Matt Hunt built a 300-million-ball business without a co-packer and without betting on supermarket shelves to do the work for him.
About this episode
Matt Hunt is 11 years into building The Protein Ball Company — 300 million balls sold, 14 export markets, 60,000 bags leaving Worthing every day. He's done it by manufacturing himself, hedging with private label and export, and — after Covid wiped out 80% of the business — rebuilding from the bottom up through gyms and coffee shops before going back to supermarkets.
Andy gets Matt into the detail: why private label is a hedge not a compromise, what a category buyer actually charges you for shelf space, and the graveyard exercise that Leeds agency Robot Foods ran to strip his branding down to "Ballsy by nature."
About the guest
Matt Hunt co-founded The Protein Ball Company with his wife Hayley in 2014. He also built OLUVS — the first olives-in-a-bag brand, sold live on QVC and supplied into airline catering with Ryanair, easyJet, Delta and United — and The Great British Porridge Company, which went on Dragon's Den, got offers from all five Dragons, and walked away on contractual terms. He specialises in scaling natural-ingredient food brands without handing control to a co-packer.
Key moments
[02:46] The single decision that built a 300-million-ball business: manufacture it yourself, don't hand it to a co-packer.
[07:04] "No one cares as much as you do" — why outsourcing production leaves your quality in someone else's hands.
[14:08] Cash flow is king. Money on the water, 90-day US terms, and why a million in receivables can still put payroll at risk.
[24:12] Building from the bottom up — gyms, coffee shops, office blocks (Cafe Nero, Nuffield, HSBC) before Tesco.
[27:10] How a category manager kills a challenger brand — the Organic Meltdown vs Lindt story at Waitrose.
[36:09] What a shopper decides in two seconds — colour, font, tone, not ingredient claims — and why the agency forced Matt to strip the front of pack.
[37:00] The graveyard exercise — Robot Foods' pre-mortem where Matt had to write his brand's obituary, list what killed it, and work backwards to stop it dying.
[39:55] Where "Ballsy by nature" came from — anger at the protein-bar category and pride in sourcing the best.
[52:34] When to say no to a private-label deal: conflict of interest, bad margin, or it dilutes your own brand. Why it's still 50% of the business.
[58:00] Plan A, Plan B, Plan C — why every ingredient now needs three sources, and olives are up 45% in a year.
[1:14:00] First-hire advice: keep your day job until the side hustle overtakes it. Hiring an office and staff too early is how you kill the thing.
Mentioned in this episode
Robot Foods — Leeds branding agency behind the "Ballsy by nature" rebrand and the graveyard exercise (a pre-mortem: imagine your brand has died, write its obituary, work out what killed it).
OLUVS — Matt's earlier brand. First olives-in-a-bag. Supplied into airline catering with Delta, United, Ryanair, easyJet.
The Great British Porridge Company — Matt's third brand. Went on Dragon's Den, got offers from all five Dragons, walked away on contractual terms.
QVC — where OLUVS sold live; older demographic, urgency-driven, better than people admit.
Whole Foods Market — US stockist, 600 stores, private-label arrangement.
Cafe Nero, Flying Coffee Bean, Black Sheep Coffee, Nuffield, Virgin Active — the bottom-up placement strategy.
Pets Corner — 150-store launch partner for the dog-treat line.
Joe Wicks' "Killer Bar" — parody protein bar exposing category additives; tailwind for natural brands like Matt's.
Perfect Ted, Trip Drinks — examples of brands that hit the shelf running with the right backing.
Stephen Bartlett — cited as the right-person-in-the-right-place factor behind Perfect Ted's scale.
Mr Beast — influencer chocolate bar, discussed as a cautionary tale on quality.
GLP-1 / Ozempic — why bite-sized dense-nutrition snacks are a growing category.
Find the guest
LinkedIn: [paste Matt Hunt's LinkedIn URL here — not stored in the Episodes sheet yet] The Protein Ball Company: https://theproteinballco.com
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