Nuts about nuts: Obsession pays off with $1m Coles deal

Quitting your job when you’re a young dad with a mortgage to focus on a food business start-up is a big leap but one that’s paid off for this Melburnian.

A former journalist has turned his obsession with nuts into a lucrative business, inking a $1 million deal with supermarket giant Coles.

When Nick Sheridan was living in London and training for his first “and maybe last” marathon in 2012, he became mad about peanut butter, so he decided to turn his nut fixation into a business on his return to Melbourne.

He created 99th Monkey in 2013, aiming to make tasty and healthy food that was also kind to the environment, and started selling in farmers’ markets, then branched into local stores and online.

At the end of 2017, the brand was in about 800 independent retailers around Australia, and the following year it was among five businesses selected to take part in an incubator program run by yoghurt manufacturer Chobani.

Former journalist Nick Sheridan has turned his obsession with nuts into a lucrative business. Picture: Supplied via NCA NewsWire

“The program helped me to expand my vision for the business and gave me the contacts and confidence to take the brand to the next level,” Mr Sheridan said.

He said he “finally went all in”, leaving his job as editor of a coffee magazine to focus on 99th Monkey full time – a big leap given he and his wife Tracey had a two-year-old daughter and a mortgage at the time.

The leap paid off, and by the end of 2018, 99th Monkey was stocked in Coles’ new format stores, Coles Local.

This led to the company getting three products stocked in 200 Coles stores in Victoria last year.

This year, 99th Monkey signed a $1 million deal with the supermarket giant, with its natural almond butter and almond cacao butter to be stocked in 650 Coles stores nationally.