Take the toddler to work day – an adventure to Organix HQ in Bournemouth

My job is weird. When I try to explain to people what I do I often plump for “journalist” because most people get what “being a journalist” is. However, as well as writing for websites and magazines, I also spend a large chunk of my working life blogging and making videos. Some days I’m busy tapping away at the keyboard at home in between school runs and toddler playgroups, other days I’m out at meetings – and then there are days like last Wednesday.

Last week I took Baby Girl away for a 24 hour adventure to Bournemouth. The purpose of the trip was to discover what it’s like behind the scenes at the (rather incredible) Organix HQ. We stayed in a lovely boutique eco-conscious hotel called The Green House near the town centre, where we had dinner with fellow blogger Charlie and her son, from RealGirlRamblings.

I’d love to tell you the hotel overnighter was relaxing and blissful, but as anyone with kids knows, nothing with toddlers is relaxing or blissful. Luckily I’ve known Charlie for years through work (we used to work for the same radio company – although last week was the first time we’d ever met face to face) so she was very forgiving of Baby Girl’s less than impeccable table manners.

On Wednesday morning we tootled along (after an hour spent driving around the block to get the toddler to have a pre-event nap – please tell me other parents do this?!) to the Organix HQ in Bournemouth town centre. Within minutes I felt totally at home and pretty sure I made the wrong career choice and should, in fact, be working at Organix. Proper work-space goals right there…

Wooden floors, floor to ceiling windows, a central patio garden, chalkboard walls, pops of green… I was in workspace heaven. But I wasn’t there to talk about the interiors (full tour post on Roost coming soon, if that’s your thing). I was there to talk about the food.

I’ve known about Organix as a brand since I became a mum nearly six years ago. Organix snacks are a staple of our store cupboard and I’m never far from home without a trusty bag of Organix rice cakes or carrot sticks to hand. I love that these snacks are quick, easy and appeal to the kiddo “novelty” factor but, more importantly, I love that they’re not pumped full of secret nasty ingredients. Since joining the No Junk Mum team as a brand ambassador and reading more of the research around food and kids, I can appreciate what a big deal the “no junk” part of the Organix offering really is.

It was so interesting to hear about the process of creating a healthy snack for kids, the Organix way. There’s a new product out on the market in June – “puffcorn” which Baby Girl made very short work of during the tasting session.

We discovered that the Organix team originally had the idea for Puffcorn snacks back in 2013, but it’s taken this long to get it to the table. Finding the right organic ingredients, sourcing the perfect parners to team up with to create the product, and then making a snack that doesn’t cost a million pounds, is a tough job that takes huge dedication and time. (It’s probably why so many other brands cut corners and add flavourings and additives – because doing it that way is so much quicker and cheaper.)

As a journalist and a blogger I’ve become a bit immune to PR puff speak, and my sincerity radar usually goes off when I think I’m being given a generic PR spiel. But meeting the passionate team at Organix made me realise this company really are the real deal. They genuinely care about what they do – and they care about the 45 strong team of people doing it (so much so that they have a Yoga teacher do a regular class in the boardroom – seriously, I need to work there!).

They want to improve standards across the food industry so that we’re not being sold food that is so engineered it’s not really “real food” at all, which is why they commission all sorts of research into food and kids, then use the findings to campaign for change in the industry, as well as making tasty and healthy food products for our kids.

While we were hearing from the Organix team Baby Girl was playing with her new buddies in the boardroom, which had been turned into a playroom for the morning (complete with nursery teacher on hand for games!). And then it was a buffet lunch of all sorts of tasty and healthy goodies – far better than my usual Wednesday lunch at home.

It turns out my toddler quite enjoyed coming to work with me for the day, especially as she got to take home a goody bag…

 

 

Thanks to Organix for inviting us along. I’m a No Junk Mum ambassador for Organix. All opinions are my own. To find out more about how I work with brands check out my Work With Me page.