Nutrition Point vies for supermarket space

THE NEW managing director at gluten and wheat-free food specialist Nutrition Point has said his biggest challenge is the fight for shelf space in the major supermarkets.

Bob Trice, who took over at the Warrington-based firm from founder Chris Hook earlier this month, said retailers are increasing their stock of ‘free from’ products in an increasingly popular market.

This has left pioneers like Nutrition Point, whose range includes pizzas, pies, sausage rolls and pasta under the ‘DS’ brand, battling to avoid being squeezed out by the major food retailers.

“It gets harder and harder in retail every year because the main retailers have a policy of increasing

the offering of their own private label brands,” said Mr Trice, the firm’s former marketing director.

“They want 70-80% to be own-label. That does give us a challenge to make sure we’re one of the brands that stays on shelves.”

The firm, founded by Chris Hook in 1998 who was frustrated by the lack of choice available to his wheat intolerant wife and son, derives 50% of income from the retail market. The remainder comes from deals with the NHS to supply food products that are available on prescription to coeliacs.

Nutrition Point became part of the Italian gluten-free food business Dr Schar in 2002 which is now the source of many of its products. Mr Hook has now left the business to pursue other interests but will stay on as an advisor until the end of the year.

“The key is to make sure the retailers haven’t gone too far in terms of putting too many of their own-brand goods on the shelves just to satisfy targets,” said Mr Trice.

“The market’s expanding very rapidly and retailers are responding to that without seeing where most of the revenue comes from and considering if they should be offering more choice within certain product types. They’ve got to make sure they maximise revenue as well as give consumers choice.”