Local firms included in list of UK's '¨100 most promising start-ups

Two local food companies have been included in Startups.co.uk's Startups 100 2016 '“ the only index of its kind which ranks the UK's 100 fast growth-potential new businesses launched in the last three years.
Ruby Parkyn of Heck Foods with some Feck Sausages, which the marketing-savvy company launched in March as a St Patricks Day special.Ruby Parkyn of Heck Foods with some Feck Sausages, which the marketing-savvy company launched in March as a St Patricks Day special.
Ruby Parkyn of Heck Foods with some Feck Sausages, which the marketing-savvy company launched in March as a St Patricks Day special.

Heck Sausages, which is based at Kirklington, north of Ripon, made it to number three in the listing – beating high-profile start-ups such as Laundrapp, the online laundry service, and Climb Online, the marketing agency launched by The Apprentice winner Mark Wright with backing from Lord Alan Sugar.

Heck was launched as a family business in 2014 by Andrew and Debbie Keeble, who had already proven their credentials with the successful launch, growth and sale of sausage brand Debbie & Andrew’s.

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Its products are now stocked by Tesco, Waitrose, ASDA, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s, and in the year to July 2015 the company, which employs 50, achieved revenues of £5.7m, with turnover of £12m projected for 2016.

The Yorkshire Meatball Company, which has a flagship restaurant in Harrogate and a franchised operation in York, ranked 73rd in the Startups 100 list.

Set up by father-and-son team David and Gareth Atkinson, the company’s mission is “lead the fight against average, tasteless meatballs” and its food staple is complemented by craft beers and ciders.

After securing a £130,000 crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube, YMCO is set to roll out a fully-fledged franchise model across the UK and has secured talks with four of the major retailers to launch into more than 300 stores nationwide.

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Startups.co.uk editor, Lucy Wayment, said: “The average turnover of the start-up businesses in this index is £1.54m, nearly £400,000 more than in 2014, which is a good indicator that the UK’s start-up businesses are thriving and are only set to scale further in the coming months.

“Year-on-year, the Startups 100 index celebrates the fast-growth potential of UK start-ups and shines a light on the game-changing new businesses helping to drive the economy.”

This year’s winners, which collectively have secured over £213m in funding from investors, join an exclusive club of companies that have been listed in pervious years, including notonthehighstreet.com, Zoopla and YPlan.

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