The challenge
Superkeen make allergen-free cereal from tigernuts, which, despite the name, are not nuts at all but a small, naturally sweet tuber.
It is a clever foundation for an inclusive food company, and Superkeen’s ambition stretches well beyond the cereal aisle: to become the UK’s most inclusive food brand by bringing their ethos across a wide range of products. They tasked us with supporting that expansion into new categories, with two product areas selected for a fast-paced development sprint. The challenge was as much about principle as product. Every prototype had to live up to the promise that inclusive eating should never mean settling for less.
What we did
A rapid development sprint.
How we did it
Speed without standards is just haste, so we began with benchmark analysis and category trend reviews. Before a single prototype was made, we understood what good looks like in each target category, where the quality bar sits, and what consumers expect from the products already on shelf. Inclusive products are not judged against other inclusive products; they are judged against the best in the category, and that is the bar we set.
From there, development moved quickly across the two selected areas. The first was a range of allergen-free nut butter concepts, developed in multiple flavour profiles and serving formats to give Superkeen genuine breadth of choice as the range takes shape. The second explored tigernut cereal bars, extending the ingredient at the heart of the company into a new format and a new occasion.
The defining constraint ran through everything: all development adhered to strict dietary and allergen requirements, making the products suitable for an AIP (autoimmune protocol) diet. That meant navigating significant ingredient restrictions, because AIP excludes many of the ingredients a developer would normally reach for. Working within limits like these is where development skill really shows. The restrictions shape the recipe, but they must never show up in the eating experience.
The sprint concluded with the sign-off of gate zero samples, the proven starting points that will now shape manufacturing briefs and critical control points as the products move towards production.
What it delivered
Signed-off gate zero samples across both product areas: allergen-free nut butter concepts in multiple flavours and formats, and tigernut cereal bar prototypes, all meeting strict AIP dietary and allergen requirements. Superkeen now have a tangible, tasteable foundation for their category expansion, with clear next steps into manufacturing briefs and critical control points.
We loved this one. Food should be for everyone, and the consumers who navigate allergies and restricted diets every day are too often offered the dullest corner of the category. Projects like this prove it does not have to be that way. When development starts with great taste and treats the restrictions as a design brief rather than an excuse, inclusive food can compete with anything on the shelf. That is precisely the future Superkeen are building, and we are pleased to be part of it.
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