Renée Elliott

Elliott was born in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and grew up outside of Boston, Massachusetts. At the University of Massachusetts Lowell, she studied English and minored in health. She moved to England in 1986.

Elliott's first job in business was as an editorial assistant on Wine & Spirit Magazine. During a personal development course in Boston in 1991, Elliott was inspired by visits to different organic stores on her lunch breaks, including Bread & Circus. She felt that there was an opportunity in the UK's organic food market segment and that she wanted to open her own stores in London.

In 1995, Elliott was founded Planet Organic, the UK's first organic and natural food supermarket, in Notting Hill, London. In 2017, Elliott founded her second business, Beluga Bean, with Sam Wigan. The company is a wellbeing enterprise pioneering new strategies for success in business and life. She has promoted wellbeing on the BBC and business publications.

In 2018, Elliott sold a stake of Planet Organic to Inverleith, a Scottish private equity firm in a deal estimated at around $15 million.

In 2023, Elliott returned to Planet Organic to rescue the company from administration, making decisions to move away from mainstream brands, to delist products such as Huel and Little Moons and returning the company to projected profit. She beat Sainsbury's in bidding for the company and has been interviewed by Management Today's Leadership Lessons on her return to the business.