An inspirational mum from Sutton Coldfield has turned the tragedy of losing one of her sons and the fight to get her other two boys healthy after all were born prematurely into the award-winning Pudding & Pie business.
Three Premature Babies, All Under 2lbs
Nikki Talbot has had three children, all boys, and all of which were born early, with them all weighing less than two pounds. Nikki had twins Tom and Charlie at just 25 weeks, with Tom sadly dying at just two months old from an abdominal infection. Two years later, Louie was born and he too arrived early at 30 weeks.
Nikki said seeing her children struggling in the very early days pushed her to make sure they were fed well with nutrition becoming a key part of their upbringing.
From Bank Job to Business Owner
At the time Nikki was working for Royal Bank of Scotland as a training manager but her department was about to go and with it 400 jobs, including hers. So with job losses on the horizon in 2012, she went to the Franchise Show at the NEC, looking for inspiration for her post RBS employment. And there she saw a business idea of cooking for children.
Rather than buy an off-the-shelf franchise idea, Nikki decided to set up her own business, Pudding & Pie. The Boldmere-based mum used her experience of seeing the vital role nutrition played in helping tiny, fragile babies grow stronger and healthier as an idea for a children’s cookery enterprise.
A New Perspective on Life
Nikki said: “When you have children born so early and in special care for three months or so and lose a child your priorities change. I became fascinated by the impact food has on children’s lives. Not just physically, but emotionally, socially and developmentally too. Watching my own children grow from such a vulnerable start into healthy, independent young adults gave me a profound appreciation for the power of nutrition and healthy habits.”
She added: “I love food and I love children so combined the two into a business. We are in schools and nurseries. I wanted to make a difference. And at that point I just wanted to take the boys to school and make some money.”
Power of Nutrition
One of the main reasons for changing from the corporate world, working for others to becoming an entrepreneur was a simple one, wanting to see more of her children. The 49-year-old Sutton Coldfield businesswoman said: “When my children were born, I learnt how to wean them on fruit and vegetables. I really threw myself in to that. Charlie, when he came home, he was just three pounds. He looked very, very different. In his first two or three years, he was small and behind developmentally. But now both he and Louis are way taller than me – at 20 and 18. I believe it’s the power of nutrition.”
Building a Business
In 2012 – that sliding doors moment of a redundancy pushed Nikki to become a businesswoman, away from the banking world. She had a pay off from RBS and used the cash to set up Pudding & Pie which delivers cooking and nutrition experiences for children in schools, nurseries and communities. She taught children aged from three at private nurseries to 11 how to make simple, healthy food with one ‘hero’ ingredient.
There are themes like cookies for Chinese New Year, all with a small amount of ingredients and recipes that are not complicated. Children learn how to make a snack they then take home with them, along with the recipe with a small and simple ingredients list for them to repeat the tasty trick at home. Nikki said: “I love Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay but I don’t always like their ingredient lists with 19 items on it. It puts me off!” And what children are taught is cross curricula, from cooking to maths, nutrition to social skills.
Rapid Growth Through Franchising
In the first year, Nikki taught less than 200 children – and now her business teaches thousands of kids around the country – which ironically has come about through franchising her idea. Nikki said: “What started as a passion project, now teaches more than 70,000 children a year. I started the franchising side 15 months ago and have seven now. It has grown quite quickly. From Sutton, Pudding & Pie is now in Solihull, Shropshire, Worcester, Staffordshire North Somerset, Amersham and Liverpool. With two more set for the Severn Valley and West Cumbria. The network reaches thousands of children every week through school clubs, curriculum workshops, assemblies, holiday camps and community programmes.”
Award Recognition
And that franchising success has been recognised at the Disruptive Franchise Awards 2026. Nikki has been named the Most Inspirational Franchisor in Business. The Sutton entrepreneur said: “To receive recognition as Most Inspirational Franchisor is incredibly special, particularly so early in our franchising journey. The award isn’t really about me. It’s about the amazing women who have chosen to join Pudding & Pie and the thousands of children they are supporting every single week. What makes me most proud is that we’ve built something that creates impact on both sides. We’re helping children develop life skills and healthy habits while creating opportunities for women to build businesses that fit around their lives and families.”
She added: “People are often told they have to choose between doing meaningful work and earning a good living. I don’t believe that’s true. Pudding & Pie exists because I wanted to prove that you can absolutely have both.”
