As a qualified dietitian, how do you view the latest consumer trends?

Being a dietitian, sometimes a lot of those new consumer trends can be very frustrating. When it comes to fads such as keto or paleo diets, consumers think they’re doing themselves good, but there’s actually very little science backing it up. It’s frustrating when other food or marketing companies try and take advantage of trends.

Why did you set up your own food business?

I was working for Nutricia, which is part of Danone and involved in sports, and a lot of clients were asking me for recipe recommendations, particularly for desserts. I knew that Greek yoghurt had a good nutritional profile, so I bought an ice cream machine and started playing around with a couple of recipes. From there I developed a high-protein frozen yoghurt.

Where did you start manufacturing?

I first went to an ice cream producer in the midlands. It was a small site, but they let me use the factory one day a week to make my own product. Starting out I had no real idea how you put together a recipe for a factory on that scale, but I got the knack of it.

Have you had to scale up production as the business grew?

I quickly realised I needed to scale the business, but the factory I was working from didn’t have the necessary equipment. So I spent a long time looking for a manufacturing partner in Ireland without much luck. I then went to the UK, where I found a fantastic co-packer. It had the expertise to scale up production.

Are you looking to export?

I’m very much looking at the UK market, but it’s a different beast altogether because it’s so large. It can take a long time to make any sort of breakthrough there. In September last year I was invited to attend the number one food start-up accelerator in the world, which is based out of New York. From that we’ve been introduced to a lot of contacts and we’re looking at the US market as a potential export route for us.

Will you need to raise more capital?

We’re lucky enough to be a client of Enterprise Ireland, but in order to facilitate any expansion to the US we would definitely need to bring in an investment partner. Finding investment is not an easy game. It’s a long process to get yourself out there, find people and then convince them it’s worth taking a punt on you.