Meet the MYOM team

Meet the founder. Mike Curtis.

Mike Curtis founded the brand and digital agency Start, where for almost a quarter century he worked with clients like Virgin, Adidas and Samsung and specialised in building challenger brands. After years of growing Start in Europe, Asia and the Middle East and spending so much time abroad, the time came for a rethink.

‘There’s nothing more rewarding than working with great clients and talented people to deliver top-tier creativity. But along the way, I started to think about all the regions we’d travelled through or settled in, and it struck me, the level of waste I’d witnessed first-hand in global food production and supply chain was just absurd. I couldn’t stop thinking about it’.

Food provision was clearly overdue an overhaul and looking back to the UK, a new mission took hold.

In a sense it’s a story that comes full circle, the agricultural landscape is familiar one. Mike’s family has a farm in Yorkshire, so there is a lot of empathy for UK farmers and an understanding of the challenges that all farmers face, especially in light of climate concerns and changing consumer demands.

And yet, with so many brilliant disruptive innovations happening in the food space, it seemed like the perfect time to revisit some of the more traditional ways of doing things and having a closer look at the whole food distribution system. His attention turned to plant milk – for sure a great dairy alternative, but far from perfect when you consider packaging and chill-chain distribution.

So began an intense phase of research, listening and learning and pulling together a team of experts in their fields – nutritionists, food scientists, packaging specialists and a core group of former colleagues and clients. All enlisted to help bring an ambitious idea to life – a ‘no compromise’ oat milk with a simple but radical difference – water is added at home to lighten the load all round.

‘We’re not activists but we are acting with conviction. MYOM is about building on all the good work so far and brings something new and exciting to the table’