TWO childhood friends are "looking forward" to the future as they prepare to launch their new business next month.

Janaid Raja, 24, and Tayyab Zahid, 25, are the founders of Suplex Nutrition - a West Yorkshire-based business selling protein bars and flapjacks, which are all locally-sourced and produced without the "processed taste", they say.

Janaid was born in Bradford and still visits the city regularly, as he has family in the area, but now lives in Heckmondwike - while Tayyab is from nearby Dewsbury.

The pair, who have known each other since they were children, have had the business "in the works" for almost two years, and say the "sky is the limit" as they prepare to launch in November.

"Tayyab and I wanted to create something the market hasn't seen before", said Janaid, who studied law at BPP in Leeds.

"Our goal was to create protein bars that tasted nice and had high protein and all the content you need, but without the usual processed taste.

"Our protein bars are all baked by a local bakery and our flapjacks are geared towards people who are trying to put on weight and gain muscle mass.

"I think a lot of the powders and supplements already on the market are not ideal - they can be a hassle to prepare, and can be expensive.

"So we came up with the idea of something affordable - our protein bars are all under £3, and are pretty much twice the size of most others out there.

"A lot of protein bars are also very processed, while ours are hand-crafted and literally made by hand, which is another thing that makes them different to others.

"The feedback we've got so far has also been overwhelmingly positive - texture and consistency-wise, we've spent a lot of time trying to make our products taste good.

"We've also booked a place at BodyPower UK, the UK's biggest fitness expo, next year.

"Things have been tough because of COVID, and we've had to delay a lot of our plans, but we're really looking forward to launching now."

Janaid explained how his and Tayyab's personal journeys have influenced where they are today.

"At university, Tayyab started going to the gym and encouraged me to join - since then, I've been quite consistent with it.

"We noticed it's hard to stomach all the smoothies and mass-gaining drinks, so we ate flapjacks while we were bulking up, and thought we could adapt this to something which is low-sugar and high-protein. We saw a gap in the market.

Janaid and Tayyab have high hopes for the future: "We think we can be the biggest protein bar company out there. We want to permeate the sports industry and we want to redefine what a protein bar is", Janaid said.

"We want to dominate the nutrition industry - the sky is the limit for us."