Well Spent Grain venture puts sustainable products on shelves

A LOVE of the outdoors, food and nature inspired a couple to start a venture that “rescues” grain and processes it into a key ingredient.

Sunkyung Choi and Patrick Nagle are the co-founders of Well Spent Grain, and the brand range of Accidentally Vegan Born Again Bites, which includes Peanut and Dark Chocolate Soft Snack Bites.

Only trading three months and processing sustainable products from a kitchen at home in Knocklyon, the pair’s products are already on the shelves of a number of Dublin SuperValu stores, and other outlets, including Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club.

Patrick said their story began with their love of food and long-distance trekking.

“The great outdoors inspired us to educate ourselves regarding climate change. This led us to the food chain and its waste issues,” said Patrick.

“Following research, we discovered brewers spent grain, the largest by-product of the beer brewing process.

“We rescue this spent grain from local breweries, such as Rascals Brewing Company in Inchicore, and process it into a key ingredient to make our Born Again Bites.”

Patrick stresses the key words are “upcycled or rescued” not “recycled” as the latter has pre-conceived perceptions.

“We have a great partnership with Cathal and Rascals Brewing, we work closely together,” said Patrick.

“The moment the grain leaves the kettle or hopper, we collect it and transport it immediately to our kitchen for processing or storage. It is not hanging around.

“Brewers extract the sugar but that leaves behind protein and fibre. The rescued grain is processed, which turns it into a type of flour which is high in fibre, high in protein and low in sugar. We use this flour in our Born Again Bites.”

Patrick and Sunkyung, who he says is “the brains behind the operation” are committed to breaking the cycle of food waste in the supply chain, and have found a way to do this while promoting a circular food economy and sustainable snacking lifestyles.

They graduated from the SuperValu Food Academy and are currently available in eight SuperValu stores in their Taste Of Local Sections: Knocklyon, Rathgar, Ranelagh, Churchtown, Blackrock, Lucan, Newcastle and Wicklow town.

They are also available in The Edge Café, Tallaght and Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club.

“We sell through local markets in Tymon Park Market and the Firhouse Village Market Craft Fair through the summer and will be selling at the Richmond Barracks Harvest Fair on September 9 and 10,” said Patrick.

The fledgling venture also won a place with LEO South Dublin in the Local Enterprise Village for this year’s Ploughing Championship, taking place September 19-21.

Their Instagram handle is @bornagainbites

They also have a web-based game developed by Bold Donut Games to help tell their story.

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