We had a great night with Daniel at our recent FoodTech dinner where more than 20 startups came together to share ideas, tips and contacts. Daniel Roberts is the founder of BananaBerry, a start-up social enterprise that produces delicious smoothies for offices around London. We recently caught up with him to find out more about his story and journey so far. Over to you Daniel!

What’s the elevator pitch for your startup?
BananaBerry is a social enterprise that utilises surplus fruit and veg to create smoothies, freshly made to order, for offices and events in London. 10p from every bottle we shift goes to Cancer Research UK. Fresh Smoothies. Fresh Business. Simple.

What were you doing before you launched your startup?
I was a Bookkeeper at a hotel for 7 months where I was scouted to model so it’s been Dolce&Gabbana to Strawberry&Banana for me!

If you have co-founders, where did you meet them?
I run the company with my sister so I met her when I was quite young! She is joint director, running all finances of the company. She has tonnes of experience to the point of actually “loving” excel and has gone beyond what I expected she would for the company.

What will 2014 bring?
Building towards a rewards based crowdfunding campaign early next year. Lots of networking, building contacts with suppliers and clients to ensure we can grow our mvp into the business we know it can become. Plus have fun in the process.

1 piece of advice for someone starting a business in the the sector
My advice would be to set up your company that does some good in the process. It makes your whole proposition an easier sell and if all goes pear shaped, you can still be proud of what you’ve built.

Convince someone to use your product/service in under 50 words.
To anyone in the corporate space, I say: Offer fresh smoothies to your staff. You will strengthen your CSR by supporting both Social Enterprise and Cancer Research. We’ll even deliver directly to you, for free. Staff will be more alert and they will love you for it.

How would you describe TableCrowd to someone who’s never been to a dinner?
TableCrowd to me is the perfect setting to meet new people on either a social basis or a professional one. Plus you’ll always end up meeting interesting and important contacts that you didn’t expect to, and it is these that often end up being the most important. Food, drink and new people, how could you go wrong?

Great to find out more about your startup and wishing you every success!

To learn more about our upcoming tables, go here.