A day in the life of Deliciously Ella, the 25-year-old Instagram star who runs a food empire | Business Insider India (2024)

Over the past three years, the blog has generated more than 100 million hits.

"With eating well there's a perception that it's depressing," Ella told Business Insider. "People think they're just going to meditate and eat kale. Our main aim as a company is to take natural food and celebrate it and make it delicious, vibrant and beautiful — something you want to be a part of rather than that push towards fad diets."

"I’d been in hospital and in bed for a long time taking loads of medication," she said. "I was interested in different things I could do to manage the condition."

She found that changing her diet and lifestyle slowly began to help, and was inspired to start the blog. This included cutting out gluten and adopting a vegetarian diet.

"Matt started working with me a year ago and it has changed peoples' perceptions," Ella said. She added that this has helped broaden the appeal of her brand.

The newest Mae Deli, which takes the first letters of their names along with the name of their dog, Austin, opened on1 November. "We’re 11 months in with three sites open now," Matt said.

The two decided to go into business together four months after meeting.

"We went for a walk last summer not knowing we were going to do this, and by the time we got back, we decided to start working together," Matt said.

"The app funded everything to start with," Ella said. "It went to number one overnight and has stayed in the top five food and drink apps in the UK app store ever since. It was this constant ticker that allowed everything to get started."

Her first cookbook followed in January 2015 and was the fastest-selling debut cookbook ever in the UK. She released her second a year later.

"Lunch is the biggest part of what we do – there’s a queue out the door every day, andit’s filled with people you wouldn’t expect to be here," Ella said. "We don’t want it to be a niche thing."

Themost popular hot dishes are thecauliflower and lentil dahl and a five bean chilli.

"One of the great secrets and tricks to Ella’s success is the fact that when you’re eating with Ella you don’t feel like you’re eating something that’s super healthy," said Matt.

He said that while he's always watched his diet due to sport – he was previously a professional golfer –he's learned a lot about "this side of eating" since being with Ella.

They do, however, hope to open a proper restaurant in London over the next year or two.

"We can’t afford to do it right now because it’s prohibitively expensive, but we would like to do one at some stage," Matt said. He added that with Brexit looming there is "a lot of uncertainty."

"We’re not putting growth on hold – we’re still investing, but we're trying to do things where we can be a bit more nimble."

It features over 100 recipes, from which Ella and her team are trying to select 10 to 15 to use in a press pack.

"I tried to get the team in the book to get a sense of fun and sharing," she said. "I also got all of my family in it."

She said that while she prepares the recipes beforehand, a cook and food stylist prepares them for the book shoot. "We do 10 photos a day, which is quite a lot."

Her favourite recipes in the book include sweet potato falafels, a three-bean stew and a chickpea chilli.

"We go through a few rounds of recipe testing," she said. "I’ll try it a few times then send it to our office to try it. It normally takes about five tries."

"Matt and I bring different skills to the table," Ella said. "I work on the brand side of it – everything you look, see, eat, feel and connect to and engage with, that’s what I do and where my skills lie in the creativity of it."

She added: "Matt’s skills lie in the business development and the finance and the operations – actually making it work."

As we head to her next meeting of the day, she shows me the most recent posts. "This morning I did it on my way in. I’ve already liked every single one of them."

"I’m on my phone 24/7 replying to every Instagram comment and message to try and understand how people are seeing us, and their questions and concerns."

She also uses her travel time to reply to the 250-300 emails she gets a day. "If youcan keep firing it off throughout the day I find that 100 times easier," she said. "It’s pretty stressful otherwise."

Ella added: "You have to separate the negative into two categories – half of it is sensible, constructive things that has made us better. But half of the negative online is negative for the sake of being negative, and it’s important for us to remember it’s okay they don’t like us and sometimes there’s no point in engaging in that."

Ella said the brand has been interested in Neal's Yard for some time. She decided to try it out with a pop up serving festive treats like hot chocolate, mince pies, hot stews, brownies, and orange cake.

They launched three months ago in Whole Foods and became the retailer's most successful new product ever, according to Matt. Now in 1,500 stores including Waitrose, Starbucks, Holland & Barrett and WH Smith, they're about to launch two more flavours and are looking at expanding theproduct to Europe and eventually the US and Canada.

"Ella has really strong followings in a lot of places, but particularly in Australia, Germany, and the US," Matt said.

"We’re now looking at doing a lot of new product development and have a range to release as soon as March next year outside of snacking," Matt said.

Ella added: "The free-from aisle is the most depressing place in the supermarket. We want to fill in that gap of easy, everyday items."

There are currently 14 people in the office, and 65 to 70working for the company in the delis, so the team are looking for a new space near Oxford Circus.

"We think by this time next year, we’ll have around 30 people in the office," Matt said.

When she's not cooking, they like to eat out, which they do at least a couple of nights a week. Ella's favourite restaurants include The Barbury, Pachamama, Chicama, and a local Indian restaurant in Earl's Court called Noor Jahan.

"I like food with a lot of flavour — especially Middle Eastern and Indian Food," she said.

"The sister restaurant of The Barbury, Palomar, has been one of our favourite restaurants this year," Matt said. "That's where we had our second date."

The first date took place at Yotam Ottolenghi's restaurant Nopi. "Matt did a good job," Ella said. "Plain food is my worst nightmare."

On the Friday we met, they were preparing for a weekend with their parents, but they tend to work weekends —the online world and the work at the delis never stops.

Ella said: "We have a Sunday night ritual of working for a few hours and clearing out the inbox or writing a blog post while watching X-Factor."

However, she tries to make sure she doesn't push the lifestyle that works for her onto her friends and family.

"It’s important not to be preachy," she said. "Just because you like something doesn’t mean other people will."

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