After a long day at work, you might find yourself reaching for the box of cereal sooner than cooking, and friends Sarah and Isolde know this only too well. As young working professionals, they saw a gap in the market for a convenient food that was also good for you, and so Cool Beans was born – a no-fuss healthy meal in a pot, focusing on top-quality fresh ingredients.

“We wanted something for ourselves really, for when you come home at 9pm and it’s too late for dinner, but you don’t want to eat cereal either.

“It shouldn’t be difficult to eat healthy. We always loved beans – they’re so underrated. They’re proven to lower cholesterol and are good for weight loss, so they’re really good for you. We saw the potential for a fresh gourmet baked bean product on Irish shelves,” says Isolde.

Made from cannellini beans, the product is high in protein and fibre, low in fat and salt, and has no added sugar. They come in three different flavours – tomato, smokey, and chilli.

Sarah and Isolde met seven years ago when they worked together on the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year programme, and they talked about setting up a business together ever since.

“We worked together before we were friends, so we knew we were both very enthusiastic and hard-working,” says Sarah.

They had fun in the kitchen at the start, playing around with different recipe ideas, but it was their friend and chef Sophie Morris who came up with the final flavours. They then hit the road in The Bean Machine to test the product.

“We wanted to target young professionals like us, so we went to festivals like Electric Picnic and Body and Soul.

“People are very honest when they have a few drinks in them, so the feedback was great. We were able to tweak and perfect our beans after that. We changed the recipe, replaced the sugar with honey, and made them gluten-free, cleaner and healthier,” Isolde says.

With little money for advertising, The Cool Beans Company used social media to get their brand out there. The response they got after the festivals, they say, was phenomenon.

“It was at that point that I knew I had to quit my job if we were going to be serious about this. It was a risky decision to make, but we had so much faith in our product, we had to take the plunge,” says Isolde.

It was around this time that they also got accepted into the Food Academy Programme, a joint initiative between SuperValu, the Local Enterprise Office and Bord Bia to give small producers a chance to launch their products into the retail market.

They began the programme in February 2014 and for the following six months they focused on developing the brand, packaging, design, and improving the recipes. Starting out in just 10 SuperValu stores around Dublin, Cool Beans are now in 165 stores nationwide.

Isolde and Sarah worked seven days a week at the start, doing tastings in all the different stores and building a reputation. The pair have faced many obstacles on their journey, but failure, they say, is not an option.

“Our whole life savings have gone into this, so failure is not an option. I think we’re lucky because we’re female entrepreneurs, so there’s a lot of interest out there from people. Also, women are never afraid to ask for help, so that definitely stands to us.

“We got 50% of the funding for product development from the Local Enterprise Office, and a small grant from DCU’s Female High Fliers programme. Everything else we paid for out of our own pockets.

“Probably the biggest challenge we faced to date was when we got 90,000 labels printed and then we found out that they were non-microwavable. They were on about 1,000 pots by that stage, so it took a whole month to get that sorted,” says Sarah.

Despite these hiccups, The Cool Beans Company is now proud to announce that it is able to take on its first employee this year; James, who is looking after the digital and marketing side of the business.

“It was a huge milestone for us as a small business, being able to add to our team, and it drives us on to work even harder to make the business sustainable into the future,” says Isolde.

The chilli flavour beans won best ready-meal at the Quality Food Awards in September, and won silver at Blas na hÉireann awards this October. So what’s next for The Cool Bean Company?

“World domination. We’re ready to expand in Ireland, and we’re also pursuing our options in the UK. There is definitely a market there in Europe too, especially in the Netherlands and Scandinavia.

“Hopefully we’ll be over what we call the hump in the next six months, and after that we will start to grow and invest big time into marketing.

“I think we’re the only ones hoping for a cold, wet winter – that’s when bean sales pick up,” laughs Sarah.

Cool Beans are stocked in 165 SuperValu stores nationwide and cost €3.49. Visit www.coolbeans.ie