Monsieur Roux was a demanding customer. He and his brother had set new standards in what had been the wasteland of Britain's catering. They were the first to win three Michelin stars in these islands, by rigorous attention to detail, first and foremost with the produce on which they insisted.

Mr Leatham learnt from Monsieur Roux and trekked the world in his quest for the finest produce. On each trip he made another contact and so attracted wider custom. He became known across the restaurant trade for the provenance of Leatham's Larder, as his firm described itself.

Yet despite his passion for travel and food, his daily round, a cloud hung over the Leatham enterprise. The business was vulnerable to the swings of the restaurant trade and to the pricing pressures on an unbranded business. Fortunately, help was at hand.

Our traveller was introduced to a brand specialist on his own back door. He was advised on converting his passion for provenance into a retail brand. The time was right: restaurants, foreign travel and aspirant retailers, like Marks and Spencer and Waitrose, had tickled the palate of the British shopper. For some, provenance now mattered more than price.

The brand advisor and his partner did Mr Leatham a good turn and avoided the trap of merely glossy, up-market presentation. Rather, it was proposed that the new brand tell the true story behind Mr Leatham's original business: of indefatigable journeying in search of the finest produce, a traveller's tale. So unfolded the story of the Merchant Gourmet.

At every step, the new brand recounted its own provenance. Its brand story joined all its marketing activities together: packaging for Puy Lentils told of the puy of Le Puy; advertising followed the Yangtze to the source of gong mi, the Emperor's Green Rice; press releases wrote of succulent tomatoes close to the vines of Bordeaux.

Mr Leatham happily continued his travels and his firm retained the respect of restaurateurs, but what had once been a small trading concern now enjoyed turnover in excess of £20 millions. Merchant Gourmet became a profitable retail brand, respected for its provenance and its traveller's tales.

The brand advisors again saw the value of a good story — in creating a brand from the ground up — and went on their own odyssey, to found a firm called brandstory.