My Brexit journey: Managing Director Nimisha Raja, Nim’s Crisps

Based: Sittingbourne

Size: 19 employees

Sector: Food; Maker of air-dried fruit and vegetable products, including teas, snacks and infusions.

Brexit and Covid have generated big shifts in our business over the last year. The pandemic caused a downturn in ‘food on the move’ because people weren’t moving and exports fell because EU clients didn’t want to enter into deals given uncertainties over tariffs.

Our response has been to diversify and focus on the domestic market. We had already started making infusions, air-dried citrus slices for gin, vodka and cold drinks, but that side of the business has trebled over the last 12 months – and with it our imports for citrus fruits, now around 250 tonnes a year. Ideally, we would buy all British but of course, lemons, limes, grapefruit, kumquats and pineapple aren’t grown in the UK, at least not in the numbers we need.

We prepared as much as we could by going to the Department for International Trade (DiT) to be sure we understood what documentation we required. We also secured a DiT grant to pay for two of our sales team and I to work with a company to explore our export options. It made us look at broader markets. We stopped concentrating just on the EU and started looking at the wider world. From there we got into the UAE and Uzbekistan. We are also talking to the US and considering India.

We can cope with the paperwork but dealing with the ongoing changes has been time consuming. Our products are so innovative they don’t even have an export product code, so we have had to write to HMRC to get one. It’s also been difficult to get clarity on complex issues that no-one has had to deal with before, like sending food samples to Northern Ireland.

Everyone is on a learning curve and no one wants to make a mistake.

My three top pieces of advice to survive and thrive in Brexit?

1. Do ask for help – there’s lots around, including Trading Standards, Kent Invicta Chamber, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and Produced in Kent – and also accept you must learn as you go.
2. Find experienced logistics partners – to import/export on your behalf, and
3. Look again at UK markets - to limit your exposure

My experience of being Brexit so far? ‘As expected.’ You can’t just one day be in the EU and the next you’re not and expect everything to be ok. It’s a huge task but with patience, determination and understanding businesses can meet the challenges ahead.