There are tough years, and then there are periods of tumult where problems spring up like incessant weeds in an array of awkward places. The latter probably best describes the 14 months since Parsley Box made its debut as a publicly-listed company.

All was rosy in the garden as the Edinburgh-based company joined London’s Alternative Investment Market in March of last year. Delivering ready meals straight to the UK’s expanding elderly population, demand soared with the onset of Covid as Parsley Box customers had even more reason to shun the supermarket in favour of door-to-door service.

Chief executive Kevin Dorren led the company’s over-subscribed initial public offering, which valued the business at £84 million based on a placing price of 200p per share. The IPO netted £12m for selling shareholders including Mr Dorren, founders Gordon and Adrienne MacAulay, chairman Chris van der Kuyl and his business partner Paddy Burns.

However, Parsley Box very soon found itself snared in what Mr Dorren describes as a “perfect storm” triggered by the pandemic. The primary problem was labour shortages across the network of UK manufacturers that produce meals for Parsley Box – there simply weren’t enough workers to keep the food flowing in sufficient volume.

The share price dropped by more than 13 per cent on September 7 when the company posted widening first-half losses and said it would have to lift prices on “selected” products. The stock lost a further third of its value about three weeks later when Parsley Box issued an unscheduled trading update in which it warned that staffing issues had cut its available stock by half.

READ MORE: Parsley Box shares collapse as staff and supply chain issues bite

Mr Dorren says the company is now back on an even keel after he and Mr van der Kuyl put a combined £2m back into the business as part of a £5.9m placing to shore up the balance sheet. An accompanying open offer to raise a further £1.1m fell well short of target, raising gross proceeds of just £140,000.

Regardless, Mr Dorren says Parsley Box is now “well-funded” for the next couple of years. With the full product range again available and levels of finished stock at its warehouse in Livingston up 50% on typical holdings prior to the labour difficulties, the company is said to be prepped for recovery even though its share price is languishing around the 19p mark.

“Like everybody I am disappointed about the share price,” he said. “I would love to be able to control it, but unfortunately it doesn’t feel like it’s something that I can control, so we just need to focus on building the business and communicating more to investors about the long-term plan.”

Born in Edinburgh, Mr Dorren attended Currie High School before studying hotel management at Napier University. He worked in that field for a couple of years before a side-shift into selling energy management systems to hotels.

READ MORE: Struggling Scots ready-meal firm falls short of fund-raising target

The head of that company was the father of Calum Smeaton, who with Mr Dorren co-founded Orbital Technologies in 1995. They became two of Scotland’s highest-profile entrepreneurs after leading Orbital to an £80m flotation in 2000, though Mr Dorren would resign as chief executive a year later following a sharp drop in turnover amid the dot.com bust.

He then pursued a number of different ventures, and has been involved with organisations such as FanDuel, Flavourly.com and Bella and Duke. However, it was as co-founder of weight loss food delivery service Diet Chef that he met the MacAulays who were looking for solutions to ensure Gordon’s elderly mother could continue living comfortably on her own.

“Gordon and Adrienne came to us because we understood how to [sell food] online, and it was then just a matter of how to address this sector which is very different from the rest of the online market,” Mr Dorren said.

“The level of online adoption of your average 70 to 80-year-old is significantly lower than your 20 or 30-year-old, and I think society has forgotten that they have different needs and want different service models, and will pay for that.”

READ MORE: Leading entrepreneur throws weight behind Scottish ready-meal company

Nearly two-thirds of the company’s 65 employees work in the contact centre, which fields about half of all orders from its 167,000 active users by telephone. Mr Dorren said this service model is a “key differentiator”, as is the company’s use of UK suppliers, which has protected it to a degree from increasing prices for imported commodities.

However, wage and other cost pressures still forced Parsley Box to put its prices up by about 7% at the beginning of this year. With inflation continuing to rise and further energy price hikes on the horizon, Mr Dorren is aware of the financial pressures coming to bear on his fixed-income clientele.

“We want to be sure that we have got enough stretch in our pricing that we’ve got – not quite a value range – but we’ve got access to lower-cost everyday products right the way through to luxury products,” he said.

“It’s not all doom and gloom, it’s also about celebrating life, but outside of special occasions consumers are trading down a little bit and we need to ensure they trade down with us rather than trading down with someone else.”

Q&A

What countries have you most enjoyed travelling to, for business or leisure, and why?

I love France, whether it is skiing in the Alps or eating in a city – there is nothing quite like the French lifestyle.

When you were a child, what was your ideal job? Why did it appeal?

I wanted to be a chef from a young age – I loved cooking and food – so leading a food company is a lifelong dream.

What was your biggest break in business?

There are too many to mention but spending time learning from other business owners is the most rewarding thing.

What was your worst moment in business?

Business is all about ups and downs, I don’t think about even the low points as anything but a learning experience.

Who do you most admire and why?

Sir Malcolm Walker, chairman of Iceland Foods. I have a signed copy of his book, Best Served Cold, on my desk.

What book are you reading and what music are you listening to?

I’m reading Lights Out – Pride, Delusion And The Fall of General Electric. I’m listening to Dance Fever by Florence + The Machine.