll have who'll kind of, um, have have many years beyond us. Um, and yeah, absolutely about, um, trying to do something, try, I guess, I guess part of it is, yeah, how do we, how do we end up with some better outcomes for that next generation? Um, and and for me personally, it was also that a big part of it's been actually, how can, how can I show the kids, um, that we can go from, you know, they can remember a time where this none of this existed. We didn't, we didn't have a name for it, we didn't have labels, we didn't have recipes, we didn't, and they can kind of see these things come together and and kind of to realise that, you know, businesses are built by normal people, you know, as much as they believe that their parents are normal people, but, um, you know, they're just, it's just normal people having, having a crack. Um, and so actually we we've had some wonderful moments on on a personal front of, you know, the kids doing taste testings and, uh, you know, during, during lockdown, um, between kind of hours of of of homeschooling, you know, one of my sons coming up and, you know, kind of making website suggestions and, you know, don't really think that's a good way to say it, Dad. How about we, why, I think, you're nine years old. I think it's right, of course, but, um, so, so that that that's kind of a, that's a nuance to it as well that it's an element that's been really important to me.
Dr Rupy: That's brilliant. I I recently had a conversation with, um, Professor Michael Garan and, uh, Dr. Ventura actually about sugar-sweetened beverages and the amount of sugar in kids' diets, uh, and particularly how that impacts, um, neurodevelopment and and general development in kids. So, you know, welcoming any, uh, extra options there are to entice, uh, not only kids, but also, you know, the the the the older generations that are relying on sugar-sweetened beverages to get through the day to to have healthy options. So, Found Drinks sounds like a fantastic initiative and, uh, I can't wait to see, uh, what happens with, um, with One Feeds Two as well. It's a fantastic, fantastic organisation and, um, I hope to support in some way in the future. You never know.
Owen Burton: That's great, Rupy. Thanks so much. We really do appreciate the support and thanks for having us today.
