Wild Nutrition was founded by husband-and-wife team Charlie and Henrietta Norton in 2013. 
Over the last 13 years, the husband-and-wife founders behind healthy supplement brand Wild Nutrition have survived being duped by a distributor, which nearly curtailed their business, to persuading SpaceNK to meet in London after the global luxury retailer requested a visit to their countryside offices – then a converted garden shed with one employee.
“We never considered that it wouldn’t succeed,” says Henrietta Norton. Her nutritional nous and ‘boots on the ground’ philosophy to train staff at retailers to become experts in the benefits of supplements – or Wild Experts as the company calls them – has paved the way for the East Sussex startup to employ more than 100 staff. It is also on track to turn over £42m for 2026/27.
Norton’s career started in event management before she left to complete a nutrition course after keeping up her interest in the body and wellbeing. At the time, she didn’t know she had endometriosis, a chronic condition where tissue similar to that in the lining of the womb grows elsewhere in the body. It affects over 1.5 million women in the UK.
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After over a decade of pain, she was tired and run-down. She was eventually diagnosed in 2004 and told she couldn’t have children naturally. Norton, who had only just met her future husband Charlie, changed her diet, became free of the symptoms and subsequently had three children.
After writing a well-received book on endometriosis, she also worked at a Harley Street clinic and then started to create formulations for other companies to best serve her clients. Over seven years, she garnered a deeper understanding of the supplement industry and “how products were made and shouldn’t be made.”
Wild Nutrition employs over 100 staff in Lewes, East Sussex.
“The supplement market 15 years ago was relatively small, poorly branded, with cheap ingredients and plastic pots,” she adds.
Having moved to East Sussex, Norton sold her flat in London as the couple raised investment from close friends and family and put £115,000 into the capital-intensive business for website building, branding, marketing and buying stock.
Before launching in early 2013, Charlie cold-called Whole Foods. They had been told that the retailer may run a trial in one store but soon wanted all of their stock. After initially looking at three products, the duo launched with 11.
“We were learning on the job but we had an invaluable mentor [Gareth Morris, former MD of jeweller Links of London] who helped me on the commercial side and with forecasting.”
“The belief in the business was so strong that anything that we didn’t know didn’t feel overwhelming and we would dive into it all,” adds Henrietta. “We didn’t question our ability to learn and get it done.”
For the first two years of the startup, Charlie was still fronting his brand and design agency, and Henrietta was working as lead nutritionist for the wellbeing club Grace Belgravia in London. In the early days, they were selling a handful of products a month online “but it felt brilliant”.
Wild Nutrition was founded after Henrietta Norton became free of endometriosis symptoms.
The business also seemed to have the Midas touch as every retailer Charlie visited, be it independent or a chain, went into partnership after his presentations.
As the business grew, the couple knew they needed more cash and stock. They wrote a business plan and met a key investor who is still linked with the firm today. “He said it was the quickest investment he had made at the time,” says Henrietta.
The business moved out of the garden shed into offices in Lewes and turned over around £130,000 in its first year of trading.
Challenges came when they met a Scandinavian distributor at a trade show who, says Charlie, “promised us the world”. The duo helped him launch the brand in the region but soon realised he was stockpiling and they had a shortfall of nearly £40,000. “It wasn’t just the loss of money, we had projected significant sales from him and it nearly folded the business,” recalls Charlie.
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The founders had a week to find additional working capital, which subsequently got the business back on track. Conversely, during COVID, their popular immune support saw their full six-month quota sold in two weeks. At the time, retail accounted for 70% of the business over online, which flipped post-pandemic.
Hailed as one of the UK’s top nutrition experts, Norton says the “dial hasn’t shifted that much” in terms of quality in today’s supplement market.
“There are a lot of brands out there from the perspective of a commercial engine before expertise,” she says. “People are saturated with information and still don’t know what is right for them.
“But we are seeing from social media more professionals able to have platforms to get their advice and knowledge out into the world.
Wild Nutrition says its educational piece has also been a “core founding principle” of the company’s rise.
Wild Nutrition is anticipating more growth after turning over £30m in its latest figures.
What held Wild Nutrition in good stead were early forays in building up brand relationships with its retailers, holding in-store events where the Nortons would train up their teams, test their knowledge and give them a Wild Expert badge, which assistants wore on the shop floor. “We were boots on the ground and constantly educating,” says Henrietta.
The company has 10 in-house nutritionists catering for consumers and undertakes 1,300 monthly consultations. It now employs 101 staff, which has allowed the couple to be less operational in the day-to-day running. “We have got to a point where we have been able to afford to bring in the best professionals and experts,” says Henrietta.
The couple, who have three sons, say they have learned to “maintain a sense of humour, communicate and get time apart” in dealing with work-life balances.
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“We both have very complementary skillsets,” says Charlie. “Hen is very good at the big picture and I am a detail freak. You have to have both.”
Wild Nutrition caters for both men and women. As Henrietta says, though, the company always set out to give the best support to women as they can be in certain areas very underserved.”
“It was always about helping women understand their bodies. When a woman is in balance, feeling strong, mentally and emotionally, they are an incredible being.”
6 ways to live a healthy life
Eat a rainbow daily. Get colour into your plate through fruit and vegetables, which will give you natural antioxidant polyphenols that you need for your immune system and fibre for your gut.
Being outside and exposed to green space has a direct impact on our immune system and our brain function.
Try to get a 13- to 16-hour window of fasting and not eating late. “When the sun goes down, the cooks go home,” the Indian saying goes.
Don’t buy cheap supplements. In today’s market, there are still high-end products being made and packaged but the ingredients that go into the capsules can be cheap and low quality.
Quite often, we are telling people to take fewer supplements. I advise people to get regular check-ins as our needs change through the seasons and stages in life. It’s important to check that what you are taking is right for you.
Good-quality deep sleep is pivotal. Our body is repairing and regenerating while we sleep deeply. A study from taking our magnesium supplement showed that it gave an extra 42 minutes of deep, restful sleep.
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