Our Story

Our Story…

Hi. I’m Jen, founder of Tidy Tot. After almost 11 years of sharing our wonderful products with you, I’d like to share my story of how Tidy Tot came to be. So here we go...

2011

This is where it started -15 years ago. Chloe was 6 months old and I was struggling. I’d found the transition to motherhood difficult, and weaning even more so.

I struggled with knowing what to feed, when and how. I constantly worried about how much she was eating - and the mess and waste drove me to distraction.

But the difficulties I had with weaning grew into a drive to find a solution....and the idea for the Bib & Tray Kit was born.

By the time I’d had my second baby Tom, I’d spent hours making prototypes, researching materials and product safety standards. Finally I had a design that I was confident would work.

With the help of Marcus and his team at my first factory in Nottingham, the first batch of 400 Tidy Tot Bib & Tray Kits were made.

So now with 400 units to sell, and baby number 3 to juggle (Yes - my timing is impeccable!) I had no choice but to get on with it.

I had no team, no investment - just my savings, loans from family and a huge amount of determination.

2015

Full of naive optimism, I took my 400 Bib & Tray Kit (and my husband Mike) to The Baby Show in Birmingham. I worried for weeks that we’d not have enough stock and I’d sell out too quickly.

Reality check. We sold less than 200 units.

I also managed to insult the Boots Nursery Buyer who'd come over to talk to me about listing Tidy Tot in their stores.
My head: Fabulous! More potential customers! These ladies don't have a baby with them - so one of them must be pregnant.
My mouth: “Hi ladies! Lovely to meet you - So, when are you due?"
Nursery Buyer, Boots: “I’m not.”

Not a great start!

2017

But the wheels were finally starting to turn. The Boots Nursery Buyer forgave me, and we got a listing in 60 stores. JoJo Maman Bebe stocked us and I signed the wonderful Hippychick as our UK distributor.

We won Mother & Baby Awards for our designs and had a loyal customer base who were passionate about the benefits of our products.

2020

As our product range grew, so did my team. The Bib & Tray Kit was consistently best seller in category on Amazon France, and our bibs were repeatedly selling out on all channels in the UK.

As a small business we couldn’t keep up!

I felt on top of the world and things were going great...until they weren’t.

2021

Out of the blue, our best selling product was targeted by a competitor. The whole thing quite honestly nearly killed my business, and left me feeling desperate.

Legal constraints mean I’m unable to explain what happened, but in short, we were prevented from selling our best selling product on our biggest sales channel for around 8 months.

The injustice hurt like hell. We ran out of cash. We had to lose members of our team and I went months and months without being able to pay myself a penny.

And then it got worse.

And so we got back up. Our suppliers supported us to re-stock, and we started again.

We re-built our business slowly and we made sure every single penny of marketing spend delivered a return .

Even the kids pitched in to help!

Our French market remained buoyant throughout the UK competitor issue, so we refocused and put all of energy there. I’m so proud of what we have achieved.

Today - we’re consistently number 1 on Amazon France, we’re stocked in many French national retailers and independent stores, and we’re a brand loved by weaning experts and customers alike.

2026

But I’m not one to leave things unfinished. We're a proud UK brand and while we've weathered plenty of storms, our story is not over yet.

Our Products

As a mum of three myself, I understand that parenting can feel really hard at times - especially when you’re juggling money worries, time pressures, and your own doubts and insecurities.

That's why all of our products are designed to make life easier for you, and fun for your little one - in a way that's genuinely accessible.

We we don't sell products you don't need - everything we offer is a genuine problem solver.

All of our products are tested and designed to the highest standards and are put through their paces by parents and their babies before they hit the shelves.

We never stop listening to customer feedback to make sure our products are the best that they can be.

Thank you so much for being a part of our incredible journey over the past few years, we simply couldn’t do it without you and we are so grateful to all our amazing customers.

Jen
Tidy Tot Founder & CEO

What People Are Saying

It’s the feedback we get from parents that makes it all worthwhile. We absolutely love to read your feedback and hear how our products are making parenting and mealtimes just that little bit easier.