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Fitt Meals: From GAA to Gourmet in Dubai

Eoin Cantwell was a happy man when ‌Tipperary swept to victory in this year’s All-Ireland hurling final. The ⁣Thurles native played‌ club hurling growing up and one of the‌ first things he did when he moved ‍to Dubai in ‍2012 was⁤ to confound the Sharjah GAA club, now one of the biggest GAA clubs ⁣in the Arab world.

Cantwell started work ‌in Dubai teaching English with the international education group, Sabis. He spent three years there before becoming general manager of Sharjah Wanderers, a private sports club catering ‍primarily for the expat community.

Over a ​six-year period, Cantwell, who has a Master’s in international ​management and entrepreneurship from the University of ​Limerick, was ⁢responsible for a complete‌ overhaul of the ​club’s infrastructure and business model. it was ‍a busy, time-consuming project that⁢ left him with little spare time for mundane things such ⁤as food shopping and preparing meals.

As⁢ a keen sportsman, Cantwell was keen to maintain‍ good nutritional habits ⁣but when he went looking for a company that would deliver healthy ready meals to his ​door, he drew a blank. It was this gap in‍ the market that sparked the idea for Fitt Meals. ‍

“the pace‌ of ​life ⁤in Dubai is extremely‌ full-on. People come here to work and they work ⁣really hard. It’s the culture.So, I knew I wasn’t the only one short on ⁣time or the inclination to cook at the end of a long‍ day,” ⁢says Cantwell, who lives in the ⁤Springs community in Dubai.

“we had ⁣very good chefs at the club and the kitchen wasn’t being used at night ⁤so it occurred to me that I had ‌the resources ‍at hand to test my ​theory that there was ‍a market⁢ in Dubai for premium​ meals that were calorie and macronutrient ​counted and delivered fresh every few days.” ⁤

Cantwell started Fitt Meals in 2020 while still working⁣ at the club.⁤ Five years on, his company employs 140 people and has a ⁤fleet of 30 ⁣vans delivering around 40,000 meals a week in Dubai. Later this year Fitt will move ​to a purpose-built facility eight times the size⁣ of it’s current production ⁤unit and the company will begin serving⁢ other markets starting ‍with Saudi Arabia in 2026.

“We control everything ourselves ​starting with ‍the supply chain and ending with customer deliveries. This gives us a huge competitive advantage as we’