BARE Baked was founded in 2022 by Megan Murrie in her home kitchen in Leven, Fife. As a personal trainer, Megan lives an active and healthy lifestyle. However, she does struggle with a long-term health condition, Endometriosis. This led her to create her own free from granola in her home kitchen which was made from real, natural and healthy ingredients.
Megan commented, “Certain foods made my symptoms very painful and I also have a nut allergy, this is why I wanted to cover all 14 allergens. There were very little free from products on the market and everyone was unhealthy with high amounts of sugar and a lot of artificial sweeteners. I wanted my product to have many health benefits being a personal trainer and focusing on health which many other companies don't do. I also wanted it to be low in sugar, with plenty fibre and containing some protein, while tasting delicious.
“There is nothing like this on the market and the only one that is vegan and covering all 14 allergens. My mission is to help others eat delicious healthy foods without comprising the taste and to help those who suffer with allergens. The secret is it’s not just like any granola, it can be eaten as a snack with yogurt and fruit, as a cereal with milk, or even add water and heat it up like a flavoured porridge. It also comes in many flavours.”
Megan reached out to Business Gateway Fife and her business adviser, Shona Morrison was able to give her one to one advice and support. Shona said, “We were delighted to help secure Megan an SME Development Grant, fully funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. This enabled her to buy ingredients in 50kg bags so she could start on bulk orders.”
Since the company is now expanding and growing Bare Baked is now in many farm shops, stores and cafes. She is now in over 30 stores around the United Kingdom. Recently Real Foods in Edinburgh have given Megan an opportunity of a lifetime to stock her granola in their store and online. They receive thousands of customers in store every day and have 22,000 online customers. Real Foods are a vegetarian, vegan, natural food city centre retailer with a product range of more than10,000 natural, organic, plant-based health and wholefood products and has been in Edinburgh since 1975.
Megan added, “The feedback from my customers has been so phenomenal that word of mouth alone has been growing the business. I receive so many messages daily from customers who say they are so glad they have found my product as they have struggled like I did to find anything. Having a free from all 14 allergies company has come with its challenges but I truly believe I can really make a difference to people lives. “I cannot believe that my little business has now grown into something bigger than I ever thought possible. The help and support from Business Gateway Fife and others to make this a huge success has been amazing.”
Whether thinking of starting a business or looking to grow or sustain an existing business, contact Business Gateway Fife on 01592 858333 for a variety of advice and support or visit www.businessgatewayfife.com
