Entrepreneur(s): Lisa Kleiner & Anna O’Sullivan

Business Name: Nibbed

Business Location: Bia Innovator Campus, Athenry, Galway

Website: nibbed.ie

Established in: 2021

Famous for: Pure hot cacao drinks as an alternative to coffee. Tastes like a rich, dark healthy hot chocolate that’s actually good for you.

Tell us about your business and what you do….

We’re a family-run organic cacao business that makes delicious, organic cacao treats in small batches. We use ethically sourced beans to craft the purest form of chocolate, our cult-favourite is the hot cacao drinks (a jitter-free coffee alternative!). Cacao is an amazing superfood that can help provide a natural energy boost, mood lift, and focus support – all wrapped up in deliciousness.

What can you tell us about the early days and how it all started?

It all began in 2020 when Ireland went into lockdown. While many found themselves confined, Lisa Kleiner, a classically trained chef, found herself on an adventure in the kitchen. She set out to learn more about bean-to-bar cacao and chocolate.  

The more she delved into the world of this "magical cacao bean," the more fascinated she became by its health properties and, of course, its incredible taste. She started experimenting with different flavours and combinations.

Word of Lisa's exciting new venture soon reached her niece, Anna O'Sullivan. Sharing Lisa's growing love for cacao, Anna couldn't resist getting involved. With her background  in design and wellness marketing, Anna complemented Lisa's culinary talents.

What were the high points and low points when you were a start-up?

high points: getting such great feedback from customers, when people come up to us when we’re out or at a market or event, to stop us and tell us how much they love their hot cacao everyday. That makes it all worth-while.

low points: when machinery breaks down or something logistical goes wrong (like running out of packaging just before Christmas!) - there’s always something!

What was your big ‘break-through’ moment?

Not sure if I can think of one specific “moment" but we have really started to believe in ourselves more and more in the past year. When we see just how many customers truly love their hot cacao, and how loyal and supportive they are to us. Every week we get a least a few DMs or emails telling us how much they genuinely love Nibbed and couldn’t be without it.

Local Enterprise Office Galway has supported your business. Tell us about these supports and what impact they have had?

We’ve had great support from the Local Enterprise Office over the years. We moved location from Wicklow to Galway in 2023, which was quite a substantial move for us. The team at LEO Galway were an amazing help. We received the Expansion grant to allow us to fit out the new premises at Bia Innovator Campus and to hire new staff.

We have also just signed up to the Lean for Business which we are really excited about starting, to help us with adopting leaner business practices.

Stephanie and the team at LEO have also just been so helpful, any time we have a question or query they are always back to us in no time with an answer or to steer us in the right direction.

What’s next on the business agenda for your company?

We are settling into our new location and working with all our new machinery. We are hoping to launch into the UK in the coming months, as well as roll out our barista hot cacao offering in Ireland. We have lots of innovative ideas that we’d love to start on also - we can’t wait to do some research and development!

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever gotten about running a business?

Don’t underestimate how much you can achieve in a year / 3 years / 5 years! When it comes to big vision thinking - think big!