Battle Oats earns first major high street listing with Holland and Barrett

By Gill Hyslop

- Last updated on GMT

Kevin Smith and Shaun Gibbins have secured a deal with Holland and Barret to distribute Battle Oats energy bars in the UK and Ireland. Pic: Battle Oats
Kevin Smith and Shaun Gibbins have secured a deal with Holland and Barret to distribute Battle Oats energy bars in the UK and Ireland. Pic: Battle Oats

Related tags Saturated fat Netherlands

Battle Oats flapjacks will be distributed through 300 Holland and Barret stores across the UK and Ireland by the end of the month.

Co-owners of nutrition snack brand Battle Oats, Kevin Smith and Shaun Gibbins told BakeryandSnacks that Holland & Barret is the first major high street retailer to distribute the product.

Holland and Barrett is one of the UK’s leading high street health food chain, so securing this deal is a major step forward for us as a business. Our reputation is growing in the flourishing fitness and sports markets, and [this] is a major boost for our reach in the UK,”​ said Gibbins.

Priming

Smith and Gibbins founded the company in 2014 to develop an energy bar for fitness enthusiast.

The Battle Oats bar are gluten-free high-protein flapjacks made from English oats, butter, coconut oil (no palm oil) and protein isolate.

Each 70 g bar contains 8-9g of fiber, as well as 15.5 g of protein.

Fuelling

“The bars sell mainly to independent health stores and gyms in the UK and their popularity are now climbing the walls,” ​claimed Smith.

According to the co-owners, the firm has grown sales of the bars by over 100% per annum for the past two years. Last year, the company shipped more than one million bars and commanded a turnover of £1.25m ($1.56m).

Battle Oats are also exported to more than 10 countries, including Ireland, the Netherlands and Kuwait.

“Typically, the bars are handmade and baked at a small family-owned factory in Oxford in small runs of 5,000 bars, however, as the bars have become more popular, this has been ramped up to 3,500 bars per shift,”​ said Smith.

Battle Oats are available in five flavors – including white chocolate coconut; cranberry & blueberry fusion; cinnamon n’ raisin; double chocolate brownie; and dark choc chip – and retail at £16.99 [ON4] ($21.19) for a box of 12.

The brand name was developed after Smith and Gibbins ran a social media contest to gather suggestions from health-conscious target customers.

Recovery

Smith noted the UK sports nutrition market is currently valued at £580m ($723.51m) and last year saw 21% growth in the sports protein bar and snack segment. 

“We have established a loyal following who, along with new customers, will now find it even easier to find our products on high streets throughout the UK.” 

The pair are hopeful the deal will open doors with other retailers and supermarket chains.

“We are in conversation with a number of other retailers, and with some new products coming online in Q2 that broaden our ‘free from’ range, we are confident of securing more retailers this year,”​ said Smith.

The company will be releasing a new protein cookie at the end of the month.

Related topics Markets Health Ingredients

Related news

Show more

Related products

show more

GET GREEN FASTER: Low-CI Dextrose/Glucose Syrups

GET GREEN FASTER: Low-CI Dextrose/Glucose Syrups

Content provided by Green Plains Inc. | 01-Mar-2024 | Data Sheet

Elevate your products with Green Plains’ premium, low carbon-intensity corn syrups. Drop-in replacements with an up to 40% lower carbon footprint than...

Efficacy of OLESSENCE™ B Liquid Natural Flavouring

Efficacy of OLESSENCE™ B Liquid Natural Flavouring

Content provided by Kemin Food Technologies | 26-Feb-2024 | Case Study

The main challenge with baked goods today is the prevention of oxidative rancidity with natural alternatives while maintaining the quality, freshness,...

Bun quality issues? Let us help

Bun quality issues? Let us help

Content provided by Corbion | 03-Jan-2024 | Insight Guide

Most bakeries occasionally struggle with bun quality, from low product volume to crust issues and grain/cell problems. The good news is that most bun quality...

Related suppliers

Follow us

Products

View more

Webinars