Burger making couple battle for shelf life Some of the problems were rooted in the company's continued use of practices it employed when it only sold its burgers at farmers" markets, including slaughtering cows one at a time for burger meat and running a separate operation selling steaks to restaurants and through its online store. After the Waitrose deal, we were buying more and more cows and putting more meat in the freezer. We realised, when we opened the freezer doors and had £6,000 of fillet, sirloin and rump in the freezer, that we shouldn't be wondering why we had invoices we couldn't pay. Another error, Ballard says, was buying too much packaging in an attempt to gain a cheaper price per unit. We spent £8,000 and it was just sitting there laughing at us. Sometimes it's better to pay more and control your cash. With their bank unwilling to provide a short-term loan, the couple sold a 25pc stake in the business for £150,000 to an angel investor. Muddy Boots started buying beef from a network of farmers so it could scale down its inefficient steak operation and Waitrose also agreed to let them approach the Co-Op and Budgens to expand their distribution. Since December, the Worcestershire-based firm has been making a small profit. "We made £19 in the second week of December," she laughs. We're getting tiny bits of profit each week to cling to. With Muddy Boots due to start supplying membership wholesaler Costco as well as more Waitrose stores in the spring, it should have revenues of about £1m in its next financial year, she says, and is working towards establishing a 10pc net margin. Despite the growth, Ballard is still worried about the seasonal nature of her sales. She'd like to spread the revenues and risk with new products, such as meatballs or pork burgers, but doesn't know whether to wait or take the plunge. It will make us look bigger, give us a stronger presence on the shelf and we think our current shoppers would be interested in trying something else from us. But it would be a £20,000 gamble as to when is the right time and we keep losing our confidence that most shoppers still haven't even heard of us. Why would we risk this massive impact on our cash flow just to try and cement our position in the food industry, when we're still not comfortably in profit? Act bigger, get treated as such, but don't go too soon is how she describes the tricky balancing act. She would like to have something on the shelves by September to even out winter sales, then launch a third product using retained profits in 2013. We can't keep asking our investors for more cash - they wouldn't be sensible to let us. We have to start building a little war chest. As a former PA to Sir David Frost, Ballard was used to fielding calls from the likes of Donald Rumsfeld, the former US defence secretary, but building a relationship with retail hawks can still prove tricky. "It's hard to build a relationship with buyers and we appreciate we're pretty insignificant to them," says Ballard, 30. We'd feel that we've matured as a business once the buyers are calling us rather than us having to pester them. Waitrose has been supportive and patient, she says, but the couple want to wait a little longer before approaching one of the giant stores. When we come in with a new idea, Waitrose let us try it - I can't imagine the big boys doing that. Until we've got the production and distribution capacity to never make mistakes, we'd be putting ourselves in a vulnerable position. Retained profits to provide a cash flow buffer for the extra demands larger customers will place on them will be crucial, she adds. So many small producers are surprised when they struggle with big supermarkets - it's often because they're not ready. We need to work to increase our sales and become better known before we walk into it. While an angel investor is an unconventional source for a working capital bail-out, it has worked out in the company's favour - the young couple are receiving the kind of advice that wouldn't have come with debt. Being able to ask quick questions on big decisions is worth more than the money - it's helping us to be better business people. She points to a recent decision to drop an account with a small restaurant as a case in point. We were supplying a restaurant that was making us little profit and it was a spanner in the works for our distribution. As a small business, you daren't turn business away but our investor said we were busy fools. The successful business person knows the confidence to say no is just as important as knowing when to say yes.