Lessons, Losses & Lots of Balls: 10 Years of The Protein Ball Co.
From getting 400,000 bags of olives on US airlines to rolling out protein balls to 18 countries, Matt Hunt knows a thing or two about scaling a brand. He launched The Protein Ball Co. with his wife Hayley after clocking the protein trend early and together they’ve navigated the rollercoaster of building a global business. We caught up with Matt ahead of his keynote at The Startup Summit on 21st May, to chat about the highs, the hard lessons and why he still loves tasting the NPD.
What sparked the idea for The Protein Ball Co.? Was there a lightbulb moment? Back in 2008 it was all about olives and we were running our healthy snack brand OLOVES, which was flying across the US (literally), with airlines like Delta and United buying around 400,000 bags a month!
In 2010, I flew out to the Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim and saw it clear as day: the protein category was taking off. That’s when the idea really hit why not take what we’d done with olives and do the same for protein snacks? bosh we launched a bite-sized bag of protein balls like our OLOVES and we're still rolling stronger than ever...
You founded the business with your wife, what’s it like building a brand as a couple? Any rules early on? It’s pretty much all we’ve ever known! Hayley’s a machine and she runs finance, ops, and develops all new recipes. I look after branding, sales, and NPD stuff. We’ve got very different skill sets, which helps massively and yes, we work in different rooms (that’s rule #1 by the way!)
The hard bit? Work follows us home. We’ve got two boys who really don’t care about production schedules or trade show plans at dinner time. Poor kids.
Were there any early mistakes that taught you big lessons? Too many to fit here! We've been burned big time from not getting paid £140K, to choosing the wrong lawyers and watching the bills pile up. We’ve had products flop, lost so much money, raw ingredient prices shoot up by 40% overnight, and then there’s Brexit, COVID, inflation, increased warehouse and staffing costs. Don’t even get me started on tariffs - we’ve just landed two new US supermarket chains and have six containers landing in the next month, so like an Elton John song, I'm still standing...
The Protein Ball Co. is now sold in 18 countries, how did you crack international expansion? We attend a lot of International shows like PLMA Amsterdam and Fancy Food Show New York, to Anuga in Germany which has about 150,000 visitors! Send out samples to global prospects and arrange video calls. Always follow up and maybe follow up 3 or 4 times before accepting a NO.
What’s been the toughest part of scaling the business? Scaling while still building the brand. Managing growth while keeping our product, team, and values consistent takes a ridiculous amount of attention, discipline, and care. Keeping an eye on finance, late payers, what's in the bank etc. Building strong supplier relationships - that and customer relationships.
What’s a typical day like for you now? Is it all hands on deck? 100%. Mornings start with a production meeting - who’s in, who’s out, what’s running, what’s not. Then it’s back-to-back:
Marketing and branding calls
Sales updates
NPD testing (tasting a lot of balls- which I love haha)
Private label customer calls
And tackling a to-do list that never ends and should never end!
If I don’t finish something, it gets moved to the next day, but I always follow up. It’s all about relentless discipline, keeping the wheels turning for a 42-person team. And making sure everyone’s doing OK or the best we all can be.
Have you had any big mindset shifts as a founder over the years? Definitely. In the early days, you think 5 years and we’ll take over the world. Now, 10 years in, you realise it’s about playing the long game. We’re in the middle of a major rebrand to reposition and relaunch with clarity, confidence, and we have capital. You become harder, you have to as business can be brutal in the way suppliers and customers deal with you - you become stronger and ready to fight more.
What are you most excited about right now, either for the brand or the category? We’re working with an amazing agency to rebrand The Protein Ball Co. and I couldn’t be more excited to see where it goes. We’ve spent years making private label for some of the biggest sports and nutrition brands in the world - plus International supermarkets - so now, it’s time to turn all that knowledge and experience inward and build something truly market-leading. We are making this happen. Watch this space. Big things are rolling.