Aileen's 'Veggie Hero' blog steps up a gear

 

Aileen Cox-Blundell, originally from Multyfarnham, has founded one of nine new companies selected to take part in Food Works, Ireland’s leading accelerator programme for food and drink start-ups.

Run by Bord Bia, Enterprise Ireland and Teagasc, over the last five years the Food Works programme has worked with 76 food and drink companies to encourage innovative new product ideas, while supporting the growth of the sector on a global scale.

Following a rigorous selection process, nine ambitious Irish food and drink companies, including Aileen's “Veggie Heroes” have been selected to take part in Food Works 2018.

The development of Veggie Heroes has followed Aileen’s success with ‘Baby Led Feeding’, a popular recipe blog and book.

As part of the Food Works programme, Aileen is currently developing a range of chilled vegetable bites for children in order to make healthy eating convenient and accessible for all.

Speaking about the opportunity she said, “For me, getting Veggie Heroes into the Food Works programme, means that I can take my product to the next level. There really is a huge gap in the market for a tool to help parents to get their children to eat more vegetables. With Food Works I get help with marketing, distribution, manufacturing - all of the things I really need to get my product onto the shelf and to be successful.”

Speaking on behalf of the Food Works programme, Eileen Bentley from Bord Bia said, “The companies who have been selected to take part in Food Works 2018 have all demonstrated a strong product concept, or have already developed a product which meets a genuine market need. Bord Bia, Enterprise Ireland and Teagasc will work closely with each of these companies to provide the support they need to move to the next level in terms of product development, preparation of an investor ready business plan and ultimately scaling up for the export market.

“We are delighted to note that five years after launching Food Works, more than a third of the companies we have worked with are already exporting around the world, while many more are well on the way to achieving their export potential”.