Dan Cluderay specialises in selling out-of-date food
Market stall proved such a success he moved business to the internet
Dad-of-two was turned down for cash injection by TV show Dragons’ Den
They say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure and that has certainly proved to be the case for entrepreneur Dan Cluderay.
While supermarkets regularly throw away food that has gone past its ‘best before’ date, Mr Cluderay, from Worksop, Nottinghamshire, is now a millionaire after setting up an online business selling out-of-date food to busy mums and bargain hunters.
The 40-year-old says the secret to his success is that his business, Approved Food, provides just what the savvy shopper is looking for – quality food at prices which save mums around £60 off their weekly bill compared to a similar shop at one of the big supermarkets.
However, while Approved Food has been a hit online, it was given a resounding thumbs down by the gurus on the BBC TV show Dragons’ Den.
In May last year, Mr Cluderay, together with his 50-year-old business partner Andy Needham, had asked the Dragons’ Den panel for a £150,000 cash injection offering a ten per cent share in Approved Food.
However, the Dragons’ Den team, which consisted of Duncan Bannatyne, Kelly Hoppen, Deborah Meaden, Piers Linney and Peter Jones, unanimously turned them down.
Not to be thwarted, Mr Cluderay and Mr Needham managed to source £400,000 through loans and investments from elsewhere which has seen Approved Food achieve a £4million turnover.
‘It’s all very exciting and we have lots of plans to take the business further,’ said father-of-two Mr Cluderay.
He said his journey to success began when he was forced to have a career rethink after being made redundant from his job at an IT firm in 2001.
Together with his wife, Nichola, the pair set up market stalls in Hull, Leeds and Doncaster selling branded chocolate, fizzy drinks and crisps which had been shunned by a range of supermarkets as they were either fast approaching or past their ‘best before’ date.
For six years, come rain or shine, the couple, who hail from Worksop, sourced and sold the goods to a loyal band of shoppers.
However, it was after taking delivery of a crate of Twinings nettle tea that Mr Cluderay said he had his ‘eureka moment’.
‘I suddenly realised that while there might not be the demand for nettle tea in Doncaster, if I could match the goods with customers looking to buy, I’d be on to a winner,’ said Mr Cluderay, who has two sons, nine-year-old Rudi and Jay, five.
While still working seven days a week on the market stalls, he utilised all his computer skills to start forming a plan to launch his business, Approved Food.
‘I was working on my idea wherever I could,’ said Mr Cluderay. ‘Even in my son’s playroom I’d be beavering away.’
It was on 14 August 2008, that Mr Cluderay received his very first order, the day after his website went live.
‘I’d collected the names and address of 300 people who I thought would be interested in buying products which are perfectly fine but have have just gone past their sell by date,’ he said.
‘I was excited sending out the list but even more excited when someone bought something the next day!’
Since then, Approved Food has gone from strength to strength as thrifty mothers and other savvy shoppers make the most of items such as loo roll, dog food, sweets and sauces.
‘There are only two dates people really need to know about,’ explained Mr Cluderay.
‘The “best before” date which means that the food will be at its optimum before that date and acts as a guide to the quality, and then there’s the “use by” date which is concerned with the safety aspect.
‘It’s only the “use by” date that means food has to be eaten by then or it could make you ill, which is the case with fish and meat, for example.
‘Food is perfectly fine to be eaten way past its “best before” date, as people know, but the large supermarkets won’t do that and that’s where we come in.
‘We sell food, such as cans of baked beans, pasta sauce, tins of tuna, which may have gone past their “best before” date by a few weeks, but everyone knows they will taste just the same as the products which have weeks left to run.’
Mr Cluderay said they dispatch around 600 orders a day with his average shopper spending around £40 a week buying cupboard staples such as pasta, pasta sauce, flour and toilet rolls.
‘By comparison, they’d be spending around £100 at one of the major supermarkets so they’re actually saving around £60 which they can then spend on something else.
‘We don’t touch food that has a limited shelf life such as fresh chicken and fresh fish, but we do sell hardy vegetables.’
Currently operating from a huge warehouse in Sheffield and employing 50 full-time staff, he says he can imagine a time when they have bases around the world.
‘I can imagine warehouses in many countries. The Germans in particular are very savvy shoppers and love branded goods, they also love English chocolate, so we get a lot of orders,’ he said.
‘We also sell huge Polish chocolate bars, which cost around ten pence each to buy from us which is also extremely popular.
‘Our biggest customers are by far and away mothers as they’re the ones usually in charge of the purse strings and are always thinking how to feed their families. If they’re happy, then so are we.’
Mr Cluderay and Approved Food will be featured on the television programme Bargain Fever Britain tonight on ITV at 8pm.
The show takes a look at the UK’s insatiable appetite for deals and discounts and will also go behind the scenes at American wholesale giant Costco, car supermarket Motorpoint and the shoe chain Shoe Zone.
