Irma’s cookies go global

A BLACKPOOL biscuit maker is cooking up a treat on the international stage.

Portuguese-born Irma Vitoriano has developed a ‘healthy biscuit’ that also still satisfies those with a sweet tooth!

She came up with a basic cookie formula using Xylitol, a natural sugar substitute which reduces incidences of tooth decay, as well as whey fibre and cocoa protein.

Irma contacted Business Link, who referred her to a team of food technologists from Manchester University who worked with her to perfect the biscuits, making sure they were nutritionally balanced, and in August last year Vitoriano’s Cookies were being sold at farmers markets and local stockists.

However, Irma had ambitious plans for her cookies and, after attending a UKTI supported trade mission in Oslo, has received orders that will see her biscuits sold in shops, hotels and coffee houses from Hong Kong to Dubai.  The cookies will also soon be on sale in Tesco.

Irma says: “UKTI offered a five star service, they made it so easy to sell in Oslo and I would never have been able to do this by myself. Now I would really like to step up my export activity and look at markets such as France, Germany, Sweden and Austria.”