Wild Pantry Wins Best Start-Up at the Merseyside Independent Business Awards 2026
Updated: Oct 20
We’ve got some big news... Wild Pantry has been named Best Start-Up at the Merseyside Independent Business Awards 2026.
And the timing could not have summed up our first year any better.
Just a few hours before heading to the awards, we were in our new production unit in Ormskirk making sauerkraut.
Aprons on, cabbage everywhere and fermentation vessels being filled.
Then, a few hours later, we were standing on stage being handed the award for Best Start-Up.
It was one of those moments where we looked at each other and thought: Honestly, how did we actually get here? This is a little mad.
From our own health journey to an award-winning food business
Wild Pantry started because fermented food became part of our own lives.
After years of digestive problems, Daniel was diagnosed with Barrett’s oesophagus, a condition where the cells lining the oesophagus change and which can increase the risk of oesophageal cancer. That diagnosis changed our lives, thankfully for the better now looking in reflection.
We started paying much more attention to what we ate and became interested in fermented foods. We began making water kefir and sauerkraut at home, first for ourselves and then for friends and family.
What started as curiosity became something we genuinely loved.
We loved the process. We loved experimenting with flavour. And we became frustrated that fermented food was often presented as something you ate because it was good for you, rather than because it tasted good.
So we decided to do things differently.
Wild Pantry was born around one simple idea: Gut Health Made Delicious.
Our first market changed everything
In August 2025, we took Wild Pantry to the Baltic Market in Liverpool for our first proper public event, we had no idea what would happen. Alice was at the same market with her bakery business directly across from us.
Would people understand water kefir? Would anyone want sauerkraut made in Liverpool? Would they pay for fermented salsa? Would people come back for more?
They did.
And over the following months, we started seeing the same faces again and again.
People would find us at a market, try something for the first time and then come looking for us at the next one.
Some became fortnightly subscribers. Others started ordering online or buying from one of our stockists.
Some have followed us around markets across Merseyside, Wirral, Cheshire and Greater Manchester.
Those people have played a huge part in getting Wild Pantry to this point.
From one market to thousands of bottles and jars
Since that first market, things have moved quickly. We’ve now sold more than 13,000 bottles and jars of Wild Pantry ferments.
Our products are stocked by more than 14 independent shops and farm shops, with regular stockists including Woolton Farm Shop, Purple Carrot, Wild Pear, The Little Farm Shop, Melling Farm Shop, Solo Bread and others across Liverpool and Wirral.
We have regular subscribers on our fortnightly L & CH postcodes as well as our market regulars continue to be one of the biggest parts of the business.
They tell us what they love. They tell us what they want us to make next. They bring friends over to the stall and tell them which jar they need to try.
For a small food business, that support matters.
A very big week for Wild Pantry
Winning Best Start-Up came during one of the biggest weeks we’ve had since starting Wild Pantry.
Our new production unit in Ormskirk became fully operational, giving us a dedicated space to make our water kefir, sauerkrauts and fermented salsa.
At the same time, we officially launched national delivery of our fermented food jars across Mainland Great Britain.
Until now, Wild Pantry has largely grown through markets, independent stockists and our local delivery service across Liverpool and Wirral.
Going national means someone hundreds of miles away can now order a box of our ferments and have it delivered straight to their door.
It feels like a big change from standing behind our first market stall wondering whether anyone would buy a jar.
And somehow, right in the middle of all that, we had an awards night to get ready for.
And the winner is…
We went into the Merseyside Independent Business Awards alongside four other start-ups: Goodship, Freedom To Flourish CIC, Charmingo Sews Academy and Ujima Ice Cream.
It was a strong group of businesses, each building something very different and all having their own impact.
Charmingo Sews Academy also received a Highly Commended award from the judges.
Then Wild Pantry was announced as the winner. For us, the award recognises far more than the last few months.
It represents the early mornings, the late nights, the first time a shop agreed to stock us (thank you Woolton Farm Shop!), anyone who's taken a risk on a new business... even the people who were hesitant to try and are now regulars.
Every jar and bottle we've made has all been by hand,
Daniel, Co-Founder of Wild Pantry
“When Alice and I started Wild Pantry, we knew very little about running a food business. We just knew how much fermented food and drink changed our lives for the better, but the flavour wasn't always the best.
“A little over a year later, we’ve sold more than 13,000 bottles and jars, built relationships with some brilliant independent stockists and met thousands of people at markets and festivals across the North West.
“What makes this award particularly special is the timing. A few hours before the ceremony, we were in our new unit making sauerkraut. That same week we launched national delivery. Then suddenly we were standing on stage as the Best Start-Up in Merseyside.
“There’s still so much we want to build, but this feels like a moment where we can look back at what has happened since that first market and be proud of it.”
Alice, Co-Founder of Wild Pantry
“One of my favourite parts of Wild Pantry has been watching people become part of it with us.
“We have customers who first tried us at a market and now come back every time they see us. We have subscribers who get their regular order every fortnight and independent shops that have backed us as we’ve grown.
“We make these products ourselves, so seeing someone taste something we’ve spent days making and then come back to buy it again means a lot.
“Winning this award was a lovely moment for us both, but it also feels like recognition for all the people who have supported a very small local business from the beginning.”
What comes next?
Wild Pantry is still a baby, our new Ormskirk unit gives us room to produce more and develop what we make.
National delivery means our jars can now reach people outside our local area.
And we’ll still be at the markets where much of this started, meeting customers face to face and handing out samples of sauerkraut to people who insist they don’t like sauerkraut.
That last one tends to be fun.
We started Wild Pantry because fermented food had become an important part of our lives.
We kept building it because other people wanted it to become part of theirs too.
Being named Merseyside’s Best Start-Up for 2026 feels like a pretty special way to mark our first year.
Thank you to the Merseyside Independent Business Awards judges.
And thank you to every customer, subscriber, stockist, market organiser, supplier, friend and family member who has helped us get here.
This one means a lot.
Daniel & Alice
Wild Pantry
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