Little Moons: The overnight success that took 10 years

Chances are you had no idea what a mochi was five years ago. If you still don’t know, it’s a Japanese delicacy which has gone global, thanks in large part to social media. It’s a bite-sized ball, with ice cream on the inside and chewy, sweet rice-flour dough on the outside.

Vivien Wong has built her Little Moons brand around the phenomenon. But it hasn’t all been plain sailing, she reveals to Sir Richard Harpin in our latest Business Leader podcast.

It was a single TikTok video that sent shoppers queuing outside Tesco at 7 AM, Wong recalls. But it actually took ten years of groundwork for Little Moons to be in a position to capitalise on it, rather than be consumed by the sudden demand. The story began in her parents’ Asian bakery in north London and many culinary experiments!

In this episode you will learn:

• Why owning your manufacturing is a genuine competitive advantage in the FMCG world
• How Vivien bootstrapped Little Moons for 12 years before taking private equity investment
• When and how to bring in a professional CEO
• The difference between a coach and a mentor and why you need both