Cathryn Zielinski has to pinch herself sometimes just to check she isn’t in the middle of a surreal dream.

For the 55-year-old executive, businesswoman, wife and mother from rural Worcestershire set up a small food enterprise as an experiment nearly five years ago when she was made redundant and has landed a contract to supply her wholesome fruity porridge to Chiltern Railways.

If that wasn’t exciting enough – she was approached by M&S, Virgin Atlantic and Tesco last year which all showed an interest in her products.

Cathryn, who is also an account manager for a company processing payments from hotels to travel agents, said: “When I received the e-mail from Virgin Atlantic there was no-one else at home so I ran round to my neighbour and asked them to read it because I wanted to be sure it said what I thought it said.”

The global economic crisis sparked a new era in Cathryn’s life. In 2009 she was made redundant from her home-based job of 19 years with credit card giant American Express and had to start looking for work. Most of the suitable jobs were in London and she was living in Stock Green near Worcester.

“While I was looking for work I started thinking about this idea of producing my own recipe seed mixes for snacks and toppings.

“I bought seeds from the supermarket but thought I could do better. Some of them were expensive and used a lot of cheap ingredients like sesame seeds. It annoyed me.

“My two children would come home with friends and they would all eat and really enjoy the seed mixes I made so I thought I would see if there was an opportunity.”

Without any experience of the food industry, she started investigating how to set up a food business such as registering with environmental health, studying food regulations and hygiene requirements.

By April 2010 she was selling her products at farmers markets and food festivals. Cathryn then got her products on the shelves of some small delicatessens and farm shops. Her company - appropriately named Simply SeedZ with its range of luxury muesli, fruity porridge and seed mixes all handmade in her country kitchen - was well and truly off the ground.

The personable businesswoman secured a post with the payments processing company in September 2010 but continued to develop her family business – her husband Andrew and children Tom and Jessica all help out with various aspects.

Simply SeedZ boasts that it does not add any refined sugar or salt to any of its products - they are nutritionally balanced and contain pumpkin and sunflower kernels, which are designed to keep people feeling fuller for longer.

Local ingredients in the form of Worcestershire honey and Worcestershire Sauce feature in some of the range.

Unlike some food producers who tailor their products to their customers, Cathryn’s recipes are the ones she likes and she finds customers with the same taste.

“I do a lot of sales in the Cotswolds and have made a connection with Dalesford organic farm in Gloucestershire. Lady Bamford really likes my porridge pots. I have been working with the Dalesford nutritionalist and the people at Dalesford are over the moon with the quality of the products and their nutritional value. They are literally what it says on the tin – simple.”

In December last year this vibrant entrepreneur started supplying her porridge pots on Chiltern Railways. She won a contract after travelling on one of their trains to London in connection with her account manager job.

“I went to the buffet car to get a cup of tea and was not impressed with the breakfast cereals they offered. I asked the staff member at the counter who was responsible for buying the food for sale on the train.

“During the conversation a woman passenger came out of the quiet zone and said she had overheard what we were discussing. She gave me the name and e-mail address of the chief executive of Chiltern Trains.”

Cathryn started at the top by e-mailing the CEO. He and other senior executives liked what Simpy SeedZ had to offer.

“They had the samples, they liked the product and they agreed to take it.”

The porridge pots are now being contract packed to Cathryn’s recipe by a premium food company to meet Chiltern’s order.

What started as an experiment and a bit of a personal challenge has developed into a growing business and Cathryn acknowledges a big part of this is due to the continuing support of her family and friends who have chipped in with their time, knowledge and skills.

“When I started, I did not know how it would turn out. I never thought it would become like this. It was just something to do while I was looking for work. It is great fun and long may it continue. I love the work and I love my products. It still excites me when I eat them. I get excited when I get approached by new people or an existing customer contacts me.

“I talk to my customers when I meet them at events like food festivals and they love the story behind the product they have just bought.”

For more information about Simply SeedZ log onto www.simplyseedz.co.uk