A Merseyside brand is now lining the shelves of a UK retail titan
A Merseyside brand is now lining the shelves of a UK retail titan
What started with a small shop in Kirkby is now stocked across one of the UK’s biggest supermarkets. It has been just over a decade since Thomas Ryder set up the company Applied Nutrition to sell his own range of supplements.
Twelve years on from 2014, the company’s products are found in more than 80 countries, it is backed by JD Sports and famous faces including Coleen Rooney and Huyton-born UFC star Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett among its ambassadors.
This January has seen the brand take a further step forward as it is now teaming up with Morrisons to launch an exclusive, first-to-market range of 53 Applied Nutrition food products.
The range, designed for those looking to prioritise their protein intake, features sweet chilli chicken pizza, cheese, pasta, ice cream, cottage pie and more.
CEO Thomas Ryder told the ECHO: “This is a great opportunity to reach new audiences and enable existing customers to deepen their engagement with our brand. We’ve enjoyed working with Morrisons, combining their expertise in food development with our deep customer understanding to create a unique product range designed to support people in achieving their wellness goals.”
It is fair to say it has been quite the rise from Applied Nutrition’s beginnings in Kirkby, where Thomas took over the brand and turned it into his own company. Reflecting on that journey, the 42-year-old, from Knowsley, previously told the ECHO about how it all began.
He said: “This is an industry that I’ve been in all of my life. Since leaving school, I’ve always had a passion for supplements; it’s something I’ve always been fascinated with.
“Being a gym-goer from an early age and wanting to understand more about supplement ingredients, dosages, the benefits of them led to opening a small independent store (found off Glovers Brow in Kirkby) not long after I left school. That developed into a couple more stores and some wholesaling.
“I started buying in certain brands from Europe and predominantly US brands – selling to other independent stores and gyms. But then in 2014, I set up Applied Nutrition – I wanted my own brand.
“Applied Nutrition was a brand that I stocked – it had one product of note called Critical Mass. When I took over the Applied Nutrition brand in 2014, it was on a decline – I felt I understood why it was on, and I felt that I could turn it around if I could make some changes to it.
“That’s what I did – I made those fundamental changes, I started gathering momentum with that particular product, and I started to grow out a range then on the back of Critical Mass. I brought production in house in 2016 and took on my first few employees, and we went from there.
“As we grew, we started to grow out the manufacturing capabilities, started knocking through warehouses and building more manufacturing rooms. We continued to grow that way, all the way up to 2020 when we moved into where we are now – this purpose-built facility.”
The company now employs more than 200 people at its Merseyside base – where the vast majority of its manufacturing takes place – and has staff members working in its US office in Dallas, Texas.
In the UK, its products – which include whey protein, creatine, vitamins, tablets and ‘body fuel’ – are found in major retailers like Tesco, Asda and Holland & Barrett.
For Tom, to see his brand worldwide has been nothing short of amazing. The same can be said for COO Steven Granite. Speaking about the new product range, he said: “We are delighted to partner with Morrisons on this exciting new range of high-protein foods. This new range will help consumers achieve their goals with convenient, great-tasting and nutritious options.”
Lizzy Massy, Morrisons’ brand director, said it felt like a natural step forward to welcome Applied Nutrition to the aisles, given that more customers are looking to improve their health and wellness.
Part of the range includes GLP-1-friendly ready meals to “support those with smaller appetites as part of a varied and balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle”. All seven ready prepared meals have been tailored to the needs of customers embarking on a journey with medications such as Ozempic, Wegovy or Mounjaro.
Lizzy said: “The new range has been carefully designed with their expert team to help supplement customers’ nutrition while on their fitness and weight loss journeys and we’re delighted to welcome the broad range to Morrisons, offering our shoppers even more choice, at great value.”
