She’s pasta point of no return: How one mum’s plan to make eco-friendly food for kids became a home business

As Charli Morrison’s maternity leave was coming to an end she wondered how she could afford to return to work and pay nursery fees for her twin sons Alfie and Teddy.

With weekly costs averaging £240 for each she knew she would have little left from her take-home pay.

So Charli, an environmental scientist, looked around her home in Moffat and hit on an idea which suited her family.

Her husband, Hayden, works as a forestry asset manager and like the majority of mums, Charli was their children’s main carer.

Her two-year-olds love pasta with home-made sauce and so she opened her own pasta company, creating her toddlers’ favourites from her own kitchen.

“I had been making my own pasta for a while because both boys have food allergies – Alfie is allergic to nuts, and Teddy to milk – and wondered if I could turn my home cooking into a business,” she said.

“Working with two boisterous toddlers leaves little time to work at home so that meant getting up at 5am long before they wake every morning to make the pasta. Since opening in October, I have reached profit level.

“Seven months into my Pasta Palatte business, and I am selling out at farmers’ markets and doing well with online orders.”

© Andrew Cawley

She admits that becoming a mumpreneur was far from her mind when she left her environmental science job on maternity leave two years ago.

“But working for nothing and even being out of pocket [in] some months after paying nursery fees, was not an option.”

Little did she know that by opening her Dumfriesshire home kitchen business she was entering into the fiercely competitive world of eco entrepreneurship – one of the fastest growing marketplaces.

The pasta is produced from locally sourced businesses, driving its own success by including others nearby. It comes in flavours and colours created with beetroot, spinach, cabbage, turmeric and paprika made in small batches.

The flour is organic and ingredients usually locally sourced.

Rigatoni and fusilli were the best sellers but shell-shaped conchiglie is overtaking them.

“Looking at my customer base at farmer’s markets, I see a lot of interest from the 25-40s age range but grandparents who do family childcare are a growing market,” she says. “I am led really by what the customers want. The toughest challenge, though, has been in going from science to sales. Standing at a farmers’ market with a cheery smile on a chilly, rainy day can be harder than working with the environment. However, seeing repeat customers gives you that boost you need to know it’s worthwhile.”

She even makes pasta to order including green pasta for a Christmas tree a customer ordered at the beginning of December.

The Morrisons’ monthly challenge to pay their children’s nursery fees is a dilemma faced by thousands of working parents throughout the UK.

Around two thirds of parents in Scotland are leaving their jobs or cutting working hours because of the cost and availability of childcare, says a leading charity.

Campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed, say rising nursery care is limiting parents’ ability to work and forcing parents to lower the number of children they have.

The growing shortage of skilled workers is bad news for the here and now but also for the foreseeable future say economists.

Scottish Government figures show that couples now have fewer than two children per family.

The nation’s fall in birth rate is recorded 45,935 live births in 2023, a 2% decrease on 2022 and the lowest total since records began in 1855, says the National Records of Statistics. The obstacles are many according to the TUC.

Half of new fathers who request flexible working don’t get it, a TUC poll reports, and that number rises to nearly two in three fathers if their annual household income is under £40,000.

One in five will not even ask for flexibility because they don’t think it would be approved.

© Andrew Cawley

Businesses led by women show that almost one five UK companies are led by them.

For those who want to become mumpreneurs, the constant battle of caring for children while running a business is not for the faint hearted.

Sadly, women are less likely to seek business loans to ease that route.

The London School of Economics reports that women-owned are less likely to ask for business financing because they fear that their applications will be rejected.

They are also more likely to halt applications, thinking they will be turned down.

Charli Morrison wants her business to thrive and expand after her boys start school.

“In 10 years, I want to have separate premises for my pasta company and also not get up at 5am every day to get work done before my boys wake,” she says.