Stefania saw the potential for a clean-deck/plantbased snack to tackle tired, old-school snacking stereotypes which suggested that any snack must join one of two ‘fine snacking’ camps, be that:
a) bland/overtly worthy OR
b)’nutritionally vacant’ grazing with a generous smattering of synthetic ingredients.
Overseas plantain might well be a much loved overseas, however in the UK this distant cousin of the highly energised banana remains largely underused and under-appreciated.
And yet, the fact remains that World Cuisine trends are affecting UK snacking trends more than ever. Here is a tasty base ingredient that provides the perfect setting for other flavours to stand tall; be that chilli, garlic or just a gentle dash of salt.
This is a vegan-friendly/gluten-free snack with a truly satisfying crunch, a versatile/savoury leaning fruit that offers a good nutritional base of potassium, magnesium and fibre PLUS a lower (30% less) fat footprint than any ‘nutritionally vacant’ potato chip.
Purely Plantain is a brand that has made significant strides in 2019, winning both the prestigious Veggie and Best of Health awards in addition to Aston University’s ‘Venturefest’ initiative where young ‘challenger’ brands pitch to Midlands based investors for life-changing financial backing.
Here is a brand that has also reached the finals of this December’s Product Excellence (Food Service), Q (hotels & hospitality) and Growing Business awards (innovation) whilst simultaneously securing new, prestige listings within Fortnum & Mason, Sourced, Daylesford and Ocado which build upon a strong Planet Organic, Harvey Nichs and Selfridges account base.
This is a young brand with a reach that extends far beyond the major urban conurbations, a brand that’s favourably aligned with a number of the nation’s ‘healthier leaning’ wholesalers, a young British-owned business with a significant export footprint (20% of bottom line), including Germany, Switzerland, Hong Kong and the Middle East.
In broadbrush terms Purely Plantain is a brand with a strong female following as a tasty, health conscious nibble that’s perfectly suited to the gym, deli, upmarket cafe and independent health food fraternities.
Purely may have an expanding national presence but it never loses sight of its proud Birmingham roots. This is a brand that has been a proud member of NatWest’s prestigious accelerator scheme (Midlands) – made in 2019 the bank’s TOP 100 Power-up index whilst Stefania herself was recently shortlisted for 2019 Birmingham Businesswoman of the year.
Website: www.welovepurely.com
