Nobó is keeping its cool in UAE

Taking a creative approach to an age-old dish, Dublin company Nobó has invented a new ice-cream that doesn’t have dairy or additives but which does have good export potential, writes Trish Dromey.

Selling to 300 shops around Ireland, the company recently shipped its first export order to the United Arab Emirates where it is now stocking freezer cabinets in 54 stores. Boosted by a three-star gold medal win in the UK Great Taste Awards last year, Nobó is now talking to distributors and multiples across the channel.

The name Nobó sounds as if it might be Japanese, but, in a combination of English and Irish, it actually means ‘no cow’. “It is the first commercially available ice-cream in the world that we can find using avocado in its base and one of the very few that doesn’t use any preservatives, gums, or stabilisers,’’’ says Brian Nolan who co-founded Nobó with his wife, Rachel, in 2012.