Press release -

Tiny food start-up beats our national brands to be labelled one of Northern Ireland's favourite foods.

The people of Northern Ireland are turning their attention to healthy artisan food by announcing Keen Nut Butter as the runner up in the People’s Choice Awards in this year’s Northern Ireland Food and Drink Awards. The awards, held bi-annually and sponsored by Ulster Bank, celebrate the best food in Northern Ireland. The People’s Choice awards are the only award chosen by a public vote.

Food start-up Keen Nutrition didn’t even exist when the last awards were held in 2013 yet has managed to capture the hearts of Northern Ireland foodies and win the position against national food brands including Tayto, Hovis, Moy Park and Mash Direct, losing only to Punjana tea.

Keen Nutrition is no stranger to taking on big challenges – their entire ethos is to create healthier versions of familiar foods in an effort to show the people of Northern Ireland that eating healthy doesn’t mean sacrificing great taste. The first products they’ve developed are heathy alternatives to peanut butters and chocolate spreads – Keen Nut Butter.

They’re definitely hitting a note with consumers as Keen’s minimally processed nut butters have become a cult favourite throughout the UK with everyone from Rachel Allen to the Ulster Rugby team raving about them. Over 220 independent retailers now stock the product, an incredible growth rate considering the team just started selling to retailers 18 months ago.

Despite their popularity, Keen Nutrition doesn’t have the national reach of the large commercial brands, so they relied on the passion of their foodie fans and the local retailers that stock their products to support them online – this resulted in generating a social media reach of over 400,000 people. No small feat for a tiny team of artisan food producers.

Keen Nutrition was also one of 14 companies shortlisted for the Best New Product Range from a Small Company.   

Topics

  • Food

Categories

  • invest ni
  • food awards
  • nut butter
  • artisan food
  • nifda

Regions

  • Northern Ireland

Keen was founded in 2013 by Aimee Beimers, who was working as a nutrition consultant at the time. Aimee’s passionate about clean eating and the idea that we can make our diets so much better than they are now, if only the choices were available.

She realised she could offer one food range better options: replacing over processed, sugar-laden peanut butter and chocolate spreads with something far yummier. Keen Nut Butter was born.

When Keen began, it was all market stalls and individual sales. This lasted for what seems like three seconds as demand quickly grew into retail as word spread amongst the Irish food industry. Keen Nut Butter is now stocked throughout Ireland and the UK with more retailers making space on their shelves every day.

As Keen grows up, we’ve realised that the choices that we make during this journey are really important – how we grow, how we engage with our customers and the way we make our products will all have long standing effects on our team and the food industry.

Our Name

The name Keen comes from a time when founder Aimee and her husband Kevin Beimers circumnavigated Australia on a tandem recumbent tricycle. Throughout the entire 465 days of the journey, people kept saying “You’re keen…” but at the same time gave excuses as to why they could never do something so risky. For the adventurous couple, the name Keen means having no excuses and as a food producer Keen makes products that don’t require any excuses to get healthier.
Our Values

Keen Nutrition is dedicated to making healthier versions of familiar foods.

Aimee Beimers – Founder, Keen Nutrition - 07747079289 

aimeebeimers@googlemail.com www.keennutbutter.com