Pollen + Grace bag shelf space at Tesco and Co-Op

by Startacus Admin

“Free-from” food-to-go challenger brand Pollen + Grace have announced they are to launch into national supermarkets Tesco and Co-Op, continuing its mission to bring exciting healthy meals to the high street.

From May 2019, Pollen + Grace will expand into in 50 Co-op supermarkets across the South of England, including London and surrounding cities. The range will also be available in 55 Tesco stores within Greater London. Products are currently available nationwide in Ocado and WHSmith, and in 50 other stockists across London including Whole Foods, Selfridges and Planet Organic.

Pollen + Grace is a range of 17 ready meals and snacks made from 100% natural ingredients, including breakfast pots, lunch boxes, hot pots and snack bars. The mission behind the Company is to make “free-from” natural options readily available to all, whilst remaining tasty and exciting. The team want to move supermarkets away from the over-processed, under-nutritious world of prepared food, and back to the deliciously healthy meals that we make in the kitchen at home. 

After becoming frustrated with the lack of healthy lunch options on the high street, best friends Stephanie Johnson and Kristina Komlosiova founded the 'free-from' food challenger brand startup in 2015, just as the wellness wave was starting to hit the UK. 

With nutrition at the foundation of everything the Company does, every hand-prepared meal is designed to be a ‘complete meal’, meaning it has the perfect balance of carbohydrates, protein and fats, as well as complementary vitamins and minerals. Pollen + Grace is a plant-forward business with all food completely free from gluten, wheat and dairy, and 90% of products are vegan.

2019 also marks the year that Pollen + Grace will overhaul its branding and move its packaging towards an eco-friendlier solution. The team has spent almost a year researching the best materials and resources to help them reduce their carbon footprint, and will be launching compostable packaging for its Ambient range in Q3 2019. The team is also looking at using recycled material for the labels on all products.

The launch into national supermarkets Tesco and Co-Op coincides with an investment round on a leading European equity crowdfunding platform, Seedrs which is now live.

Co-founders Kristina Komlosiova and Stephanie Johnson said: “We’ve come a long way from when we first started up and the market wasn’t suited to those with food intolerances or anyone who simply wanted to be healthier without compromising on taste and quality. Now, as awareness and desire for these types of products has grown so voraciously, we feel well-positioned to successful capture it. 

We had an extremely successful 2018; making and distributing 250,000 products, and we are looking forward to an even better year in 2019, kicking off with our first ever equity crowdfunding round.”

If you like the sound of this food focused startup, you might also want to read up on:

Dairy free ice cream brand Coconuts Naturally

Craved, the startup platform that is showcasing craft food and drink from across the UK

NutriFix app aims to put healthy eating on the map

 

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Published on: 18th February 2019