Spoon is the simple, high-quality granola company. We are a lifestyle brand offering high-quality cereal products that taste great. We make our granolas from a short list of natural ingredients and sell them into UK retailers. We like to keep things simple – from the way we make our granola, to our clean and contemporary packaging design and how we run our business.
Spoon is an innovative cereals business that makes granola and other products to be enjoyed at any time of the day. We make products that have a short list of natural ingredients and taste great. Our branding is clean and contemporary and really stands out both on retailers shelves as well as in the cupboards at home. We have won a Great Taste award two years in a row since launch and our products can now be found in independent stores around the country as well as in WholeFoods, Harrods, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Ocado and Sainsbury’s. We have recently won a listing with a further multiple retailer, due to start in the summer.
Our business began when co-founder Annie struggled to get a good fresh bowl of cereal on the way to work. We solved this problem for commuters by launching the first pop-up cereal bar in London. We still sell fresh bowls of cereal at events and pop-ups in corporate locations but we are now predominantly focussed on the wholesale of our cereals. Our cereals are all-natural and made in the UK in small batches.
We currently sell our 450g packs of granola through two main channels: UK multiple retailers and UK independent retailers (through distributors). Our manufacturing and logistics are outsourced. Going forward we will look to win new retail customers through direct contact with UK multiple buyers and distributors. In additional to launching new flavours into existing channels, we’re also looking to launch three additional revenue streams in 2017, which form part of our business plan: 1) launch a snack/single-serve size product; 2) sell our 450g packs internationally; 3) license our brand to be used in a fresh product (eg yoghurt with granola topping).
We aim to grow the business over the next 3-5 years to a scale where it is of interest to a trade buyer or has a runway towards achieving that scale during a further investment period and can be sold to private equity. The sector contains many large FMCG businesses that are looking for innovative and healthier products with strong sales growth potential. A recent transaction example is Dorset Cereals being sold to AB Foods for £50m (2014). We aim to have advisors in place that have significant industry experience, who will be able to position us well for a sales process in due course.