03/11/2025
WE ARE 5 YEARS OLD TODAY 5️⃣🎈
5 years ago today, I sat in the pub with my best mate complaining about how much I hated my day job & that I wanted to start a business that meant something.
A few pints later I got the idea of putting together a Christmas hamper full of products from the amazing local businesses we have on our doorstep in the North East that were about to be closed as the second COVID lockdown was imminent.
The very next day, I woke up, called in sick to my day job & spent the day walking around the local businesses asking them to come onboard with my idea and thus, Coastal Hampers was born.
I took a bag full of local products to the beach and bought a wicker basket from a charity shop in Whitley Bay. I remembering clambering over rocks & being covered in sand as I took photos. I posted on Facebook and spent the next few months turning my bedroom into a stockroom and my knackered Ford Fiesta as the delivery van as orders started coming in, delivering in the snow and ice throughout the Winter of 2020. After the initial brilliant response, I then spent the next few months at Christmas stalls and small events, selling the hampers whilst trying to figure a way out of my day job.
7 months later, we secured an order of 11,000 hampers from a single client, just 11 months after that first pint in the pub. From then on, the business has gone from strength to strength. We’ve worked with hundreds of businesses in the North East region and have work with some amazing clients along the way, whilst also providing thousands of gift boxes and hampers on a B2C level too.
Here’s a selection of behind-the-scenes pics of my journey over the last 5 years. From delivering hampers in Northumberland in my Mum’s Fiat 500 when the Fiesta conked out, featuring on ITV, giving talks on entrepreneurship at Whitley Bay High School, unloading endless pallets of hampers & gift boxes out of wagons, stocking Oatcakes & jam in my bedroom as I couldn’t afford a storage unit, sponsoring local football teams and much more.
This business has given me more than I could ever imagine. Thank you for all of your continued support on this journey 🙌
Sam
