Annabel Karmel: Keeping up with Karmel

Ask any new mother in the UK, and she will almost certainly have heard of Annabel Karmel. Her kitchen will more than likely have a sauce-stained copy of the Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner, and possibly a few more of Karmel's books.

Karmel is a cookbook phenomenon. Her series of home-made recipes for babies and toddlers sold more than 140,000 copies through Nielsen BookScan in 2007, at a value of around £1.5m. The Meal Planner alone sold close to 57,000 copies and is a regular in the top five cookery titles, and since BookScan records began it has brought in nearly £10m in revenue for booksellers.

But books are no longer the only string to Karmel's bow: last year Sainsbury's launched her first food range, Eat Fussy, which is being re-launched with additional recipes this year. She also has a Make Your Own range of products in Boots and a feeding products range with Mothercare. Her redesigned website has more than 60,000 members, she has been approached by Channel 4 to develop a TV series, while she will also be the face of nutrition for Disney's forthcoming parenting website.

Her New Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner (Ebury), meanwhile, was given a 'deluxe and illustrated' edition six months ago, and stocked in an exclusive deal with Mothercare. It has just been launched into the general retail market.

All in all, 2007 was pretty eventful. "I've never had a year like it. My business tripled in size," exclaims Karmel. "My career has changed tremendously. With my name now going into Mothercare and Boots and Sainsbury's, I've become much more of a household name. It's becoming a much stronger brand than it ever was before."

The development of her food ranges is particularly close to Karmel's heart: "This is a dream I had many years ago but was never able to fulfil. Nobody was that interested. It's only recently that people have become more interested in what they feed their child."

She admits that the delay was a blessing in disguise: "It allowed me to spend time just writing and developing recipes. A lot of mums trust my brand because of the books, so [when they see] the Annabel Karmel name on a range of foods, they believe it's good quality. [My books have] given me a huge foundation of loyalty that I can build on."

That loyalty has developed over 16 years. Karmel started writing the Meal Planner to help her cope with the death of her first child. When she tried selling it to publishers, she found no one was interested in cookbooks for babies— 15 publishers turned her down, before packaging company Eddison Sadd helped sell it to Simon & Schuster in the US. Ebury— one of the earlier rejecters— eventually published in the UK in 1991, and she now also publishes some titles with Dorling Kindersley.

"Almost as soon as [the Meal Planner] was published, it became a bestseller and it's been sold into more than 20 different countries," says Karmel. She has written at least one book every year since, but "despite having written many other books this is the one that people keep on wanting to buy".

Even though her food ranges are taking off—with four or five more planned this year—Karmel still feels committed to her books. She was reluctant to write any more when she started developing her brand, but relented when Ebury asked her to go ahead with The Fussy Eaters' Recipe Book last year.

"I love to write books, so I got dragged back into it," she says. "And then I ended up doing more books than I've ever done before."

This year sees the Mummy and Me Cookbook and an album, Baby's First Year, from DK, and a finger food cookbook for Ebury is due in 2009. Karmel is also keen to develop cross-promotion and merchandising opportunities, such as a cookery kit with Mummy and Me or keepsakes with the First Year album— "It not only increases book sales, but makes it a gift purchase, and gets the book into other places as well as bookshops."

With so many plans in the pipeline, could the Karmel brand be growing too fast? For someone who prides herself on quality control, Karmel seems to have a lot going on. She admits that "It's a challenge", but stresses that she constantly strives to make sure new products and ranges are quality and not "label flapping", as she calls it.

Before approaching a retailer with her first food range, Karmel spent a year and a half on sourcing and research and finding a suitable factory, and she still shows the same dedication to her books: "To stay ahead of the game you must make a quality book. I never take on more books than I can cope with. That's how I've built my career: testing, testing and re-testing."

For now, Karmel maintains a firm hold of her company. The business is self-funding, and there are no plans of selling part of it in the near future. "I'd quite like to build a business for my children to get into," she adds.

Karmel is surprised at the speed at which her business has grown, but not surprised at the success itself. "I think that children's food is not being tackled well in this country—it's either very bland or it's unhealthy, and there's a huge gap in the market," says Karmel, as she readies herself to plug that gaping hole.

When remembering her original doubters, she remains philosophical: "I don't really look back— why should they have believed in me? Nobody would have believed the success."