Love Bug Foods was set up by Lucy and Sam, with the initial idea being developed back in October 2022 – they have “The Great British Bake Off” to thank for it! It was the Halloween special and one of the contestants was using crickets as one of the ingredients for the cake they were making…….when Pru claimed insects were the ‘future food’, ‘really nutritional’ and ‘sustainable to farm’, that was it, the seed was planted!!
They have a young family, two boys and were amazed how much their perspective on the world changed, when they consider the future with their children in mind. It prompted a desire to start a business that they would be proud to pass down to their boys, a business that put people and the planet first with sustainability and nutrition at its heart.
Sam is a qualified psychotherapist and has always been interested in human behaviour. She explains,
“I’m really excited about our journey with Love Bug Foods, I think it’s a step to offering people a chance to explore something different that has a positive benefit to them and our planet. I do laugh sometimes, on reflection of my younger days. I feared anything that crawled but that soon changed when my son took my hand and led me outside to go bug hunting. I guess my point is, we are never to set in our ways to change. And one small change is the seed to bigger change.”
Lucy comes from a family with farming at its heart. There is a history of farming going back 4 generations and Lucy’s brother and his family continue that legacy today. Lucy in her younger days played sports, mainly hockey. So, she has always been interested in health and fitness. Lucy explains
“When we first thought of starting a business which sold insect-based foods, I wasn’t 100% convinced that it would become anything more than an idea but the more research and studies I read about insects and insect protein it left me wondering why insect foods was such a taboo subject in the UK. That was it, I was hooked and now have become passionate about promoting it”.
Vision, Mission & Values
Vision
Bug foods to be a regular food alternative
for the consumer of today.
Purpose
To produce foods which are good
for people and our planet.
Why
A business that is built with sustainability
at the heart, a business we can be proud
to pass down to our children.
What we Value
WE WILL PUT PEOPLE AND PLANET
BEFORE PROFIT
- We are committed to ensuring that our business has sustainability at its heart.
- We will continue to make a positive contribution to the world by reinvesting money into charities and schemes that will benefit people and our planet
- Ingredients and packaging will be sourced by businesses who share our values.
WE ARE HONEST
- Honesty and Integrity will be backbone of everything we do.
- We will never cut corners and diminish the product we have created.
WE ARE RESPONSIBLE
- Continue to be a Carbon Neutral Business but always strive to achieve Net Zero Carbon emissions
- We are wholeheartedly committed to ensuring the welfare of our bugs is market leading.
- By choosing our products, you have not only, made a great nutritional selection but an environmental one too.
Hopes & Dreams
Hope and Dreams are important to any business. It gives businesses goals and direction to keep pushing forward and
keeps the passion burning. Here are some of Lucy and Sam’s hopes and dreams.
“We want to farm our own insects. That was the first vision for Love Bug Foods. However, since Brexit, there has been a lot of change to the requirements of farming insects in the UK and so unfortunately, the path ahead wasn’t clear. So, this is not something we can do at this stage, but in time we hope for this to change and for us.”
Lucy Kehoe
Keeping up our Carbon Neutral Business.
“Being a Carbon Neutral Business is something that is extremely important to us, and we are very proud to hold that status. Our hopes and dreams are to ensure that this continues throughout the years ahead, despite how big or small our business becomes. It also means, that we continue to look forward and always look for ways we can do better, putting our planet and people first in the hope that we become a Net Zero Carbon emissions business.”
Sam Kehoe
For Insect Foods to become a norm in the UK –
“Unfortunately, using insect base foods as part of our diets is not a norm in the UK. As it stands, we have a global issue, in that we are developing as a population too quickly for the current methods of farming food production to keep up with and changes need to be made. What attracted us to edible insects is that they are not only highly nutritional but sustainable to farm. We want to produce foods that will help break down the barriers of eating insects, offering a range of delicious, nutritional foods. So we have launch a ‘I’m not afraid of no bug’ campaign to support this, and encourage people to try something different.”