Pol Gieco Villegas. CEO of Crown Sports Nutrition
When and how was Crown Sport Nutrition born?
The origin of everything goes back a decade, when my mother, on one of her trips to Argentina, was offered a product: beef protein concentrate. This food was used for the sick, athletes, children, the elderly… and people said that “it was very good.” She had the vision of bringing it to Europe to market it in order to allocate part of the profits from it to collaborate with the most vulnerable children. This is where Crown’s first seed was sown: helping.
The second seed arose when I personally joined the project (I was finishing my Industrial Engineering degree) and thanks to the advice of Adrián Castillo de Fissac, we decided that science was the only thing that would give seriousness and value to the product. For this reason, we contacted Dr. Fernando Naclerio from the University of Greenwich in the United Kingdom, and from the outset he found it to be an interesting food, presented with quality and transparency. We managed to establish a research collaboration with the Department of Performance of said British university and we began to study it and publish research in high-impact journals. All this, summarized in a paragraph, were four years of work.
This philosophy that was being formed and the first results obtained, always backed by science, quality and transparency, attracted people to the project and that motivated us to continue forward. We barely sold, but we noticed that philosophy was liked. One day I met my main mentor, Miguel Ángel Quiroga, brother of Gema Quiroga (outstanding trail running coach), and they taught me that a differential value would be what motivated my mother at the time: “to help”, and in this case , help the sport. These values, today, are the foundation of Crown Sport Nutrition.
–
Why the name Crown?
The crown is a metaphor that represents the culmination, perfection, or highest point of something. And the jewel in the crown is the most valuable, prominent or important treasure in a system. Crown Sport Nutrition is the crown and our philosophy is its jewel.
–
How were the beginnings and with what products did the brand become known?
Thanks to the publication of the first scientific studies around the year 2016, one day I was approached by a person who told me that he liked our way of doing things. It was Pablo Felipe Martín, a chemist and food technologist with 15 years of experience at that time. He considered that our way of working was different from what existed in the sector and offered to help us with more commercial products, as long as we maintained this philosophy. Today, Pablo is our technical director and continues to help create all Crown products.
Both the meat protein concentrate (100% all beef) as the first products we developed, they did not perform as we expected, despite their high quality. This was due both to the sector we were targeting (fitness), and to the fact that we had no contacts or experience in the business, such as clients, sales channels or athletes, among others. It was at that moment that we decided to focus on endurance sport, due to the values it represents, less competition, and greater alignment with our brand. The first products that managed to have rotation were Energy Gel, Isodrink and Energy Bar. With them we were able to communicate effectively and establish a base to grow the brand.
At the same time, we became the first Spanish company to obtain certification Informed Sport (anti-doping certification recommended by the AEPSAD). Together with the scientific studies we had, this allowed us to work with top-level professionals and grow gradually.
–
How has the evolution been towards what is now Crown Sport Nutrition?
Based on what was mentioned in the previous response, it has been a constant effort to improve in all aspects: product, communication, image, personal and professional relationships, online sales, sales in physical stores, dealings with customers, suppliers and in overall with society.
We have managed to obtain more scientific studies, more Informed Sport certifications, expanded our product line, increased sales channels, acquired more clients, established relationships with professionals, improved our online and offline service, increased training and available content, and we have with top-level athletes among our collaborators.
In summary, we have already published 12 scientific articles on our products in high-impact Q1 and Q2 magazines (world-renowned scientific journals). Our research projects have been selected in the United Kingdom as part of the REF 2021 (Research Excellence Framework), where the best studies in the United Kingdom are chosen over a period of 7 years. In addition, we carry a wide variety of products certified by Informed Sport, and have established partnerships with numerous athletes, teams, federations and institutions that trust Crown. Professionals recommend us on a daily basis and our client base grows annually by a large percentage in more than 10 different countries.
Finally, hundreds of physical and online stores work with us, some of the first level such as Decathlon, Deporvillage, Bulevip, Sprinter and Tradeinn.
–
From the beginning, Crown has always been closely linked to both science and training, working together with the best professionals, entities, media… How important is this for you?
It is the basis on which we work. Our goal from the beginning has been to help sport, and to achieve this we have adopted a philosophy focused on science, honesty towards society, creating value for athletes and professionals, and learning from them as well. That is why we publish so many valuable articles on our website and other media, as well as the organization of two editions of our Annual Supplement Symposium, in which we have had the presence of prominent professionals such as Burke, Naclerio and Viribay, to mention some. This symposium has been totally free and has had a significant impact on the sector. We firmly believe that education is the foundation of personal development and freedom, which allows us to better adapt to a constantly changing future. In addition, it is important to communicate all these activities, and that is why we value the work of media outlets like yours, which is aimed at readers who love sports but with a more “perfectionist” approach. That is why we have been collaborating with Sportraining for five years.
–
How does the manufacturing process of the different products work and what needs does it respond to? What scientific/technical team do you have for the creation of the best product?
The existing need in the sector is evaluated and it is determined if that need has a solid scientific support. Once we consider the scientific support to be high, we search for the best raw materials and formulations that are aligned with the science. In addition, we strive to achieve the best possible flavor and maintain a competitive price before launching the product on the market. The process itself is specialized knowledge that we have developed over the years and cannot be fully detailed. Professionals from different fields participate in this process, such as athletes, doctors, nutritionists, scientists, universities and product technicians.
For some of our products, we even carry out scientific studies to validate their effectiveness, such as the Pre Workout PRO ST and 3:1 PRO Recovery ST.
–
What product or product line are you most proud of?
It is a difficult question to answer, since each product has been developed at different times, with different objectives and they are not directly comparable. For example, our new Hyper (1:0.8) line is exceeding our expectations and has had an excellent response from society, but cannot be directly compared to the launch of our classic line, which includes Energy Gel, Energy Bar and Isodrink, since there is a difference of 6 years between the two. We have more experience, more accumulated knowledge, etc. Both lines work well, since they allow you to adapt the consumption of carbohydrates to individual needs, the training phase of the digestive system and complement each other. Today, there is criticism of gels that do not follow a 2:1 or 1:0.8 carbohydrate ratio. However, not all athletes consume more than 60 g/h of carbohydrates, and there are many athletes who take supplements and do not practice resistance sports. A 16 year old tennis player who is starting to take supplements will not need the Hyper line. He’ll do better with lower fructose products, like an Isodrink and some Energy Gel or classic oatmeal/gummy bar.
That being said, we love both the Classic and the Hyper lines, but what the Classic line did at the time was allow Crown to compete with the big boys. I also want to add that we are proud of products like Pre Workout PRO ST, which has an exclusive master formula and is backed by published scientific studies, certified Informed Sporta good flavor and a competitive price.
–
Will we see any innovative new Crown products in the coming months?
We are working on a new recuperator with a scientific study whose first preliminary results have been very good. In addition, with the launch of our new product, Omega 3 PRO, we are starting a line of products focused on the athlete’s health. These products will always comply with high standards of scientific evidence, quality in the formulation and selection of raw materials, as well as anti-doping certification. Informed Sport.
And some more surprises that we will see throughout this year.
–
Great elite athletes entrust their sports nutrition to Crown. Mention some of them.
Throughout all these years, we have managed to earn the trust not only of numerous athletes, teams and federations, but also of top-level institutions. Some of the world-renowned athletes who trust our brand include Carlos Alcaraz, Pau Capell, Roberto Sánchez Mantecón (WTS), Oriol Cardona, Claudia Tremps, Tim Hellwig, Aaron Durogati, UA Triathlon, Ismael Esteban, David Cantero, Adrián Ben , Robert Lemtukei, Sabadell Swimming Club and High Performance Centers, among many others. We also have several Olympic athletes and supply products to world-class soccer teams in Europe.
In terms of institutions, we have the support of the University of Greenwich in the United Kingdom, the Francisco de Vitoria University, the ESSNA (European Alliance of Sports Nutrition Specialists), the Futbol Doctors Network (an organization that brings together the best medical soccer team in Europe), Physiology of Exercise by Dr. Chicharro, Fissac, and several others.
Additionally, at the ESSNA Awards 2022, where we compete against the world’s largest brands, we earned five nominations from the nine categories evaluated. We also achieved second place in the category of best collaboration (with the University of Greenwich) and received a special mention for the best product for the Pre Workout PRO ST.
We are proud to have the support of so many athletes, teams, federations and recognized institutions in the world of sports and nutrition.
–
And after Crown Sport Nutrition has become the top reference brand for athletes looking for the best performance, what awaits us in the coming years?
Our goal is to become the brand of high performance people. Although the future is uncertain and we don’t know how far we will go, one thing is clear: we will maintain our unwavering philosophy of supporting sport and society. We want to continue listening and learning from athletes. At Crown Sport Nutrition, every athlete, regardless of their level, is welcome. Together, we will continue to grow and work to make a difference in the world of sports.
????Visit www.crownsportnutrition.com
–
2023-06-29 19:08:19
#INTERVIEWED #POL #GIECO #VILLEGAS #CEO #Crown #Sport #Nutrition #Technical #magazine #sport #Sport #Training
