All go for Nobó!

With a unique approach to food and plant-based creations, Brian and Rachel Nolan, the founders of the pithily named plant-based treats brand Nobó, believe simplicity is at the heart of good food.

Gillian Hamill caught up with the enterprising couple at their Ranelagh HQ to learn more about their vision for future growth

Visions of whirling chocolate rivers à la Charlie and The Chocolate Factory subconsciously popped into our heads when ShelfLife first learned we would be visiting the flagship store and Chocolate Lab of Nobó, aka“the creamiest plant-based chocolate”. However, while founders Brian and Rachel Nolan certainly aren’t afraid to do things differently; cool, clean minimalism is much more their aesthetic than the surreal riot of confectionery once presided over by Gene Wilder.

The story behind Ranelagh-headquartered Nobó, a brand currently waking Ireland up to the taste and creamy mouthfeel that premium plant-based chocolate can deliver, appropriately enough first began in the city that never sleeps Over in New York 12 years ago, Brian was working in finance and Rachel in advertising, but food was their true passion.“We’re obsessed with food,” says Brian, so“we always had it in the back of our minds that that’s where we wanted our direction to go.”

Valuable insights

When Brian’s 18-month Visa finished and he returned home for a period, he observed a marked disparity in the plant-based ranges available in New York and

Ireland at the time “Rach was very into health nutrition, and I suppose in New York, you are exposed to trends that are coming down the line,” he reflects.“The range of plant-based milks was just kicking off back then, and the [plant-based] ranges in the grocery stores were huge, but they weren’t anywhere over here.” This gave the duo a great insight into what was coming down the tracks in terms of the variety consumers would soon be seeking out on this side of the Atlantic.

Determined to gain more experience in working within the food sector, the couple’s next step involved moving to Italy, where they worked in the kitchen of a charming guest house for six months’ bed and board. “An amazing place in the middle of the Italian countryside; it reaffirmed our interest in food and working together,” confirms Brian.

Continuing to experiment with different ideas and recipes following their Italian adventures, an opportunity soon arose back home through Bord Bia’s‘Food Works’ programme. In conjunction with Enterprise Ireland and Teagasc, it invited food entrepreneurs with a promising export idea to apply for an annual programme that would examine feasibility and develop their idea further.

The programme was right up Brian and Rachel’s street.“Growing up my dad was very entrepreneurial.” says Rachel; another impetus behind their goal of founding their own business.“Being exposed to plantbased alternatives in New York produced the seed of our idea: to create something really wholesome out of really pure ingredients, that you could enjoy and feel good.”

Unique ice cream

With this clear focus on using the purest ingredients to create treats, they originally experimented with creating a dairy-free ice cream.“By blending avocados and honey and using pantry staples that we had in our own house, with no gums, stabilisers, or anything you can’t pronounce, we created an ice cream that’s still on the market today 10 years later, says Rachel.“A dairyfree ice cream made from five ingredients is unique. In the decade since we launched, other dairy-free alternatives have been introduced, but I think what really makes ours stand out and what we stay true to is the ingredients that we use and their purity. There’s nothing that we hide behind We just use very simple, wholesome ingredients to create something delicious.”

Brand vision

Throughout the past ten years, Rachel and Brian have continued to grow their business while also starting a family with three children.“Our vision for the brand has always been to ultimately create a household name for Nobó,”says Rachel,“a brand that everyone in Ireland and abroad would know and recognize, so we’ve always been quite ambitious with where we wanted to go.”

“In the past couple of years, we had been approached a number of times about investment,” reveals Rachel, but at the time, they didn’t feel quite ready to take that next leap and had yet to meet the right partners who were a great fit for them “However, we really made a good connection with the guys at BiaVest and made the decision to partner with them,” she continues.“That has been instrumental in pushing us forward and allowed us to open up here.”

While Brian and Rachel were delighted to work with a manufacturer and expand their distribution channels, they began to miss the customer interaction they had always enjoyed at the likes of farmers’ markets, as well as the“hands-on element of product creation”.

“Serving people face to face was really where the brand gained a lot of excitement and following,” says Rachel “While we were delighted to be supplying stores, it was much harder to create that same experience and really bring to life what was going on behind the scenes Part of our project was always about being able to have that face-to-face time with customers, so we had always dreamt of opening a bricks and mortar outlet to bring that back to life.” Opening Nobó Ranelagh has therefore brought the enterprise back“full circle” to its origins in a sense.

Thriving on creativity

“I think at the root of everything was that kind of creativity; coming up with the recipe ourselves and making it at home: something that still hasn’t been replicated anywhere across the world today,”

adds Brian

The duo has put the same level of thought and creativity into their logo and store design, and Brian’s brother John played a key role in bringing their vision to life After returning to university as a mature student of architecture, John now owns his own practice and designed the brand logo, packaging and store layout This flair for design has paid off, with the store winning an Institute Designers Ireland (IDI) Award earlier this year “Ultimately, it’s been a collaboration between the three of us; we’re all really interested in design and that probably comes through,” says Rachel.“But I think the customers appreciate that as well The whole consideration behind the space was to reflect the brand’s transparency From the very front, you can see through to where the chocolate is made, and our workspace, so nothing is hidden. That’s the same philosophy that we apply to our products, that there’s nothing to hide and that it’s all very transparent. ”

Their packaging design has also evolved alongside the business.“When we launched our ice cream packaging, it was – and still is - very much white, which reflected the cleanness of the ingredients. However, during the past number of years, a lot of brands have moved towards that. So, we decided, when we relooked at our packaging, to shift towards vibrant, block colours. We’ve kept the simplicity around us, but that makes the product stand out and just gives it a little pop off the shelf.”

Retail growth

With these standout product credentials in place, the retail channel is a key focus for Brian and Rachel. “We’ve grown that a lot at the moment and are trying to widen our distribution and particularly our chocolate range, for example, our 25-gram bars are more of an impulse purchase and we have a large display at the Junction 14 motorway service station, adjacent to the coffee offering, which has been an excellent showcase and shown us that the wider customer base is really there and looking for products like this So, for us now the focus is on increasing our distribution nationwide through retail multiples and supporting our independent retailers with new premium product developments.”

Indeed, the business has grown considerably already.“Funnily enough, I think our first ever stockist was Morton’s, 150 metres down the road from us here,” says Brian. The retailer remains a key stockist of the brand today, so“there’s a nice symmetry in that”. After gaining listings with more independents, Nobó quickly gained a listing at SuperValu for its ice cream, and went on to win a Great Taste Award in the UK. “We got quite a bit of media coverage on the back of that and stores were ringing us looking for the product, which is always the best,” says Brian.“The independent customer base has also been such a core part of our business that it’s not forgotten about as we grow,” he adds Today, Nobó has partnered with distributor Tennant & Ruttle to enable further expansion “I think both sides of that relationship feel there’s a big opportunity and we’re looking forward to working with them,” says Brian.

Communicating premium credentials

Currently, as a premium product, the range is competitively priced, with RRPs of €1 for a 10-gram ‘bite-sized’ nut butter truffle, €2 for the 25-gram bars, and €4.50 for the larger 80-gram share bars.“I think the real challenge is in communicating to the consumer how good our product really is in-depth,” says Brian.“Consumers are becoming more and more informed these days on those different elements that make up the product. For example, we use compostable packaging made from Eucalyptus trees It’s many multiples more expensive than plastic foil wrap paper. We use single origin Colombian cacao, and coconut sugar, which again is many multiples more expensive than normal, refined white sugar and we don’t use stabilisers.”

Creamiest mouthfeel

Another major factor in Nobó’s appeal is its“creamiest mouthfeel. Explaining how they have managed to achieve this, Rachel explains:“It’s very much our own recipe, which is unique because of how we make the couvertures [the base for chocolates]. What we’ve done is we’ve taken out the milk powder or milk used in traditional chocolate, and we’ve replaced it with a blend of cashew nuts and coconut. It’s ground over time, so it’s incredibly fine and creamy. We’ve combined that with a really good quality single origin cacao and the coconut sugar, which has a kind of caramelly flavour as well So, we’re using really beautiful ingredients.”

In fact, Brian reveals that it took two years to perfect the texture and mouthfeel.“We wanted to have a snap, so that it’s nicely tempered as well,” adds Rachel “So, we were also trying not to make it too soft with the fats and the balance of ingredients. It’s quite technical, but I think we’ve ended up with a product that stands out from every other competitor, and our feedback shows that It’s not a plant-based chocolate that’s good; it is a beautiful chocolate that is both plant-based and creamy And I think that’s where we really stand out. ” ■