Kim Innes: How Humble Crumble turned nostalgia into growth

Often great businesses are born out of simple ideas. Kim Innes founded Humble Crumble in 2018 with £3,000 and a market stall. Today, it's one of the UK's most talked about dessert brands. What began as alcohol-infused crumbles sold to Saturday morning shoppers has grown into a profitable company with five London bakeries, a six-figure social following and a viral moment involving the Prince of Wales.

Innes spoke to Sir Richard Harpin on the Business Leader podcast about the pandemic pivot that built the brand, why she handed the chief executive role to her fiancé and what she still hasn't figured out about scaling a business built on a single product.

In our interview, you will learn about:

• How a pumpkin crumble put Humble Crumble on the map during the pandemic
• Why she stepped back as chief executive last year
• The pricing mistake that nearly stalled the business in its first 12 months
• Her advice for founders trying to build a recognisable brand from nothing

The seaside stroll that inspired Humble Crumble

The idea for Humble Crumble came to Innes when she was just 21 years old. At that time, she was a student in Brighton and noticed an ice cream shop standing empty in the middle of winter. "What is the opposite of ice cream? What could they do in the winter?" she recalls thinking. Crumble, made in individual portions to mimic an ice cream stand, seemed the obvious answer.

Rather than write a business plan, Innes applied the principles of the iconic book by Eric Ries, The Lean Startup. She launched the cheapest, smallest version of the idea and waited for customer feedback. Primrose Hill farmers' market with alcohol-infused crumbles in May 2018 was her first venture. It didn't sell.

She held apple crumble off the menu for a year, believing it too simple for a brand built on interesting flavours, before discovering that 55 per cent of customers wanted exactly that. "You kind of have to give people what they want even if you think what they want might be slightly different," she says.

A two-month pop-up along the river convinced her the concept could work full time and a fellow trader's tip led her to apply for a pitch at Spitalfields Market. She opened at the location just three days before the pandemic forced the market to close.

How Kim Innes made a pandemic pumpkin go viral

The early days at Spitalfields were bleak. London was emptying out and Innes feared she would not be able to cover the rent on her new year-long contract. She briefly pivoted to supplying baking ingredients to the local community, using stock her suppliers could not get into supermarkets because they lacked SALSA (Safe and Local Supplier Approval) accreditation.

When the market reopened, Innes changed her operating model again, moving production out of a shared commercial kitchen and into a 2x2 metre wooden stall at Spitalfields, baking everything on site so the smell of crumble topping drew customers through the market.

The turning point came with a monthly special, a tip picked up from a fellow trader. Around the third one, a zero-waste pumpkin crumble served inside a hollowed-out pumpkin, was picked up by Time Out and went viral. "That sort of started the snowball effect," Innes says, though she notes the pumpkin carried no branding beyond the supplier's name on the spoon, a gap she'd fix with hindsight.

The pricing mistake that nearly stalled Humble Crumble

Innes describes her early pricing as trial and error. When customers pushed back on a £9 to £10 price point, fellow traders advised her to make the product bigger rather than cheaper. She restructured the menu to give customers more choice.

A more rigorous approach to margins arrived when her now-fiancé, Gabriel Unger, who co-founded the hospitality business Chai Guys, joined the business in 2021. He was quick to introduce proper cost and margin analysis.

Humble Crumble has grown without external investment, funded instead through retained earnings and asset finance. Innes says the business would consider outside investment only if several strong locations became available simultaneously, or a move into supermarket retail required funding several product lines at once.

Why Kim Innes stepped back as chief executive

Innes describes herself as an "accidental CEO," running the business for seven years before recognising that the commercial and operational side was not where she found the most enjoyment. Her fiancé, who had already built and run a hospitality business, took over as chief executive in 2025.

"I think he's that person that you think about who's like really driven, really good communicator, like really creative, understands finances," Innes says. "It's just lucky that I met him and trust him and he can take over and run the business."

She adds that her team prefer having him as chief executive, which she takes as a sign the decision was the right one. Innes now focuses on product and marketing, while the leadership arrangement, she says, remains a continuing trial for both of them.

Building a brand people actually understand

Humble Crumble's head office team has stayed lean, currently five people supporting a wider business of 90, with the company now hiring for three additional roles. Several senior staff, including the head of operations, started as crumble makers in the bakeries and were promoted after showing initiative.

On branding, Innes's advice is to start simple. Humble Crumble began with a black and white logo before pink was introduced once Innes noticed customers responding to it on social media and in-store menus. Her advice is to build the brand from customer feedback first, then take that insight to a branding agency.

Social media, Innes says, has been the single most important driver of the business's growth, and remains her only real marketing channel to date. Her advice on going viral is characteristically understated: "You can't strategise authenticity, try and be authentic," and be consistent, since a following built up over time gives new customers something to explore when a moment does break through.

A visit from the Prince and Princess of Wales to make crumbles at Borough Market, captured on camera by chance, became one of the brand's biggest viral moments.

Kim Innes's four lessons for leaders

Test before you plan. Innes's approach to Humble Crumble, informed by The Lean Startup, was to launch the smallest, cheapest version of an idea and let customer feedback shape the business, rather than spending months perfecting a plan before ever selling a product.

Know your own strengths and hire for the rest. Innes's decision to step back as chief executive and hand the role to her fiancé, a better fit for the commercial and operational side of the business, shows the value of recognising what you are genuinely good at rather than holding onto a title.

A single viral moment rarely comes from nowhere. The pumpkin crumble and the royal visit both landed on a brand that had already spent years building consistency on social media and in its product, meaning there was something substantial for new customers to discover once attention arrived.

Grow in a way that protects the model that works. Humble Crumble has funded its expansion through retained earnings and asset finance rather than early investment, and Innes remains focused on proving the UK business fully before considering supermarkets or international markets.

Listen to the full conversation with Kim Innes on the Business Leader podcast.