Harriet Hastings is founder of Biscuiteers, the UK’s original hand-iced biscuit company, which launched in 2007 with a clear mission to offer a more stylish and personalised gifting solution.
She is also Commercial Director for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, which she helped to found in 1996 and co-director of London events company Lettice, founded by her husband Stevie and currently run by their daughter Holly.
Harriet has written two books – Biscuiteers Book of Iced Gifts and Biscuiteers Book of Iced Biscuits – and has won a number of significant industry awards, including among others: the NatWest Aphrodite Everywoman award (2018); the Food and Drink Heroes Awards (2021) for Bakery Entrepreneur of the Year; and the Great British Entrepreneur award (2021) for Food and Drink Entrepreneur of the Year.
I started my career in publishing at Penguin, subsequently moving to consumer brands director at Trimedia (a top 20 PR company). I started Biscuiteers in 2007 after the birth of my fourth child as I had seen an opportunity in food gifting, specifically for a more personalised, unique approach combined with a brilliant e-commerce service. The business has grown massively over the years, but we still hand-ice every biscuit at our HQ, the Ministry of Biscuits, which is based in Wimbledon. We also have two London-based icing cafes in Notting Hill and Belgravia.
No I think my career has happened to me largely! I admire people who are that focused but I just took opportunities as I went along and was definitely influenced by the needs of my family when the children where young in the choices I made.
Family and career is a balance for everyone and usually involves a lot of compromise. At one point one of my children was in hospital for many months which was one of the most difficult periods. I have a tendency to overload which can make life more stressful than it needs to be.
I am incredibly proud of Biscuiteers. Given my background in marketing I always wanted to create my own consumer brand for the long-term. Also, Biscuiteers is a completely 360 business – we design, manufacture and deliver everything we sell. We’ve designed or adapted all our own manufacturing systems which is probably the hardest part, and the most rewarding. This Christmas we will be employing 180 people to deliver a full Biscuiteers Christmas experience!
I do think entrepreneurs need bucket loads of determination and resilience, as well as flexibility. Covid in particular showed that everyone needed to pivot their businesses quickly and find ways to survive and flourish in very difficult circumstances. It’s never all plain sailing, so a creative approach to problem-solving also helps.
I enjoy mentoring very much and have been mentoring social enterprises for the British Library’s Human Lending Library for the last 3 years. I also do some ad hoc mentoring when asked. I think it is a really important way to lend support and share experience.
A more equal approach to parental leave and more effective child care support for working parents.
I think I would say take more risks. When you are young you have loads of energy and usually fewer commitments so it’s the perfect time to try new things and be experimental.
I would like to take Biscuiteers brand overseas and build up our US business in particular. We are also hoping to re-open European deliveries post-Brexit soon. In the UK we are launching our first TV ad which we are all very excited about.