PepsiCo has awarded a €100,000 grant to start-up Erbology, based in the UK.
The Nutrition Greenhouse Incubator programme offered eight young companies the chance to compete in June 2017, with a business expansion grant as their prize.
Chosen for success
In June, PepsiCo took eight nutrition companies which were just starting up and seemed to have good ideas. They were each given €25,000 just to take part in the new initiative, working to produce innovation in the food space.
Whether they used the money for specialist food recruitment, development of new equipment, or simply to keep the doors open long enough for production, the firms had to work hard. Their aim was to tackle some of the key issues their businesses were facing, from supply chain to marketing to distribution. With support from PepsiCo, they were able to move forward with big plans.
All eight of the companies that took part were able to evolve their brands, grow their revenue, and expand in a strategic manner. Overall, the retail sales of the group grow by nearly €10.7 million, proving that the investment was a worthwhile one.
However, only one of the companies would be able to take home the final grant. This was awarded to Erbology for the fact that they demonstrated growth that was both scalable and sustainable, key for companies which are going to succeed.
“We launched the Nutrition Greenhouse to partner with the best and the brightest entrepreneurs in the food and beverage nutrition space,” said Juan Ignacio Amat. He is the Vice President of Nutrition for PepsiCo western Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. “Our goal was to work with breakthrough brands that share our vision to deliver more convenient, great tasting everyday nutrition products and we’ve achieved just that with these eight stand-out companies. It was a very hard decision to choose only one to receive the final €100,000 grant but my sincere congratulations go to Irina and Victor Turcan of Erbology.”
Nutrition from plants
Erbology produces foods that are high in nutrients and based on plants only. They include energy balls, crackers, oils, and shots. The business grew by more than 400% over the six-month program, an astounding success rate which shows the potential of the brand.
The achievements of the team included getting Erbology products into Ocado, and launching 11 brand-new products for their range.
Irina Turcan, founder of Erbology, said: “We’re honoured to receive the €100,000 PepsiCo Nutrition Greenhouse grant. We’ve achieved a great deal in the last six months working with our PepsiCo mentor to best utilise our initial €25,000 grant and the injection of a further €100,000 into our business is going to make a huge difference as we focus on accelerated growth in retail and e-commerce.”
There are likely to be a fair few food jobs coming up with Erbology soon, as they will be able to both expand their ranges and grow production. Paired with a key marketing strategy, this will hopefully be enough to see them recognised by major retailers and made available to purchase on a larger scale.
They have also been noticed by Jo Johnson MP, the Minister for Science, who applauded the PepsiCo program as a whole. “New and innovative businesses such as Erbology drive earning power across the economy. Our modern Industrial Strategy celebrates and supports initiatives like this to boost the UK’s position as the best place to innovate and grow a business.”
Their products are certainly in vogue right now, as the nation continues a healthy-eating kick bolstered by New Years resolutions to get fit and stay healthy all year.
