Amy Moring, 27, was diagnosed with coeliac disease at the age of 18 months and has lived a gluten and grain free life.
She became used to checking all food labels and cooking from scratch and didn’t think much about the overall health benefits of doing so until she met her partner Jeff Webster, 28, as a teenager.
“He was into the gym and his protein shakes but he wasn’t particularly healthy, he had stomach issues, he was always hungry and he had acne.
“It wasn’t until he looked into the paleo diet that he realised sugars, grains and harmful fats weren’t ideal for his health. When we started to look into the products on the market that he could have, we realised how many have these hidden ingredients.”
Their research led them to learning about the keto diet and the benefits of converting your body to burning fat instead of glucose.
“Jeff followed the keto diet for many years but now he follows more of a paleo diet which is a bit less strict.
“Now he can run ultra-marathons without the need to stop for food. He’s performing much better in his athletic endeavours as well as his every day life because his body’s converted to burning fat which means his hunger levels are more stabilised.”
To market with mayonnaise
Their business grew from very humble beginnings in 2017.
“I was already making my own mayonnaise using avocado oil to fit my allergies and Jeff’s lifestyle and we started to realise that everyone seems to be very aware of the importance of eating healthy and organic veg and meat but they are still slathering their meals in these over processed condiments.”
It was around this time that Webster, a quantity surveyor at that time, began looking into opportunities to change his career path to something in the health sector.
“He was looking into going to medical school or training to be a nutritional therapist,” explains Moring.
“My skills lay in sales and marketing as I had been working for a grain free natural pet food startup company.
“We decided we wanted to go into business together selling food and drink that fitted the lifestyle we were passionate about.
"We started by making 300 jars of the mayonnaise for our first run in a store and we thought we’d be happy to sell a couple hundred but there was a way bigger demand than we ever imagined and it grew a lot quicker than we anticipated.
“We knew it was a big trend in the US but we didn’t realise how popular the brand would be with other markets. It hits a lot of criteria for a lot of different lifestyles as all the products are free from any allergens, gluten and sugar free and they are all made with clean ingredients.”
After selling their first jars of mayonnaise in October 2017, the couple have expanded their range to include a range of mayonnaise, plus an avocado oil, collagen peptides and MCT oil, with the products available across the UK, Europe, UAE and iceland.
Evolving into supplements
Their MCT oil and collagen peptide supplements are the first in their ‘Evolve’ sub range.
Packaged with white labelling - while the grocery items are black - the duo plans to expand the Evolve supplements range over the coming years.
Moring argues that collagen goes hand-in-hand with the paleo way of eating because the paleo diet is about nose to tail eating and collagen comes from the part of the cow which would otherwise go to waste.
The flavourless peptides, made to dissolve easily into smoothies or hot drinks, are packed in fully biodegradable packaging, as a welcome change from the plastic bottles that are traditionally used for this sort of product.
The MCT coconut oil - a cold oil for adding to drinks or salads – is a coconut oil which has been optimised so it only contains the 'good' easily digested medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) fatty acids which are said to help the body convert to burning fat for energy, aka ketosis.
“A lot of MCT oils on the market will use rapeseed oil or chemicals in their processing which goes against the values of the keto lifestyle.
“Ours doesn’t use chemicals or rapeseed oil as it made with a process using steam.
“One of our founding principals is transparency so we ensure our processes don’t involve any products that go against the keto values.”