The Paleo Foods Company has announced a UK-wide retail rollout of its paleo-friendly, grain-free granola.
The brand is aiming to rejuvenate the breakfast cereals category by launching a product that avoids cereals, and has secured listings in supermarkets Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Ocado.
The range of granolas is completely free from grains, gluten, and refined sugars and oils – and is made from a simple, natural and nourishing blend of nuts and seeds such as pecans, hazelnuts and brazil nuts, and pumpkin, sunflower and chia seeds. It is lightly baked and naturally flavoured with ingredients such as pure vanilla, cocoa nibs and honey.
There are three varieties – berry and almond, honey and pecan, and cocoa and hazelnut – and the company has an extensive programme of new product development launches planned for the coming months.
All three variants are relatively rich in healthier fats and protein, and are also naturally lower in carbohydrates than all other ready-to-eat cereals.
Despite its name, The Paleo Foods Company’s range is aimed at people who aspire to eat more healthily in a variety of ways, rather than those who are paleo diet purists. It will seek to use the new nationwide listings as a platform from which to propel itself to a £1 million brand value by 2017.
The company is the brainchild of founder Claire Dinsmore, who quit her job as a food buyer and secured a £5,000 business start-up loan to found the company and make grain-free granola in a little production kitchen in North London – initially supplying small local stores, before manufacturing on a larger scale to meet supermarket demand.
Dinsmore said: “I wanted to reduce the amount of grains in my diet, but couldn’t find a convenient grain-free cereal in stores – so I started making it for myself at home. Then I thought maybe other people are looking for the same solution too.
“When starting the business I really wanted to create a breakfast that went back to basics, as I found that most other granolas had questionable nutritional quality because they contained large quantities of refined sugar and lots of oats to bulk it out. It’s also the first thing you eat in the morning, so it needs to taste great.
“Our granola is based on simple recipe of mixed nuts, seeds and a little honey – the types of ingredients we would have gathered back when we foraged for our breakfast! Today, our customers can take their time, potter about and read the paper in the morning instead – as we’ve done all the picking, preparing and creating for them.”
“I think we are adding genuine innovation to the category – we were the very first company in the UK to offer a grain-free granola on retail shelves.
“We’re not too high and mighty about the paleo diet itself. We believe in down-to-earth, healthy eating with a friendly and fun approach. We use paleo diet principles as a gateway to healthy living, but we have a pragmatic approach to the diet itself – no strict rules for us! I think the 80/20 principle makes a lot of sense, but the choice is yours. Hopefully our strap line, ‘established 10,000BC’, gets this sentiment across.
“We gently support people on their health journey by making essentially quite simple and pure products that give customers an option to upgrade their breakfast by adding benefits like gluten-free, no refined sugar, lower carbs and rich in nuts and seeds. It is also really delicious.”
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