This article is from page 38 of the 2009-11-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 38 JPG
A SHANNON business which man- ufactures and distributes sports and health nutritional powders has re- ceived a top national award.
ABC Nutrition, at Knockbeg Point, Shannon, has been awarded by Bord Bia at the food and drink industry awards. ABC was one of seven com- panies nationally that scooped acco- lades.
The company was set up in Febru- ary 2007 and is fully Irish owned. It initially had just one customer and has since gone from strength to strength and currently distributes all over the world.
It is owned by four people — Sean McNamara (Tuamgraney), Wil- lie Wixted and Lorraine Gunning (Broadford) and Atis Vitolins (Lim- erick) — and eight people are em- je Key (orem
Mr McNamara explained the back- ground to the company being set up, on foot of demand globally. “It start- ed off in the States 25 years ago with body building. Now rugby players, GAA players and people who train use the products. It has grown at a massive rate. The products are based on protein and powders are the main part of it,” he said.
“Our main business is_ blending the products. We buy in the ingredi- ents and source them from all over the world. We design products for groups of people with different re- quirements. There are different for- mulations for people trying to lose weight and those trying to put on weight,” he said.
The company manufactures its own brand of supplements, which are available in health food shops
and chemists.
“Our biggest market is in the UK. We also distribute to Spain, Portu- gal, Holland, Belgium, Scandinavia, Hungary, Slovenia and Greece,” said Mr McNamara.
The award from Bord Bia was enti- tled “The Thinking Big’ award, dedi- cated to small businesses demon- strating exceptional entrepreneurial spirit, matched by strong sales and
marketing.
Among the other winners were Bul- mers Pear, Glanbia and Kerry Foods. “The real satisfying thing was that all the others were household names. It was nice to be on the same podium as those type of people,’ said Mr McNamara.
Although business has been slower in recent times, he is optimistic about the company’s future. “It 1s very, very
positive on the international front,” he said. He was involved in setting up the company, having felt there was a need in the market. He studied animal nutrition for many years and acquired a PhD in this area a number of years ago.