About

About Lunchbox World

About Me:

So who is behind Lunchbox World?

Hi I’m Caroline, the “Lunchbox Lady” behind Lunchbox World!

With a background in consumer marketing and a love and passion for food, the Lunchbox World website started out as an idea back in 2008, actually more a “gap in the market” idea that then launched in 2009. With 3 young kids, and no option of school lunch provided at school, I was duty bound to provide packed lunches for the brood. I just had to get stuck in, create daily lunch boxes, sometimes FIVE of them, (including the one for me and hubbie) that fitted the criteria :

• to be exciting for all ages
• to be tasty enough to make them actually eat the lunch; and
• still looked appealing half way through the day!

I was on a search for a washable lunch bag and in my search, found there were not many people talking “lunch boxes” (or so I thought at the time!) You only have to look across at the USA and Australia if you want to be inundated by the scope of lunch boxes and truly food art creations!

I had that eureka moment. “How about Lunchbox World?” How about creating a website, a one stop shop that is all about lunch boxes and has everything to do with lunch boxes, from the food you eat, to the lunch box ideas, to top tips, hints, lunch box hacks, recipe ideas, to the kit you buy to carry your lunch in – all on the same website. I know, I’ll call it “Lunchbox World”!

And so the first Lunchbox World website was born in Spring 2009! This was perhaps one of my proudest moments. Actually making what I had in my head come to be a reality!

The first website was a bespoke site. Designed with a certain number of pages. Truly limited. As the traffic grew on the site and I appeared in more and more newspaper articles, I then needed a new site. With more functionality, an e-shop where you could click on the link and then buy there and then. So the next Lunchbox World website was created! See below visual. It had a rotating banner, lots of amazing imagery and mouth-watering recipes.

The Lunchbox World e-commerce shop was live for 6 years (2009-2015).  I sourced all the products from around the world, I researched online, looked to America for inspiration, visited every trade show I could find that was foodie related and got myself a press pass. I attended every press event that was linked to food and drink! I discovered new gadgets at trade fairs, and I utilised a fulfilment house that stocked all the product, and that picked, packed and shipped the orders, once the volume of orders was too great to still run the business from home.

I decided to discontinue the e-commerce shop, to free up my time so I could concentrate and focus 100% on my true passion – being a content creator, creating step by step how to guides, sharing great food art ideas, lunch box recipe ideas and creating inspiration for all ages when it comes to food on the go. I love food, the colour, the textures and what is possible out of fairly simple ingredients. I have recipes for school aged kids, for students, for teens and inbetweens, and for adults taking lunch to work, or even stay at home working lunches, or #wfhlunch as it’s now known, so we cover many lunch box ideas for all ages and picnic ideas too!

So what is next for Lunchbox World?

The Lunchbox World site is evolving to stay true to its original dream – to be the one stop e-magazine style website, all about lunches, from the food you eat to the kit you use.

Watch out for the Lunchbox World seal of approval on product reviews, where we highlight products both food, drink and kit-related ideas, that are perfect for the lunch box and for food on the go!

We’ve also set ourselves the target of posting 365 lunchbox ideas, so do check that out!

Lunchbox World is packed with lunch box ideas, a recipe section, reviews, hints and tips, fun lunch box ideas for kids, working lunch ideas for adults – sprinkled throughout with lots of cooking, baking and foodie fun not forgetting the food art.

We also cover basic nutrition, the importance of hydration, healthy eating and then share all the fun bits: days out, eating out, family fun and the not-so-fun bits – parenting tip for parenting teens and more…

New in Autumn 2016 came a quick, easy student recipe series, as my kids get older and older. And yes, before you ask, I am now paranoid that our oldest, both Tuna and Spike aren’t eating properly, now two are at Uni … but the beauty of the Lunchbox Word website is that any of the lunch ideas can be eaten by anyone, as they are quick and easy to prepare. Hence the Lunchbox World YouTube channel was born. Partly to share all the lunch box ideas and recipe ideas with my kids! So there are no excuses not to create something quick and easy to eat, whatever your budget and whatever the time of day!

I hope you love what you read, that you’ll follow us and keep coming back for more. Feel free to encourage other lunch-packers to come and connect and share the lunch box love!

Lunchbox World – does it have a YouTube channel?

Yes! Lunchbox World has a Youtube channel. Click below to see our trailer and get a flavour for what’s happening… Watch this space for lots more content coming! And remember to subscribe to the channel and like the videos if you do, as it is always great to get feedback on what ideas you like and want more of!

Where do I find Lunchbox World on social media?

We would love you to CONNECT with Lunchbox World on social media, and to keep it super simple we are easy to find and follow as we are @lunchboxworld everywhere:

on twitter: @lunchboxworld
on facebook: Lunchbox World facebook page
and a new growing facebook community page “Let’s Pack Lunch”
Google +: Lunchbox World Page
Pinterest: and we’d love you to share your lunch with us too!
Instagram – @lunchboxworld
or you can contact us via email carolinejob at lunchboxworld dot co dot uk

So what are your Proudest Moments having started out back in 2009?

• Being spotted and chosen by TV Dragon’s Den Entrepreneur, Theo Paphitis in his Small Business Sunday competition on twitter #SBS on 29 May 2011 and now an #sbswinner!
• Being featured in many newspaper Back to School round ups including the Independent Best Back to School Buy supplement 2 years running in 2011, 2012
• Lunchbox World featuring in The Sunday Times 2011
• Lunchbox World featuring in Red Online in their lunch box round up.
• Meeting many celebrity chefs, learning their top tips and tricks for healthy eating, barbecues, then finishing with sampling morsels they’ve so passionately and cleverly created!

– coming soon… posts that’ll give you a rounded idea of what we’re all about!
That fateful tweet that resulted in meeting the lovely Valentine Warner

The School Food Plan 2013

Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Day was on 20 May 2016. We’ll be sure to keep you up to date on all the lunch box news and big initiatives that happen in the foodie calendar.

PRODUCT REVIEWS, EVENTS AND POST OPPORTUNITIES

We will gladly review products, attend foodie events, develop recipe ideas and commission a series of creative posts, if this fits within Lunchbox World and our food on the go philosophy. Please check out the “Work with Me” section for more details.

Who else is behind Lunchbox World?

Well, Lunchbox World wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the help, love and support from my family. Back in the day when we were shipping lunch box orders from the dining room table, the kids would help me pick, pack and ship the orders in the summer holidays, so it has very much involved all the family!

Then of course some of their food art features on the YouTube channel so we all have a love of food and creativity! Even the trip to the Post Office on the school run. They all know me as the Lunchbox Lady!

MEET THE FAMILY

Lunchbox Lady – obviously that’s me! aka Caroline
Tuna – the oldest daughter
Spike – middle man
King Julien – the youngest

Thanks so much for reading! And Welcome aboard if you are in search of lunch box inspiration!

The Lunchbox World Team x