The air-dried crisp manufacturer’s products will now feature in NHS Supply Chain’s cold beverages, confectionery and snacks framework, making them available for order by catering managers in every hospital in England.
Commenting on the deal, founder and CEO Nimisha Raja said: “This is a major breakthrough for our business and highlights how the NHS is looking to incorporate healthier products into its offer.
“As the only crisp range that has been certified by Public Health England as one of your five-a-day, we knew we had a good opportunity but still needed to satisfy requirements around sustainability, sales, service, quality and certification to BRC. I’m delighted to say we scored 100%.”
Biggest sales source for 2019
Sittingbourne-based Nim’s has already attended two Hospital Caterers Association meetings to present the benefits of its healthy snacks, which generated a lot of positive feedback. It predicted hospital revenues could become its biggest sales source within the next 12 months.
“The initial opportunity will be to supply the visitor and staff canteens, but there is also the chance that our products can be offered to patients at the discretion of the catering manager,” Raja added. “That potentially could transform our business forever.”
This year has also seen Nim’s secure listings in Garden County Vending stores across the UK, following a bumper 2018 that saw the manufacturer’s crisps stocked in Waitrose and Tesco stores. Nim’s followed a successful 2018 with the launch of a new edible tea range in January.
Nim’s is the word
Raja concluded: “Word is getting out about how natural and aesthetically pleasing our products are for dessert toppings and air-dried ingredients.
“Combine this with the fact that all foodservice operators have targets they need to meet in terms of offering healthier Commissioning for Quality and Innovation-compliant alternatives to traditional, high-fat, sugary snacks and it appears to be a good time to be expanding our market presence.”
Meanwhile, Nim’s Fruit Crisps was one of the finalists at last year’s Food Manufacture Excellence Awards. If you think you and your business deserve their time in the spotlight, you can enter here for next year’s Rock-themed awards. But hurry up! You’ve only got a week left to enter!
