Francesca White, Managing Director at Porky Whites: How Sausages, Setbacks & Self-Belief Made Me a Leader
My Duvet Flip by Jack Parsons
Jack Parsons
4.2 • 5 Ratings
🗓️ 30 June 2025
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Episode Guest:
Francesca White is the Managing Director of Porky Whites, a third-generation family-run food business where she’s leading with creativity, resilience, and a deep-rooted love for great-tasting sausages.
Episode Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
1:20 Growing up in a family of butchers
2:52 From slicing ham to mastering butchery
4:00 The art of shop displays and value-added meats
6:00 What hard work really means to Fran
7:20 Why Fran never hits snooze
8:10 Creativity, boredom, and the dyslexic advantage
10:30 Owning your story as a dyslexic leader
13:10 Building confidence through asking questions
15:00 How to know if you’re surrounded by the right people
16:15 Trusting your gut in business
17:40 Surviving and rebuilding after a contract disaster
20:15 Why resilience is everything
21:00 Fran’s biggest financial regret
22:25 The danger of tap payments: a money tip for Gen Z
23:55 Fran’s love for packaging and creativity
25:30 From butcher shop to retail giant
28:15 The sausage science behind product development
30:10 When flavours flop: lessons in naming and branding
32:30 Launching bold new sausages with AI support
34:00 Why Fran believes in sausage-based job creation
36:00 The surprising power of AI at Porky Whites
39:30 Tips for new founders: know your numbers and your story
42:40 Why feedback fear is holding young people back
44:10 Fran’s final duvet flip: championing small business impact
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Disclaimer:
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | My name is Fran. I'm managing director of Porky Wives. |
| 0:03.0 | We employ 35 people and we've been feeding families since 1935. |
| 0:08.0 | And this is my duvet flip. |
| 0:10.0 | How do you go about to make a sausage? |
| 0:12.0 | People think anybody can make a sauce right, but it's a science, it's an art. |
| 0:15.0 | I've said it off camera and I'll say it again. This packaging is, you love to me. |
| 0:18.0 | Thank you. |
| 0:19.0 | Be really mindful on how you work your product. |
| 0:21.6 | I've been pulling my hair out, going, why did we send it? |
| 0:24.6 | It's awful. |
| 0:25.6 | It tastes incredible, but the name just doesn't resonate. |
| 0:27.6 | But if we'd called it Thai style, I think it would have had a completely different reception. |
| 0:31.6 | What's your dovet, what keeps you out of bed in the morning to flip the dovet? |
| 0:35.6 | What gets me up every day is... |
| 0:41.0 | My name's Fran. |
| 0:43.0 | I'm managing director of Porky Wides. |
| 0:45.9 | I'm feeling a lot of emotions and really excited. |
| 0:49.4 | I'm excited to talk about my journey and the struggles. |
| 0:53.4 | And I'm also hoping that if anything resonates with any, |
| 0:55.3 | even if it's just one person, |
| 0:58.2 | and it can change someone, then it'll all be worth it. |
| 1:03.3 | One thing I hope that anyone can take away is that you never give up. |
... |
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