{"id":4212,"date":"2012-12-14T11:10:42","date_gmt":"2012-12-14T11:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/?p=138"},"modified":"2021-05-18T16:09:50","modified_gmt":"2021-05-18T15:09:50","slug":"silver-fox-of-the-year-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"Silver Fox of the Year 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-4584 alignright\" src=\"\/startups-awards\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/joe-sephs-200x91.jpg\" alt=\"Joseph Sopher of Joe &amp; Seph's Gourmet Popcorn\" width=\"200\" height=\"91\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/12\/joe-sephs-200x91.jpg 200w, https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/12\/joe-sephs.jpg 241w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">Director:<\/strong> Joseph Sopher <strong>Year Started:<\/strong> 2010 <strong>Website:<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.joeandsephs.co.uk\">www.joeandsephs.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>At age 50, Joseph Sopher&rsquo;s existing business went into administration and whilst he thought he would enjoy some peace and relaxation he couldn&rsquo;t quieten his entrepreneurial mind and spirit. After two years of thinking and planning, Sopher kept returning to his lifelong fascination with popcorn and in November 2010 Joe &amp; Seph&rsquo;s all-natural, gourmet popcorn was born. In just two years, the business has already bagged eight Great Taste Awards, including two Gold Stars, as well as listings across a variety of customers including Selfridges, Wholefoods, Waitrose, pod, Picturehouses and W Hotel. It&rsquo;s a proposition that has captured the imagination of the press too with coverage in <i>Tatler<\/i>, <i>Wallpaper<\/i> and John Torode and Gregg Wallace&rsquo;s <i>Daily Mail<\/i> column, where the presenters of Masterchef &ldquo;couldn&rsquo;t get enough&rdquo; of the popcorn. The business is also rapidly expanding, the packing and production facility has been outgrown four times over and there are now 12 dedicated staff working to keep up with demand. Not only that, but they&rsquo;re exporting, to 100 stores in Spain and to 200 stores in Canada and the US. After finding his initial inspiration for the business in the popcorn loving US, for Sopher, the export back is a sure sign of the business&rsquo; burgeoning success.<\/p>\n<p><strong> Judges&rsquo; comments:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The judges loved this innovative and already successful start-up and its products. Joe and Seph&rsquo;s&nbsp;award-winning popcorn and strong brand have already led to a long list of top food retailers stocking it. Perhaps even more impressively, the two year old business is already profitable on turnover of close to half a million pounds.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Director: Joseph Sopher Year Started: 2010 Website: www.joeandsephs.co.uk At age 50, Joseph Sopher&rsquo;s existing business went into administration and whilst he thought he would enjoy some peace and relaxation he couldn&rsquo;t quieten his entrepreneurial mind and spirit. After two years of thinking and planning, Sopher kept returning to his lifelong fascination with popcorn and in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91469,"featured_media":4586,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-winners-2012"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Silver Fox of the Year 2012 - Startups Awards by Startups.co.uk: Start up a successful business<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Silver Fox of the Year 2012 - Startups Awards by Startups.co.uk: Start up a successful business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Director: Joseph Sopher Year Started: 2010 Website: www.joeandsephs.co.uk At age 50, Joseph Sopher&rsquo;s existing business went into administration and whilst he thought he would enjoy some peace and relaxation he couldn&rsquo;t quieten his entrepreneurial mind and spirit. After two years of thinking and planning, Sopher kept returning to his lifelong fascination with popcorn and in [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Startups Awards by Startups.co.uk: Start up a successful business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-14T11:10:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-05-18T15:09:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/12\/joe-sephs1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"241\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"The Startups Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The Startups Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"The Startups Team\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/#\/schema\/person\/b79c62a7ab4db88c1f4e6447ccddaa60\"},\"headline\":\"Silver Fox of the Year 2012\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-14T11:10:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-18T15:09:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/\"},\"wordCount\":280,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/12\/joe-sephs1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Winners 2012\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2012\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/\",\"name\":\"Silver Fox of the Year 2012 - Startups Awards by Startups.co.uk: Start up a successful business\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/12\/joe-sephs1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-14T11:10:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-18T15:09:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/#\/schema\/person\/b79c62a7ab4db88c1f4e6447ccddaa60\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/12\/joe-sephs1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/12\/joe-sephs1.jpg\",\"width\":241,\"height\":150},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Silver Fox of the Year 2012\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/\",\"name\":\"Startups Awards by Startups.co.uk: Start up a successful business\",\"description\":\"The UK&#039;s No.1 service for starting a business\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/#\/schema\/person\/b79c62a7ab4db88c1f4e6447ccddaa60\",\"name\":\"The Startups Team\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3c8cd68a78d325e8bbe4f764947a9052a9f89e15edf1385ad33bf583be4d8962?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3c8cd68a78d325e8bbe4f764947a9052a9f89e15edf1385ad33bf583be4d8962?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3c8cd68a78d325e8bbe4f764947a9052a9f89e15edf1385ad33bf583be4d8962?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"The Startups Team\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/author\/thestartupsteam\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Silver Fox of the Year 2012 - Startups Awards by Startups.co.uk: Start up a successful business","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Silver Fox of the Year 2012 - Startups Awards by Startups.co.uk: Start up a successful business","og_description":"Director: Joseph Sopher Year Started: 2010 Website: www.joeandsephs.co.uk At age 50, Joseph Sopher&rsquo;s existing business went into administration and whilst he thought he would enjoy some peace and relaxation he couldn&rsquo;t quieten his entrepreneurial mind and spirit. After two years of thinking and planning, Sopher kept returning to his lifelong fascination with popcorn and in [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/","og_site_name":"Startups Awards by Startups.co.uk: Start up a successful business","article_published_time":"2012-12-14T11:10:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-05-18T15:09:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":241,"height":150,"url":"https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/12\/joe-sephs1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"The Startups Team","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"The Startups Team","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/"},"author":{"name":"The Startups Team","@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/#\/schema\/person\/b79c62a7ab4db88c1f4e6447ccddaa60"},"headline":"Silver Fox of the Year 2012","datePublished":"2012-12-14T11:10:42+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-18T15:09:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/"},"wordCount":280,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/12\/joe-sephs1.jpg","articleSection":["Winners 2012"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2012","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/","name":"Silver Fox of the Year 2012 - Startups Awards by Startups.co.uk: Start up a successful business","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/12\/joe-sephs1.jpg","datePublished":"2012-12-14T11:10:42+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-18T15:09:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/#\/schema\/person\/b79c62a7ab4db88c1f4e6447ccddaa60"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/12\/joe-sephs1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/12\/joe-sephs1.jpg","width":241,"height":150},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/silver-fox-of-the-year-2012\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Silver Fox of the Year 2012"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/","name":"Startups Awards by Startups.co.uk: Start up a successful business","description":"The UK&#039;s No.1 service for starting a business","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/#\/schema\/person\/b79c62a7ab4db88c1f4e6447ccddaa60","name":"The Startups Team","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3c8cd68a78d325e8bbe4f764947a9052a9f89e15edf1385ad33bf583be4d8962?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3c8cd68a78d325e8bbe4f764947a9052a9f89e15edf1385ad33bf583be4d8962?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3c8cd68a78d325e8bbe4f764947a9052a9f89e15edf1385ad33bf583be4d8962?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"The Startups Team"},"url":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/author\/thestartupsteam\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}