London-based specialist food maker expands with ‘delicious’ £500,000 funding

A specialist food producer has secured £500,000 from the East of England Regional Loan Scheme to support the growth of the business.

Keeto Life, based in Hemel Hempstead, which produces food under the Serious Low Carb brand, has created a range of award-winning keto and diabetes-friendly foods, including pasta and bread rolls and loaves, pizza, flour and bread mixes, currently in development.

The company’s more than 170,000 customers seek low-carb foods for a variety of reasons, including helping manage health issues like diabetes, metabolic syndrome, drug-resistant epilepsy, and GLUT1 deficiency.

The funding will be used for product development, sales and marketing and recruiting new staff, which will enable the business to expand into the retail and foodservice sectors and relocate in Europe in the post-Brexit environment.

Andy Welch, founder and CEO of Keeto Life, commented: “We’ve created a range of innovative foods that have disrupted the low-carb market, attracting a significant loyal customer base and providing thousands of five-star reviews. We were selling to 15 EU countries before Brexit, but logistical problems prevented this.

“With recent developments in courier services making the EU accessible once again, we are now in a position to re-target this market as well as seize a range of other opportunities, including supermarkets, NHS and educational settings. regional growth loan will help us accelerate this and take advantage of our first position in the market.”

Not only do keto and low carb remain among the most searched diet and health-related terms on the internet, health services now recommend these diets for certain conditions.

However, despite the NHS approval of keto and low-carb diets, clinicians have confirmed that this can be difficult for patients due to the lack of satisfactory keto and diabetes-friendly foods on the market. Keeto Life’s Seriously Low Carb products are recommended by NHS ketogenic clinicians and are available in some NHS settings.

Simon Elliott, investment manager at FSE Group, which oversees the loan scheme, added: “Andy and his team have looked beyond the snack market to fill a gap in real low-carb foods, and their 80 percent repeat purchase rate speaks for itself.

“Despite being a new company, Keeto Life has gained significant attention and brand awareness through a series of opportunities in the foodservice and retail business and new international regions that have placed it on a high-growth trajectory.”

Matthew Neville – Senior Correspondent, Bdaily

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