Pioneering supplements specialist G&G marked its golden anniversary earlier this month at a special celebratory gathering close to its East Grinstead offices and manufacturing facility.
Customers, industry figures, friends and family joined G&G on the day at Busses Organic Farm for a delicious lunch, games for the children (and adults!), live musiv, speeches and presentations.
A highlight of the day was a special address by Sheila Gaiman, who, together with her late husband David, co-founded G&G in 1965. Reflecting on the company’s achievements over 50 years, and the enormous changes that she had witnessed, she said:
“I’m not of the opinion that modern civilization is an evil word, not that tradition is omnipotent – modern life has allowed us to switch to vegetarian capsules, increase production many times over, develop new products with important health benefits that we could hardly imagine when we set out to make a high potency vitamin E supplement in 1965. But tradition has given us something too. It has given us our core values and innovation before indifference.
“Our industry will continue to change and evolve and we will evolve with it. But one thing will never change – our commitment to make the world a better and healthier place.
“Our industry will continue to change and evolve and we will evolve with it. But one thing will never change – our commitment to make the world a better and healthier place”
HFMA executive director, Graham Keen, made special presentation to Sheila Gaiman, in recognition of the pioneering path that G&G has always followed. He said: “People like David and Sheila were champions of the health food industry before such things existed. So, I am honoured to present this award, to and David and Sheila, on the 50th anniversary of G&G, as true pioneers of supplement industry and for being champions of integrity and innovation, and being committed to building a better and healthier world. I can’t think of argue more appropriate to give this award to, and I’m honoured to be able to present it to you today, Sheila.”
Natural Products News spoke with G&G MD Myles McEntyre on the eve of the company’s 50th anniversary year. The following profile was published in the January 2015 issue of NPN.
Quality encapsulated
This year G&G Vitamins will celebrate its 50th anniversary. By any standard that’s quite a milestone. From the very beginning, quality has been at the heart of everything the business does. And it’s that focus on quality that has won it a client list that includes many of the best known specialist supplement brands in the natural products channel.
G&G was founded in 1965. The business came about as a direct response to exciting new research into the potential of vitamin E, which was shown to be needed at much higher levels than in the products then widely available. The concept of the multivitamin was also gaining ground at the time, but again product dosages were typically low. Sheila Gaiman, a pharmacist at University College Hospital in London, with her husband David, saw the opportunity for higher dosage vitamin products and negotiated with a large pharmaceutical company to manufacture a high potency vitamin E product and a three-part multivitamin. G&G Vitamins was born.
Growing reputation
For the first few years the business operated from the Gaiman’s Sussex home, from where it sold its products by mail order. In 1977 the company bought its first shop on East Grinstead High Street. By the early 1980s the business had begun to concentrate on providing nutritional data and research information from around the world to practitioners, nutritionists and clinics in the UK and Europe.
By the late 80s G&G had established an enviable reputation both for the information and research it was able to supply and the quality of its own products, which it was by now producing at its own manufacturing facility in the town. Having full control over the manufacturing process meant that the company could apply its principles of producing only the purest excipient-free vitamin products.
Fast forward to 2015 and G&G is firmly established as one of the largest manufacturers of encapsulated vitamin and mineral products in the UK health industry, offering its own range of G&G branded lines – including the multi-award-winning Essential Food product – and a GMP standard contract manufacturing service to over 200 natural health brands.
Fresh investment
G&G remains an independent, family-owned company, and the family continues to reinvest into the business. Evidence of this is present from the moment you arrive at the company’s office and manufacturing facility. A stylish new reception area and shop now greets visitors and sets the tone for the major office refurbishment that is also underway.
The business has also been getting fresh investment in equipment, machinery and the company’s ISO class 9 pharmaceutical clean room, as Myles McEntyre, G&G’s chief executive officer, tells me. “Our pharmaceutical grade ISO class 9 clean room has been further upgraded, and we’ve recently commissioned new machinery that means we now have two high speed production lines, having duplicates and sometimes triplicates of every machine we have. That’s a big help when we are dealing with peak workloads, and it means that if one machine is down for any reason, we don’t have interruption to production.
“We’ve got the capacity now to produce ten million capsules a month and we’re at a level where we could double production. But for us it’s not about numbers, and we don’t make products for the sake of it.”
Quality first
“Our market is the people and brands who care about quality. And quality is why they come to us. All our products are manufactured under GMP conditions and independently verified and audited by AIB International, the Soil Association and Environmental Health.
“We’re also specialists – we only make capsules, so no tablets, no excipients. And we really try to go the extra mile to help customers with specific formulations. We’ll find a way to get even the most difficult powder types into a capsule. We’ve developed technologies to do that, but the skill of encapsulation is an art form.”
Working closely with customers has been a key feature of the business from its earliest days as a contract manufacturer. “Relationships are so important. Because we can offer short runs, right down to 30,000 capsules – or 500 tubs – we’ve been able to help a lot of start-ups over the years. We work with customers to help them become successful.”
Fair and ethical
G&G’s contract customers include a diverse range of health food trade brands, both large and small. “It’s very important in this business to be fair and ethical. With our 50 years’ experience, people trust us with confidential information – as, of course, they should do.
“We’re very flexible – and we need to be, because everyone’s formulation is different. And if someone says they’ve got a unique ingredient that they have sourced which they want used in a product and is permitted, or need a bespoke ingredient, that’s fine. It’s all about people and individuals. There will always be someone here to give advice. Anyone can pick up the phone and call me or Bob Parker (G&G’s new business director).”
The company can also claim a string of ‘firsts’, including the first vitamin and mineral ‘daily packs’, the first sublingual vitamins in Europe, the first certified organic herbal ranges and the first cal-mag formulation.
A passion for the company’s products, and for natural health in general, is something shared by the workforce at every level of the business, says McEntyre. “Lots of the staff have been here for 20, even 30 years. We’ve got a dedicated and really hard-working team, and we encourage and try to ensure everyone inputs into the development of the business. We have an open book policy in terms of keeping everyone informed about how we are doing and where we’re going.”
On trend
G&G, which manufactures everything from multivitamins to organics, green food blends to probiotics, is in a very good place to spot new opportunities and consumer trends. Organic is one area where the company continues to see “really substantial growth”. With its long-term working relationship with the Soil Association, and regular organic inspections, G&G is now at the forefront of organic supplement manufacturing. McEntyre says there is also a more general ‘back to nature’ trend and growing interest in “developing products where the nutraceutical element comes from a natural source”.
Legislation and regulations each directly impact product development in the supplements and nutritional products sector. Maximum permitted levels for vitamins and minerals would be a real concern “if the EC goes for low levels”, says McEntyre. “It’s a freedom of choice issue. People should be able to make intelligent choices, assuming products are safe – which I don’t think is an issue in this category. That’s why we actively support groups that will challenge overly restrictive regulation. So we’re a member of the industry’s main trade body, the HFMA, and we also support the Alliance for Natural Health on particular projects.”
Healthy future
Over five decades G&G has grown from a cottage industry into one of the best known and most respected names in the UK health food industry with a raft of industry firsts behind it. On the eve of its 50th birthday party celebrations, what does Myles McEntyre think that the future holds for the business? “I think the future for G&G is very bright and exciting as we go into our 50th anniversary year on a high. The market for high quality supplement manufacturing is a growing part of the industry and G&G is one of the very few that specialize in that.
“Reinvestment and strategic vision by our chairman, Mauro Calcioli, will continue into the future, increasing our capacity for production and delivery to our current and future clients. Being a family-owned and run company, we are passionate about our independence, and our strategic plan reflects that. We have a great team at G&G with the focus and experience to move forward into a healthy future in the UK, Europe and beyond.”
