One grey October evening, two fathers, Ashley Cain and Chris Brady, were discussing the problem of their fussy eating children. There had to be a way of encouraging them to willingly make healthier food choices without it being a chore. From this conversation, the idea of ‘Sammy Satsuma’ was born.
Our story
Our concept
The concept is simple; to use cartoon characters in the form of fruit and vegetables and humorous storytelling to subtly introduce healthy eating. The main protagonist of the stories is the lead character, Sammy Satsuma. He is friendly, fun and children grow to love him and the other characters, which allows the subtle message of healthy eating to be put across. We call this process ‘character bonding’. Our research indicates that children voluntarily request healthier food options after experiencing our books. We have also found that parents and grandparents further bond with their children through the recipe/cooking process, helping to develop children’s understanding of and interest in food.
How it began
So, to get this process started, Chris and Ashley set about choosing the characters, their names and also the ideas behind the stories. Ashley took on the challenge of writing the stories in a child friendly format and within a year we had our first two books illustrated and published.
Initially these stories were self-published and circulated locally within nurseries and a couple of primary schools. With positive feedback coming through, direction for the overall strategy was still slightly lacking.
Funding for the project
Fast forward a few years and we decided to take the plunge and seek investment to take our projects to the next level. The prototype books and recipe book were used for this purpose and investors (Steve and Ben Webster) subsequently came on board.
We then invested in the team around us and recruited our Creative Director, Lee Hedger, swiftly followed by celebrity chef, Jo Pratt, who brings a wealth of experience with her fail-safe, family friendly recipes.
The project then went to a whole new level when we found our illustrator, Manzar Sezavar. An extremely talented illustrator who also has a qualification in child psychology
Products
We currently offer a diverse range of products with personalised adventure books, personalised recipe books, picture storybooks, colouring books, puzzles and kid's kitchen utensils.