Introducing Steph Croft-Simon of Nom Foods.

Nom Foods founder, Steph Croft-Simon shares her latest fitness and healthy eating habits, and how she grew Nom Foods into a nationally recognised brand from her kitchen.  Head over to Nom Foods website for more!

Steph, Nom Foods has had great success to date and seems to be everywhere. Everyone seems to love it! What makes Nom foods so successful?

Nom Foods creates delicious products, but at the heart of the business are some strong core values; 1) Convenient – eating healthily can be really hard on the go, so we try and make it as easy as possible. 2) Health – we believe in ‘added value’ so adding in nutritious products with high nutritional value, rather than just cutting out bad stuff like sugar. 3) Taste – there are too many healthy products that aren’t meeting customer’s needs in terms of taste and texture. All of Nom products are also gluten-free, vegan, organic and refined sugar-free… we’re ticking as many boxes as possible to make them available to everyone.

Your business has developed fast. You launched just over 4 years ago, how did you get it off the ground so quickly?

I founded the business in 2013 after being diagnosed with allergies/intolerances and finding it really hard to eat on-the-go. I started in a domestic kitchen, making oat bars by hand, and now all manufacture of the products is outsourced to factories in the UK, and I am free to work on sales, marketing, new product development and lots of other things! I think the growth of the business is down to the innovative products and the amazing growth and interest in the health and wellness / free from space. More and more people are being diagnosed with allergies and intolerances but also looking for organic, vegan, refined sugar-free, etc. It was really important to me to make the brand really stand out – I think the bright and fun branding has helped with catching people’s eyes! Nom has some wonderful stockists – but there’s lots more work to be done to make our products available to as many people as possible. I’m also working on launching some new products into the range.

With the business so busy, how do you keep your training up and eat right?

If I know I’m unlikely to have time during the week to prepare packed lunches, healthy snacks or dinners – then I batch make and often freeze healthy meals for when I’m really busy. Generally, I always find time to cook a fresh meal each night – I love cooking and it’s relaxing for me. I also make sure that I order my favourite healthy snacks online – and keep them in my cupboard/draw/car/gym bag for when I need them.

In terms of training – I do yoga and have recently started running in the evenings after work. I have a dog, so she comes along with me!

What’s next for Nom Foods?

I plan to continue to grow Nom to be a household name. We have some exciting new products in the pipeline and we’re working on some more supermarket and larger retail listings.

Are you looking forward to FitFest Oxford?

Yes, very much so! We can’t wait to explore. It’ll be great to get out sampling with the team – and in our hometown, which makes it even more special!

Register your interest to attend FitFest, meet Steph and of course taste and sample delicious and popular Nom products!