Two Farmers: The Crisp Brand Betting on Compost
TL;DR: Two Farmers, a Herefordshire crisp brand launched by two farmers in 2018, built its whole identity around a 100% compostable packet — proof that for a small producer, the packaging itself can be the marketing.
A pint, a packet of crisps, and an idea
Two Farmers began the way a lot of good small businesses do — over a pint. Second-generation farmer Mark Green and potato merchant Sean Mason wanted to do something with Herefordshire potatoes, and launched the brand at the Speciality & Fine Food Fair in 2018. What set it apart was not a flavour, but a bag.
The crisps come in a 100% compostable packet made from cellulose, with plant-based inks and glues, that breaks down in a home compost heap in 26 to 38 weeks. The company calls itself the UK's first plastic-free crisp brand — and that claim does most of its marketing for it.
When packaging is the product story
For a small producer with no budget to outspend the big crisp brands, the compostable packet is a brilliant piece of strategy. It is a visible, tactile point of difference the customer literally holds, a reason to pay a little more, and a story retailers and journalists want to tell. The sustainability is genuine; the marketing leverage is the bonus.
It also runs deep. Potatoes are grown, harvested, cooked and packed within about two miles of the facility to keep road miles low, powered in part by an on-site anaerobic digester and solar panels. The provenance is not a tagline — it is how the business is built, which is exactly why the story holds up.
Small scale, serious reach
That coherence has earned distribution most micro-brands can only dream of: Two Farmers says it works with over 2,000 retailers, from Harvey Nichols and Gail's Bakery to the Eden Project, Eurostar and even Google's offices, and has picked up multiple Great Taste awards and a Sustainability Pioneer accolade. It has been the only crisp brand traded throughout Glastonbury.
The honest tension
There is a real challenge the brand is open about: compostable packaging costs more than standard film, and shopper understanding of how to dispose of it is still catching up. Doing the right thing is not automatically cheaper or easier — it has to be backed by a product good enough to justify the premium, which the Great Taste wins suggest it is.
What small businesses can take from this
If you are a small producer wondering how to stand out against big-budget rivals, Two Farmers is the answer in a bag: find a genuine, visible point of difference your customer can see and touch, build your operations around it so the story is true, and let that difference earn the press and shelf space you cannot buy. Authentic distinctiveness is the cheapest marketing a small business has.
Two Farmers can't outspend the big crisp brands, so it out-means them. The compostable packet is a genuine commitment and a genuine marketing asset at the same time — a reason to choose it, a reason to pay more, and a story people want to pass on. For a small business, a real point of difference you can hold in your hand is worth more than any ad budget. — Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing
For a small producer, a genuine, visible point of difference does the work an ad budget can't — build the business around it and it earns the shelf space and press you can't buy.
What is the one genuine difference your customers could see or touch — and are you building your whole business around it?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Based on reporting from the Speciality & Fine Food Fair, Food & Beverage Business and Two Farmers.
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Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
