Six ways to change life

Johnathan Slater founder of One Co of Harrogate

It is something most of us struggle with - how do we get our five portions of fruit and veg a day?

Well one Yorkshire man believes he has come up with the answer.

Killinghall based Johnathan Slater has developed One of Harrogate - a smoothie with a difference.

One 500ml bottle of One contains five portion of fruit and veg – and nothing else, hence the name.

“I wanted to come up with a product that would really help people achieve the goal of getting five portions of fruit and vegetables into their daily diet quickly and easily,” says Johnathan, 31.

“I wanted it to be ‘free from’ and no additives. It is also nut and gluten free.”

It helped that his father Norman and his uncle John have both medical and business backgrounds.

“It is a real family business and they have helped me develop a product which has the right balance of nutrients and also the ensure that it is produced in a safe environment.”

As well as providing five a day, Johnathan, whose background is in graphics and web design, ensured that his product was dairy free.

“One of my nephews, Louis, is only three but he is lactose intolerant. It was really important to me that everyone was able to benefit from the smoothie.

“The smoothies also aid in combating obesity, reducing heart attacks, type 2 Diabetes and some types of cancer.” They also contain Folate, Vitamins A,C,E, K, B3, B6, B9 and Calcium, Sodium, Potassium, Magnesium and Iron.

Johnathan, who makes the smoothies in the kitchen of his North Yorkshire cottage, uses locally sourced fruit and veg.

He spent weeks perfecting the flavour and consistancy combinations with the nutritional value. One contains ten different fruit and veg and, at the moment, comes in two flavours; Apple, Fig & Mango et. al. and Orange, Kiwi & Passion Fruit et. al.

After testing it on friends and family he decided to tedt his fledging product on students at both Bradford and Sheffield universities and was surprised by the results.

“They loved them. I had only really meant to do a bit of a taste test, but we sold out. They couldn’t seem to get enough of them.”

However, feedback from the students said they would like a smaller, cheaper version and so Johnathan developed Half.

Half provides three of your five a day fruit and veg requirements in a 250ml bottle which a recommended retail price of £1.99.

Although only four months old the response to One has been impressive.

At the moment it is stocked exclusively in Harrogate food hall Weetons, although Johnathan is in talks with some of the big national stores including Harvey Nichols, Fortnum and Mason and Holland and Barrett. But, he says, he doesn’t want one to be seen as an exclusive product.

“My aim is to make it as widely available as possible. I want to get to the stage where I can help people at the other end of the spectrum. People who can’t afford to buy much fresh fruit and veg, I even want to be able to give it to foodbanks at some stage in the future.”

He is also in talks with the Government’s healthy eating programme Change4 Life which encourages people to make healthy swaps in their diets and to carry out more exercise.

Unlike some other smoothies One includes the entire fruit and vegetable used and so is high in fibre.

“There is no added sugar and it is low in saturated fat,” adds Johnathan.

If the early successful marketing continues Johnthan plans to expand his business and also introduce other new lines of healthy products

He says: “I would quite like to introduce frozen yoghurts and even soups.”

He decided to call his company One Co of Harrogate because he is proud of his Yorkshire roots.

“I want to make people aware it is a Yorkshire brand and that we are from Harrogate.”

A tasting session of One and Half from the One Co of Harrogate is being held at Weetons Food Hall, Harrogate on Saturday April 11 during the week of ‘World Health Day’.