Popular Irish plant-based food & drink brand The Happy Pear is entering the UK market with the introduction of cereal and vitamin drinks, and a view on adding fresh lines in a near future.
The first three SKUs are granolas: Steve’s Dreamy Granola, with coconut & raspberry, is billed as ‘the low-sugar version of granola Nirvana’. Dave’s Cocoa Crunch blends oats with puffed rice, sunflower seeds and cocoa; Cool Jim’s Granola has a mix of pumpkin and flaxseed, sultanas, goji berries, cashew nuts and desiccated coconut.
The range of 500ml VitaVibe drinks also come in three flavours: Raspberry, Pink Grapefruit & Apple; Blood Orange, Mandarin & Ginger; and Apple, Elderflower & Lime. They are made with fruit extracts and sweetened with stevia.
The brainchild of twin brothers Stephen and Dave Flynn, The Happy Pear started as a fruit & veg shop in County Wicklow 20 years ago. They now have a regenerative organic farm, six cookbooks to their name and sell wide range of products – available in Supervalu, Centra and specialist retail in Ireland. They have also set up online courses and have a considerable social media following for their health, wellness and nutritional content. This makes the launch into the UK particularly exciting, co-founder Dave Flynn told FFD, because it opens up the range to a wider, but already engaged audience.
“Our mission for 20 years has been to help people eat more veg. Nowadays, there are a lot more plant-based options, but not all of them use integral ingredients,” he said. Contrary to many ultra-processed foods, “you’ll recognise the name of all of our ingredients. There’s no nasties, no preservatives. And they’re not only high-quality products but they are tasty, because people aren’t going to make healthier choices unless they taste good.”
The collection will be soon extended to include fresh products, such as Red Pepper Hummus, Sweet Beet Hummus, Sun-dried Tomato Pesto and Lovely Basil Pesto, and the hope is to introduce many of their 80-strong range of soups, pizzas and sauces to the UK at a later stage.
This article first appeared in the October-November edition of Fine Food Digest
