Dr Will’s is on a mission to ensure its range of award-winning sauces makes food better in every way. Made with natural ingredients as well as being sweetened naturally, Dr Will’s is all about enjoying the food you want without adding the junk you don’t. We chatted to co-founder Dr Will about tackling the UK’s sugar consumption, new products and his love of Dr Will’s ketchup:

Dr Will, what made you first want to study medicine? 

Dr Carter from ER.I remember thinking he was a pretty cool guy. But mostly my grandparents were doctors and I always had a lot of respect for the work they did. My grandmother was the only girl to go to the local boy’s school, because at the girl’s school they didn’t let the girls study science.

What area do you specialise in now? 

I’m currently in my last two years of plastic surgery training; my main interest is in cleft lip and craniofacial surgery.

How did the idea for Dr Will’s first come about? 

So, Josh (my co-founder) and I had been bouncing a few ideas off each other when two things happened; my mum (a nursery teacher) told me that parents were putting sugary filled ketchup on their kid’s broccoli to get them to eat it and Josh became sick of the food he’s spent a lot of time making in his restaurant getting smothered with ketchup. We decided we could find a better way and Dr Will’s was born.

What do you think are the most important things for people to know about their diets and sugar intake? 

I think it’s an awareness problem – I really don’t think we’re aware of just how much sugar we’re consuming. It feels obvious if we’re eating sweets or chocolate, but it’s all the sugar in yoghurt, bread, pasta sauce, condiments etc that sneak past us. The scariest thing for me is the amount of sugar children are exposed to; one in five children will be obese by the time they start (yes start!) school. This is terrifying in terms of long-term health. 

You’ve won a lot of Great Taste Awards for your products, but which one is your favourite/are you most proud of? 

My favourite is the ketchup, hands down. It’s the OG and the reason we started. That said, being a good northern boy, once we make a brown sauce, I think I’ll have a new favourite. 

Are there any new products on the horizon? 

We’ve just launched a 50% lower sugar sweet chilli sauce in Tesco and it’s delicious. We’ve got some great collaborations coming up too which we’re very excited about. 

We’d love to try some Dr Will’s, where can we get some from?

If your local deli/farm shop or speciality food store sells Dr Will’s then that’s a great space to start, but you can also find us in Tesco and Waitrose, online at Ocado, Amazon and from our own website too.