There is an abundance of space in every industry to introduce new inventions and disrupt the market. One needs to be ready when an idea or new solution comes knocking at the door of his or her intellect. People who recognize the problem quickly in a particular industry can make use of these ideas to form new-age solutions and revolutionize the entire market with their start-up.
One such person is Melissa Snover, the Founder and CEO of Nourished. She founded Nourished in 2019 to meet the customized vitamin and other nutritional product requirements of people in the quickest possible way. The idea of founding an innovative nutrition company came to Melissa when she accidentally dropped her vitamins at the airport.
Nourished is the world’s first personalized nutrition company. It uses patented 3D printing technology and a vegan encapsulation formula to create totally bespoke and delicious vitamin stacks. Nourished has been the United Kingdom’s highest-rated vitamin product company consistently since April 2020.
Melissa’s pathbreaking solution has the potential to change the landscape for the entire nutrition industry. She has become an exemplary start-up leader for every man and woman in the world who wishes to bring their start-up solutions to the market.
In an interview with Insights Care, Melissa talked to us about her journey to successfully establishing the company, her motivations, and her growth plans in the coming years.
Below are the excerpts from the interview:
Melissa, please give us a brief overview of your journey as the Founder and CEO of Nourished.
I have been an entrepreneur since my early 20s and have always sought to develop and launch new and innovative products which make a positive impact on the end consumer and the environment. For Nourished, I wanted to find a personalized solution for consuming vitamins and make effective nutrition easy and accessible to everyone.
I first came up with the concept back in 2018 when I was on a business trip and accidentally dropped the bag of vitamins all over the floor at airport security. I thought there must be an easier and more convenient way to keep on top of your nutrition regime, and the idea for Nourished was born.
From there we spent around 18 months in R&D developing our patented 3D printing technology and vegan encapsulation formula which allows us to combine multiple active ingredients into one delicious gummy, to make truly customized vitamins. We officially launched Nourished into the UK market in October 2019 and have been busy developing new product ranges and optimizing our offering ever since!
Tell us more about Nourished, its vision, and the key aspects of its stronghold in the nutrition supplement market.
Nourished is the world’s first truly personalized nutrition product. Customers are encouraged to complete our short questionnaire on our website where our science-backed algorithm will make a recommendation of seven high-impact vitamins, superfoods, and nutrients best suited to the user’s lifestyle and goals.
We then 3D print that selection on demand at our HQ in Birmingham, to ensure higher efficacy and absorption levels than standard isolated tablets. We dispatch monthly boxes directly to the customer’s door in plastic-free, home compostable packaging.
Nourished provides a more sustainable, enjoyable, convenient, and above all; customized nutritional regime than what is currently on the market.
Whilst many other vitamin companies promote their ‘personalized supplements’, this is very rarely the case due to the limitations of mainstream manufacturing. Traditional methods mean that manufacturers have to make hundreds of thousands of the same product at once and cannot possibly produce large volumes of personalized products.
This means that most vitamins on the market have been mass-produced and are not created with the individual user’s lifestyle, diet, goals, health conditions, and preferences in mind. With our innovative 3D printing technology, we are able to make a bespoke blend of active ingredients on-demand in a matter of minutes. At Nourished, we believe that everyone is unique and that our nutritional regimes should be too.
Considering the example of the COVID-19 pandemic, how do you plan to navigate through similar situations in the future?
We launched Nourished in October 2019, just a few months before the disastrous outbreak of COVID-19, yet we have managed to succeed and thrive due to our agile and resourceful mentality.
We quickly pivoted all of our marketing efforts to online as the nation went into lockdown and utilized our R&D facility to make freehand sanitizers for all of our customers. Our tech team 3D printed PPE equipment for those on the front line, and we developed specifically formulated blends to help boost the body’s natural immune system.
The survival of our business was due to our ability as a fast-moving and creative start-up to adapt to the ever-changing landscape of the pandemic and support both our customers and those within our community.
Despite our rapid growth, we are passionate about maintaining our proactive culture and I am so grateful to my team for their hard work, resilience, and determination.
What efforts did you take during the pandemic to sustain operations and ensure the safety of your team at the same time?
As a certified food business in the nutrition industry, we believe it was our moral responsibility to do everything we could to support our customers, employees, and community during the pandemic.
We were able to continue to 3D print our Nourished stacks at our HQ in Birmingham due to the heightened hygiene conditions and protocols that we enforced at the very start of the pandemic. These involved arranging private controlled transport for all operational staff, enforcing strict PPE procedures, introducing health screening questionnaires, and arranging food deliveries for all our production staff.
Whilst our commercial teams worked from home throughout, our operations were able to continue to support the growing consumer demand we faced due to the diligence that we put in place to support them.
As an established industry leader, what would be your advice to the budding entrepreneurs and enthusiasts aspiring to venture into the healthcare services industry?
My advice to aspiring entrepreneurs from any sector is always to expect failure, and to be comfortable with that. When developing a world’s first product or concept it can be a very lonely journey as there are no guidebooks or case studies to help you, and you will undoubtedly face challenges and explicitly fail along the way. What will set you apart from your peers is your ability to get up, learn from the experience, and go again.
To be successful in the healthcare industry, I also think it is crucial to constantly innovate. The last few years have shown us that the world is changing, and if you are not able to adapt and change with it, you will not keep up.
How do you envision further strengthening your company’s stronghold in 2022 and beyond?
At Nourished, we are constantly optimizing our current offerings, as well as developing new innovative product ranges. Our cutting-edge technology allows us to stay at the forefront of the nutrition industry, whilst our hyper-speed NPD process means that we can react quickly and efficiently to consumer and market trends.
Innovation is at the heart of everything we do at Nourished, and it is this ethos that sets us apart. By 2023, we will be launching nourished pets, however, a range of personalized
protein bars will be launched this year. We are collaborating with some industry-leading corporations to launch exclusive co-branded products.
Clients Appreciation
The vitamins are extremely tasty and not even after my first full months I am starting to see
the benefits. My skin looks better and my PCOS symptoms are starting to reduce. I am
excited to see the benefits when continuing with my subscription.
- Stefanie Williamson (rating – 5 Stars)
I have been using these supplements for months now and have noticed an overall improvement in my health. I live with chronic health issues, and the Nourished team was very helpful in working out the best stack for me.
- Andrea Waldron (Product: Rolling 3 Box Subscription, rating – 5 Stars)
Perfect little combo, easy and simple to remember to take them every day, they taste great, and my son seems to be getting on really well with the results. I have already recommended you to my friends.
- Carla Curva (Product – Kids Monthly Subscription, rating – 5 Stars)
Awards and Recognitions
- Innovator Award Winner at Women in Tech 2019
- Start-up Company of the Year at Silicon Canal Tech Awards 2019
- Best Food Tech Innovation 2019 at Food Matters Live Awards
- Disruptor of the Year Winner 2020 at the Great British Entrepreneur of the Year Awards
- KPMG Tech Innovator of the Year 2021 Midlands Champion
- SXSW Start-up of the Year Finalist 2021
- E-Commerce Brand Bronze Winner at UK Business Awards 2021
