Oxford Brainfoods

With a little mortar board logo, the snack pack of seeds and nuts looks irresistible. It also looks as if it is good for you, but can it really boost your brainpower?

Is the name just a joke, I asked founder Patrick McDonald, or is there a serious point?

"We have no evidence that our particular mix helps people’s brains," he admitted. "However it is universally known that ‘you are what you eat’ and that eating sugary, caffeinated toxins makes it hard to concentrate."

The idea came from Mr McDonald and other founders of the Oxford-based children's charity Viva.

"There was a group of us — most of us in our mid-40s and health conscious and weight conscious — discussing how we were finding that at meetings we were offered things like doughnuts and pastries, or salty crisps," he said.

"All the snacks available seemed to be high in salt or sugar. I cycle home from Oxford to Cumnor and desperately try to keep fit.

"I kept finding myself in places where I thought, 'There is absolutely nothing here that I want to eat, nothing that is healthy.' The closest we could find was a flapjack and that is mostly fat and sugar and not really what we wanted.

"We began to try out things in our kitchens, a mixture of things that were good for you, like goji berries and other superfoods and delicious. I have four kids and I never have time to make a packed lunch, so I just put a pack of this in my pannier and cycle to work. It costs about 20p if you buy in bulk, as opposed to £2 for a supermarket lunch.

"And it is very ecological because I can use the little containers again and again."

Profits will either be re-invested or given to Viva, a charity set up in 1996 by Mr McDonagh and three friends who worshipped at St Aldate's Church. He had arrived in Oxford two years earlier after falling in love with his now wife Emily, whom he met while they were working with street children in Bolivia.

Viva has grown to turn over £1m a year, employing 15 staff. Working in dozens of countries and funded by churchgoers in the UK, US and Denmark, Viva is based in offices at the Gallery in Marston Street, behind the Old Music Hall in Cowley Road.

While heading Viva, Mr McDonald took a business degree at the Said Business School, specialising in social entrepreneurship.

"A year ago I handed over to Andy Dipper as chief executive so that I could set up an enterprise hub, and Oxford Brainfoods is one of our first projects."

The 'brainfood' idea took off after the Viva founders read an article in The Oxford Times about Oxford Wholefoods, a not-for-profit company that employs people with disabilities to pack beans, pulses, dried fruit, nuts, rice and breakfast cereals which are sold in the Co-op and other shops.

Mr McDonald said: "We read about them in the newspaper and went to see them. We felt they spoke our language. They have been really good coping with last-minute orders."

He added: "We are not making money at the moment. Oxford Brainfoods is a bit of a secret and the future depends on people buying it. I have just delivered two bags on my bike to new customers. We are aiming at hotels and conference centres on the one hand, and local independent coffee shops on the other. We are also looking to get into the colleges."

Oxford Brainfoods is the first spin-out from Oxford Ventures, which aims to foster new social enterprises.

"There are so many ideas in Oxford, but they are under-resourced. I have seen a lot of social entrepreneurs go to the wall because they do not have a place where their ideas can find some help. I think of Oxford Ventures as like a greenhouse in which a lot of little pots can grow. I know from my experience of Viva what it takes to start something from scratch."

His plans for Oxford Brainfoods include a link-up with coffee shop Java & Co, in George Street, founded by Andrew and Claire Bowen, where customers can buy a 'suspended coffee' to support The Gatehouse homeless project.

A new cereal bar will be called Nutty Professor, with a muesli called Fruity Student.

Mr McDonald said: "Wouldn't it be nice if Oxford Brainfood became the next Innocent smoothies? That started with someone saying ‘I cannot buy anything but fizz.’ “When you look at the choice in coffee shops, it's not very healthy — all cakes and chocolates."

As I munch on my brainfood, I cannot resist pointing out that I have just crunched on a chocolate-covered peanut. "You have to have some fun in life," he said.