Wheat-free kings

May 30 2007 by Tony McDonough, Liverpool Daily Post

Tony McDonough talks to CHRIS HOOK, MD of gluten-free food developers Nutrition Point

SOMETIMES success in business is about being in the right place at the right time. That’s something Chris Hook can testify to.

Hook is managing director of Warrington-based Nutrition Point, a developer and distributor of wheat and gluten-free foods.

The products cater for people who have an intolerance of wheat, and to people with a potentially serious condition called coeliac, an auto-immune disease which causes the body to produce antibodies which attack its own tissues. For people with coeliac disease this attack is triggered by gluten.

Hook, 49, founded the firm in 1998, and admitted that persuading the big supermarkets to stock his product was “hard graft”.

But his big break came when he did a cookery demonstration.

He said: “One of the people watching the demonstration was the manager of a large Sainsbury’s store in Swindon.

“He spoke to me afterwards and told me both he and his son had coeliac, and so he agreed to take some of our products and to put pressure on Sainsbury’s head office to carry them in their other stores.”

More hard sell followed, but eventually the retail giant agreed Nutrition Point’s range could appear on its shelves nationwide. Within a year a similar deal was struck with Tesco and now all the major chains have taken the products, which include frozen meals and pizzas, and biscuits.

“What I try to get across to people here,” said Hook, “is that for people these days food is often about lifestyle and enjoyment. It is not just about giving people so-called healthy foods but also stuff like biscuits or chocolate, that perhaps aren’t so healthy but they really enjoy.

“We have very high levels of quality control, higher than you would find in other food manufacturers because we have to be very careful about cross-contamination.

“Products are manufactured by our sister company in Italy and that has a dedicated bakery which only produces wheat and gluten-free foods. We have an in-house lab where everything is screened, and the finished product is analysed as well.”

Hook was already clued up on gluten and wheat-free diets after his son, the eldest of six children, was thought to be suffering from coeliac disease when he was two. It turned out to be wheat intolerance.

“That obviously gave me a real personal interest in the subject,” he said. “Suddenly my wife and I were struggling to find the right products.”

Hook was born on the Isle of Wight but was brought up in Barrow where his father, a naval man, worked for shipbuilder Vickers. He also attended a Navy boarding school in Suffolk and got a commission for the Royal Marines. But his career with the elite regiment came to an abrupt halt after he suffered a knee injury playing rugby.

“I went to Chester College to study PE – I was always very keen on sport – and after leaving I went to work in pharmaceutical sales,” he added.

“I did that job for about six years and eventually became a regional manager. It was my first exposure to sales and marketing.”

Hook then had his first experience of working for a firm that produced gluten-free foods and after two years he joined an advertising agency which specialised in health and nutritional clients. Following that he worked as sales and marketing director for a company called Nutritia.

He said: “That was great because it was an international role so there was a fair amount of travelling involved. Around 1989 they wanted me to go and work in London, but by that time we already had three children so I decided to leave.

“They gave me a good severance package so I used the money to set up my own advertising and marketing agency, and that lasted for the best part of eight years.”

He eventually merged with another agency, but the rug was pulled from beneath them when their biggest client, pharmaceutical giant Astra, merged with Zeneca to become Astra Zeneca, and a £1.5m contract disappeared overnight.

He added: “I had kept in touch with US-based suppliers of Nutritia and they were looking to distribute their products in the UK. I did some research for them and realised I knew this market really well and I decided I could do it for myself. That is when I set up Nutrition Point.”

Hook heads a company which employs more than 20 people and has an annual turnover of more than £25m, but has ambitions for it to grow much bigger.

“We are number one in the market but I think we can double our turnover in the next five years,” he said. “I would like us to have our own manufacturing facilities in the UK so we can turn around our innovations much more quickly.

“We are also now covering the Irish market and are in the process of setting up our first office in Dublin.”

Hook is a keen golfer but admits much of his time away from work is taken up with wife Julie and their large brood. As for his role in the company, he admits he is very hands-on but adds he is slowly learning to take a step back.

“I am very passionate about what we do because I believe we are providing something that is of great benefit to people,” he said “As a boss I think I am fair but when I am trying to get ideas across I think I can also be quite demanding.

“I am learning to take a step back. My role now often involves speaking to relevant stakeholders, and I’ve also been talking to the Department of Health about the importance of keeping certain products on prescription.

“When you have started something yourself it can be very difficult to take a step back and take a more strategic view. But I am getting better at that.”

tonymcdonough