Pip Organic: Raising a Generation on Real Food

In a food landscape crowded with clever marketing, artificial flavourings and ever-more convincing health claims, Pip Organic stands apart for a simple reason: it was never created to chase a trend. It was created to solve a problem — one experienced personally, daily, and deeply — by two parents who cared profoundly about what they were feeding their children, and about the world those children would inherit.

Karen and Patrick O’Flaherty are not industry insiders turned entrepreneurs. They are parents and long-term advocates of organic living, whose journey into building one of the UK’s most trusted organic family brands began not with a business plan, but with lived experience.

A shared philosophy, long before a brand

Both Karen and Patrick arrived at Pip Organic from different paths that ultimately converged around the same values. Patrick grew up with organic farming woven into his family history — his family in South Africa were among the first to farm organically, long before it became a recognised or regulated movement. Karen, meanwhile, experienced health challenges in her twenties that forced her to look closely at what she was eating and how food affected her body.

When the two met, travelled together and later settled in London, they discovered a shared frustration: despite increasing talk of “healthy” food, genuinely clean, organic products — especially for families — were hard to find.

That gap became glaringly obvious when they began fresh juicing at Borough Market. Long days spent behind the stall, experimenting with unusual blends and speaking directly to customers, gave them a front-row view of how hungry people were for food that felt real, nourishing and transparent.

“It was always about more than taste,” Karen explains. “It was about knowing what was actually in the product — and what wasn’t.”

Parenthood changes everything

As their lives evolved, so did the questions they were asking. When their children were born, Karen and Patrick found that organic options were plentiful during the baby-food years. But once children grew out of purées and toddler meals, a troubling gap appeared.

“For older children — especially that in-between stage — it suddenly became much harder to make good choices,” Karen says. “Products looked healthy, but when you read the labels, sugar and additives were everywhere.”

Ice lollies were one of the most striking examples. Even those aimed at children were filled with colourings, stabilisers, glucose syrups and artificial flavourings. The idea that a child’s first experience of fruit flavour might be synthetic felt deeply wrong.

So they created their own.

Pip Organic’s fruit and vegetable ice lollies were deliberately radical in their simplicity: real fruit, cheeky vegetables, and nothing else. No added sugar. No sweeteners. No flavourings. Just food, frozen.

“We were told repeatedly that it wouldn’t work,” Patrick recalls. “That you had to add sugar or flavourings, especially once something is frozen. But we believed that if children were given real food early enough, their taste buds would understand it.”

They were right.

Teaching taste, not tricking it

That philosophy — teaching children what food actually tastes like — runs through every Pip product. From mango fruit sticks made with a single ingredient, to juices blended with vegetables, the brand is built around introducing young palates to real flavours, rather than masking ingredients behind sweetness.

“We want children to know what Cherry tastes like,” Patrick says. “Not what Cherry flavouring tastes like.”

As their children grew older, new challenges emerged. Sitting in restaurants, Karen and Patrick noticed that once children reached a certain age, the choice often became binary: water, or sugary fizzy drinks. There was nothing in between.

The result was Pip Organic Fizz — a lightly sparkling blend of organic juice and water, gently fizzy, no added sugar, and offering one of a child’s five-a-day without tipping into the world of ultra-processed soft drinks.

“It feels grown up,” Karen explains. “But it’s still clean, simple and nutritious.”

Interestingly, they soon discovered that the product resonated with children even younger than expected — a sign of how early children are now exposed to fizzy drinks, and how urgently parents are looking for better alternatives.

A brand built with families, not at them

One of Pip Organic’s quiet strengths is how closely the brand listens. Karen and Patrick have built a what they call ‘Pip Parent Panel’  — a community of parents they regularly consult to understand real concerns, habits and needs.

They also listen very closely at home.

Their children are deeply involved in the brand — from flavour development and packaging opinions to storytelling and stop-motion videos. While this sometimes means new product ideas spread around the playground before launch, it also ensures that Pip remains grounded in the realities of family life.

“Our children ask different questions now,” Karen reflects. “They want to know where ingredients come from, how things are made, what certifications mean. That curiosity gives us so much optimism”

Championing organic in a complex world

Building an organic brand has not been without challenges. Organic is not just a philosophy — it is a regulated, legally defined standard, requiring certified partners, transparent sourcing and constant vigilance.

Sourcing has been particularly complex, Karen and Patrick are candid about the lack of policy support for organic farming in the UK compared with Europe.

“In Europe, organic farming is actively encouraged,” Karen says. “There’s a real understanding that it protects land, biodiversity and long-term health. We hope the UK will follow.”

Despite this, Pip Organic continues to grow steadily, choosing patience over speed. Their strategy of establishing the brand first in food service — cafés, attractions, family venues — has created familiarity and trust long before retail expansion.

Their efforts have not gone unnoticed. Pip Organic has won The Grocer Soft Drinks Award two years running, recognised for challenging a category dominated by artificial sweeteners, zero-calorie claims and functional fads.

Making it easier to say yes

At the heart of Pip Organic is a simple purpose: to make it easier for parents to say yes.

Yes to a snack.
 Yes to a drink.
 Yes to a treat.

Without second-guessing labels, sugar content or hidden ingredients.

“We’re not trying to be precious,” Patrick says. “We want food to be fun. But we also want it to be honest.”

As both parents and entrepreneurs, Karen and Patrick understand that the habits we build in childhood ripple forward — into health, into taste, into how we care for our bodies and our environment.

Challenging ultra-processed convenience, Pip Organic is quietly, consistently reminding families of something radical: real food, simply made, still matters.

And perhaps more importantly, that the next generation is watching — and asking better questions than ever before.

DISCOVER: piporganic.com