FDBusiness.com

London-based Little Dish, which produces fresh children’s meals, is set to double retail sales in the next two years and bring new products to market after securing an invoice discounting facility with Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance. Little Dish supplies stores across the UK and in Ireland with its range of fresh meals made from 100% natural ingredients and no added salt or sugar. Little Dish is available in Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and on Ocado.com.

Founders Hillary Graves and John Stapleton set the company up in 2005 to offer parents a fresh alternative to jars of baby food, which typically have a shelf life of 18 months. Little Dish now feeds 100,000 children each week, having begun as a trial in 20 Waitrose stores in 2006.

The firm secured a factoring facility from Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance in 2007 to help manage its debtor book and support growth as it continued to win new listings. As the company expanded, Hillary Graves and the team decided to bring credit-control in-house and have switched to an invoice discounting facility from Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance.

Based on the value of the firm’s issued invoices, the facility will boost the company’s cash flow, enabling it to implement its ambitious growth strategy.

Little Dish, which employs nine people, is now on track to double retail sales to £14 million in the next two years, with plans to extend its range of healthy meals and move into other categories such as  healthy lunch box options and snacks.

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Pictured (left to right): Hillary Graves, Little Dish, and Chris Furnell, Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance.