Rez Gachcar’s life is one of inspiration... and some incredibly innovative ideas.
What has set him apart has been his ability to bring many of those ideas to life. Forum had the opportunity to catch up with Rez to discuss his inspiration and what makes him continue striving to innovate in the world of business.
Winner of the Emerging Talent title at the Forum’s 2020 Entrepreneurial Awards, it is clear to see why Rez Gachcar achieved such an accolade.
This is a man who exudes energy, epitomising the key ingredients of entrepreneurship - an inquisitive nature and the desire to solve problems and challenges. The founder of Mud Daddy has now been recognised on a national scale too, after becoming the North East’s first ever winner of The Spectator’s Innovator of the Year award.
Our formative years are often the most important in forging our outlook and mindset, whether on
a personal or business level. From an early age, inspired by the work ethic of his father, Rez was focused on finding work and making money.
He explains: “As a teenager in Iran I was influenced by my father who had businesses. I saw the hard work he put in to make his business successful.
“I was introduced to the fast moving consumer goods and food industry early on through the process of making pickled gherkins - which was a very good process for me to start to understand business. It was great for me as a child. It really grew and I was making more money than my parents,” he recollects.
“And that's how I supported myself to buy the ticket to get my visa for the UK.”
The pace of his transition to becoming a successful entrepreneur really started to take shape in 2002 when he arrived in the North East from Iran, armed with dreams of pursuing education.
He had heard the North East was a place that had a very good academic infrastructure particularly around learning English as a foreign language; as well as it being a place with lots of history, charm and friendly people.
After his arrival, language barriers proved challenging, leading him to Newcastle College to improve his English. Odd jobs like dishwashing gave him the basic means to live. Rez's reflection on those early days smacks of nostalgia: “I was about 20 when I came here in 2002. I came to the North East as a young man with the dream to study.
“It slowly became clear that studying was not the way I wanted to go forward though. I enjoyed the world of business. I grew up in a business environment. We were always involved in buying and selling to make a living since I was little.”
And Newcastle itself (the place, the people and the infrastructure) became a catalyst, offering Rez an ecosystem to flourish. This was a place where Rez felt at home and comfortable and able to tap into the inspiration of the business community. He explains: “When I came to Newcastle, I fell in love first of all with the city. It just felt like I’d been here before. And I just started an exciting journey.
“I went to university for a couple of months. With the cost and the fees, it was a struggle. I wasn't from a rich family.”
His time in academia was brief, deciding to leave university for the business world with a determination that would define his success.
Rez's journey involved various business ventures, each contributing to improving his understanding of business and innovation - of product, design, sales and customer service.
Initially he worked in the hospitality world. He adds: “I started to buy empty pubs that had closed down, renovating them and then selling them on. The same with the restaurants and takeaways. I did it for the first three to four years here. It's good for a startup, but not for the longer term.”
The transition from purchasing closed-down pubs to venturing into the cheese market reflects his adaptability. Rez explained: “It is often the people you meet and their ideas that sparks a business venture. Through a meeting with a Polish woman I travelled to Poland to look at cheese production. I felt I could contribute something novel to this industry.
“So I started importing cheese, shredding and packing, branding and selling it to restaurants and the takeaway industry around the North East first and then the rest of the UK. It was called Prime Cheese.
“But I realised very fast that the bank wouldn't lend me any money. I needed at least £750k to a million pounds to really scale. The competition was fierce, with some very big multinational players. Our packaging wasn't good enough. And I was struggling just to make a normal living. I decided if I cannot raise money, I cannot invest in it, then it's a long game without any result.”
The key turning point in Rez's entrepreneurial journey came with a personal challenge – cleaning his dog after walks in the woods near Newcastle.
“I’m a dog lover - always have been. I’d come back from walks and my dog was covered in horse mess and mud,” he laughs. “The car would get filthy. It was so frustrating and there was nothing like a portable dog shower or portable dog washing device. I Googled it and Googled it!”
This challenge led to Mud Daddy, a revolutionary portable dog shower. Rez explains: “We were at the right place and right time. We love dogs here in the UK and in Europe.
“In the first year my vision was to sell 2,000 pieces, and we sold over 25,000 pieces,” Rez exclaims.
We had to chat to Amazon to ask them to include the search term, ‛portable dog shower’ on their site as Mud Daddy created an entirely new category. Once this was in place, our growth just accelerated.”
Mud Daddy became a testament to Rez's problem-solving prowess.
He adds: “It's just in my blood. I understand the problem, find a solution, and make it work as fast and as cheap as possible. This is my strong point.”
Mud Daddy developed into a multi-million pound business - the simple but innovative design flying off the shelves. But Rez encountered another challenge, leading to another business innovation.
He explains: “In many ways GoNokNok has emerged from Mud Daddy and one of the challenges we were facing.”
GoNokNok is a smart parcel box system born out of Rez's frustration with the challenges of conventional parcel delivery. “I decided to spend some of this cash from Mud Daddy to invest in GoNokNok,”
Rez shares.
GoNokNok is a smart delivery ecosystem with a physical device being installed at premises with an integrated app and location-based coding system.
“Traditional delivery systems pose lots of problems and I experienced it with sending Mud Daddy units. People end up spending valuable time and fuel costs going to delivery centres to pick up parcels or have to wait weeks for a re-delivery. GoNokNok is smart, reliable, secure and direct to the premises.”
With the success of Mud Daddy and the promising trajectory of GoNokNok, Rez has expanded
his team and operations: “We have 11 team members now and just hired a Chief Operating Officer.”
When it comes to the challenges of balancing work and life and keeping a healthy mindset, Rez is candid.
“We built this business on customer service and I love my work. But it’s important for me to wind down. I like a shot or two of whiskey, a visit to the gym, or a leisurely walk with my dog.”
Looking ahead, Rez envisions GoNokNok becoming as popular as Mud Daddy, addressing a global need for a smarter, more efficient parcel delivery system.
“The potential is actually bigger than Mud Daddy,” he comments.
On his positive mindset Rez is ebullient.
“Every time I’ve failed, I’ve rolled up my sleeves and got back on with it. I keep the negative noise out. Put your head down and run with it, run with your dream,” he says, his voice becoming emotional as his eyes light up with excitement. Possibly another business idea is being envisaged as he speaks…
muddaddy.co.uk
gonoknok.com
This article was originally published in the spring 2024 edition of forum magazine.
