Ex-Warrington Wolves man and Super League forward given £1.2 million investment in booming business

A former Warrington Wolves star has received £1.2 million in investment for his business.

Founded in 2019 by former Warrington man and his wife, James and Michelle Laithwaite, Fuel Hub prepares, cooks and delivers chef-prepared, nutrition-focused meals to sports organisations and elite athletes across the UK.

Following 300 per cent year-on-year growth since its launch, the company has secured investment from Andy Bell, founder of FTSE 250 investment platform AJ Bell, and Fergus Lyons, former director at AJ Bell.

Bell also owns two Michelin star restaurant Moor Hall near Ormskirk, named the best in the country in a recent awards.

Bell, 56, and Lyons, 61, will take a 50 per cent stake in the company.

The company also shops weekly boxes of meals to households across the UK for those in need of healthy, nutritionally-balanced meals, that can be prepared in less than three minutes, with the husband and wife duo set to retain a 50 per cent ownership of Fuel Hub with Michelle set to remain as CEO and James as COO respectively.

Fuel Hub already works with a portfolio of teams, including Laithwaite’s former side Warrington Wolves, Team GB, Fulham FC, Blackpool FC and Derby Country FC.

The turnover of the company has been incredible to say the least:

2019 – £85k
2020 – £300,005
2021 – £600,030
2022 – expected £2m

James, COO at Fuel Hub, told SMEweb: “We knew there was an opportunity to provide athletes with highly nutritious meals to keep them at the peak of their fitness throughout their competitive season. As a professional rugby player, I had insight into how athletes and teams without big food budgets were unable to access healthily prepared meals – not all high performing individuals and organisations have the resources to have an in-house canteen or personal chefs.”

Meanwhile, Michelle, CEO of Fuel Hub, said: “We knew that we needed a significant amount of funding to take Fuel Hub to the next stage in its growth journey. Our priority was to move into a new facility that would enable us to boost our meal production numbers and also big enough to install refrigeration units that could extend the life of our products and meals. After discussions with lots of investors, we secured £1.2m of funding from AJ Bell founder Andy Bell to help achieve these goals.”