Police officers’ £5.5 million haul – from making coconut yoghurt
COYO, a coconut yoghurt firm set up by two former Metropolitan Police officers, expects turnover to rise by £1million to £5.5million over the next year after launching a new product line and investing £500,000 in expanding its factory and redesigning packaging.
Co-founder Bethany Eaton said: ‘I was a police officer in Hackney and working days and nights. It takes its toll on your health. I felt rubbish so I saw a nutritionist. It changed my life, so I did a part-time degree in nutritional medicine.
‘When I left the police, I saw people for food intolerance testing. I could only recommend dairy-free soya yoghurt, but it tasted like cardboard. I wanted something that tasted good, and that’s where I saw a gap in the market for coconut yoghurt. No one had ever done it in the UK or Europe.
‘I didn’t really have a plan. I did research and I said to my husband Paul in the garden one day: “Why don’t we just do it?”.’
The couple set up a dairyfree area in an existing dairy, but today have their own factory. Paul has now also left the police.
Bethany said: ‘When we started Coyo in 2011 we worked 24/7. There was no line between home and work.’ But she said they ‘now have a life again’ since taking everything in-house and opening the factory.
Stockists include Planet Organic and Whole Foods Market. Bethany said that only three per cent of those buying dairy-free food do so because of an allergy. ‘It’s a lifestyle choice these days.’