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FREESHAKER
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
I first entered the sports nutrition industry while helping my friend Phil, who wanted to build a business selling products from established supplement brands.
I was still learning the industry, but the experience gave me a close look at how products were formulated, marketed and recommended to customers.
Some brands encouraged people to use four or five protein shakes every day. It increasingly felt as though selling more product had become more important than helping customers make sensible choices.
I became convinced that things could be done differently.
By 2012, I had already chosen the ICON name, developed the initial label concepts and started putting together the first products. The idea was there, but I was hesitating about taking it on alone while I was still relatively new to the industry.
That changed after a conversation in a pub with my childhood friend Kevin.
We spoke about my plans for ICON, my frustrations with the industry and the kind of brand I wanted to build. Kevin saw the opportunity in the same way and was keen to be involved.
We started working on ICON together and the idea became a real business.
BUILT THROUGH THE CROSSFIT COMMUNITY
CrossFit became a huge part of ICON’s early growth.
We developed direct relationships with gym owners throughout the country and, at one stage, supplied what I estimate was around 80% of the CrossFit gyms in the UK.
I had many of the owners’ numbers saved directly in my phone and spent most weekends travelling to competitions and events. Those relationships gave us an immediate connection to the people actually using our products.
The business grew steadily. We moved from one tiny office into a larger one, then another, and eventually into our biggest unit.
Each move felt like another marker of how far ICON had come.
WHEN ONE PRODUCT BECAME ANOTHER BRAND
Battle Oats originally began as an idea for an ICON protein bar.
While looking for the right product name, we came up with Battle Oats and quickly realised it had the potential to become something much bigger in its own right—including moving into mainstream retail, which had never been the goal for ICON.
We therefore launched Battle Oats as a separate brand.
It later became Battle Bites and grew considerably. Kevin concentrated on areas including UK retail and Amazon, while I focused more heavily on exports and supplying gyms across the UK.
Its success brought exciting opportunities, but it also meant Battle Oats increasingly took over the day-to-day business. As it grew, ICON received less of our time and attention.
CHOOSING ICON AGAIN
In 2020, during Covid, we received an offer to sell Battle Oats.
We initially declined it, but the discussions forced us to think seriously about the future of both businesses.
We realised that continuing to grow Battle Oats would probably mean letting ICON go.
I wasn’t ready to do that.
ICON was the first brand I had created and the one I still felt most personally connected to. Selling Battle Oats would give us the opportunity to return our attention to ICON and build it properly again.
We agreed to the sale in 2020 and remained involved for a six-month handover period.
Around a year after the sale, Kevin decided it was time for a change after nearly a decade in the industry. I bought his share of ICON, bringing the business under my sole ownership.
Kevin played an important part in the beginning of ICON and everything we subsequently built with Battle Oats and Battle Bites. We had simply reached a point where we wanted different things from the next chapter.
I was ready to return to ICON and reshape it around the original vision.
RESHAPING THE RANGE
Once my full attention returned to ICON, I reviewed the entire product range.
Some products had been introduced primarily with Amazon sales in mind. Although they partly fitted the brand, they didn’t always reflect the focused direction I wanted ICON to take.
I reduced the range and began developing the products that remained.
Ignite and Hibernate were reformulated. Amino Performance evolved into INTRA+ with a more complete formula. Hydrate Performance and Muscle & Joint Performance were introduced, alongside new flavours across Whey, Recovery and Hibernate.
This wasn’t about creating the biggest possible selection. It was about building a smaller, more considered range where every product had a clear role.
That principle still guides ICON today.
A MORE FLEXIBLE, DIRECT BUSINESS
The shape of the wider business has changed too.
Before Brexit, our export business into Europe was performing strongly. The changes that followed made European trade considerably more difficult, and today our attention is focused primarily on the UK again.
After selling Battle Oats, we no longer needed the same warehouse space. We moved fulfilment to another local specialist company, giving ICON greater flexibility without requiring us to operate such a large unit ourselves.
We also returned to selling directly to our trade customers through our dedicated trade website. We worked with wholesalers for a period, but it created distance between us and the gym owners using and recommending the products.
Maintaining those direct relationships has always felt more like ICON.
THE ICON APPROACH
STILL OWNER-OPERATED
Today, ICON remains independently owned and operated by me.
The business has developed alongside the rest of my life. I became a dad at 21 and raised three children while building ICON and Battle Oats/Battle Bites. They are grown up now, but it has certainly been a busy journey.
Training has remained a constant throughout it.
Today I compete in Masters weightlifting and coach CrossFit, so I understand that supplements have to fit around real training, recovery, work and family life.
They aren’t shortcuts or substitutes for consistent effort. Their role is to support the work you are already putting in.
Being owner-operated keeps ICON close to the people using its products. Customer questions, feedback, new research and my own training experience all help shape the decisions I make.
We may not have the enormous range or marketing budget of the biggest sports nutrition companies—and that’s fine. My aim is to build a dependable brand that people continue to trust and recommend.
