For Immediate Release - Tuesday 24 July, 2018
READY FOR RETAIL
Delicious Ideas Food Group Acquires Barnack Confectionery
After three years of negotiations, in an almost ironic twist of fate, family owned and run Delicious Ideas Food Group has acquired Barnack Confectionery, adding own-brand and gifting options to its off-the-shelf division, and substantially increasing its market share within the retail sector.
The fusion of the two companies, which will soon operate solely under the name Delicious Ideas Food Group (the Barnack Confectionery name is set to be dissolved), has led to overnight growth in staff numbers necessitating the move to larger offices, with greater warehousing capabilities, not far from the previous site in Peterborough.
Says company CEO, Jonathan Potter, ‘it's the most ambitious step we've taken since building our own in-house packaging factory ten years ago. For a long time, we've desired a presence in the High Street Retail and Convenience sectors, to add to our core Food Service client base and the Barnack acquisition was the perfect fit. We now have a true end-to-end retail and food service brand and own-brand solution for our customers.
He adds, ‘over the last 30 years, we've worked closely with Barnack Confectionery. My dad, Clive, and Peter Facer—who founded Barnack with his son Rob Facer, and managing director Trevor Sharpe—had been close friends for many years. Then, in 1986, dad became Peter's first franchisee, running what was then the Tuck Shop Retail Services pilot scheme. Within a few years, however, we'd outgrown the franchise and, in1991, we started Sweet Ideas Limited, which became the springboard for our national expansion.'
From humble beginnings, then, Delicious Ideas has grown to become the multi-million pound operation it is today. Jonathan's sister, Emma Smith (also a co-founder of Delicious Ideas), works as technical director, with Clive staying on as chairman, making the company a family run business through and through. In keeping with the familial theme, Trevor—now UK channel controller for retail—also has his son, Matt, working as assistant buyer for the firm.
Says Trevor, ‘after the acquisition I had plans to leave and pursue my passion for racing motorbikes. But when I experienced the buzz at the new offices, I decided to stay on. The retail side that I'm so familiar with dovetails perfectly with the packaging and off-the-shelf sides of the business. From retro sweets and vegan protein bars to healthy grab ‘n' go options and compostable packaging, we have the products, the facilities, the factory, the warehousing capacity, the distribution networks, the trend insights, and the hard-won expertise to meet our customers' exacting needs and drive further expansion. In short we're ripe and ready to serve both the retail and catering aspects of the confectionery and ambient snacking sector in equal measure. What I now see is a business that's become greater than the sum of its parts, and for me, that's really exciting.'
-Ends-
Editor Notes and images
Delicious Ideas expansion timeline:
1991: husband and wife, Clive and Jan Potter, launch Sweet Ideas Ltd with their son and daughter, Jonathan and Emma, selling snacks and confectionery to independent outlets throughout Cambridgeshire.
1994: Sweet Ideas branded confectionery packs launched.
2001: Healthy Ideas brand launched. Sweet Ideas hits £1million turnover
2007: Clive, Jonathan and Emma invest in Manasty Packing Ltd, which has two custom built packing lines with a 250,000 weekly packing capacity.
2007: two new product ranges, Deliciousideas Popcorn and Deliciousideas Bakery are launched.
2008: Move to new purpose-built premises, with a packing capacity of 300,000 packs per week.
2009: Sweet Ideas moves into purpose-built premises, trebles turnover to £3million, and now has 14 staff members in addition to the Potter family.
2015: To meet growing demand for healthy snack options, and clarify messaging, three new brand subcategories are born: Snackideas; Healthyideas; Deliciousideas
2016: Manasty Packing Ltd, the packaging arm of Delicious Ideas, achieves a BRC accreditation to AA standard.
2016: The company invests in a new packing line, boosting capacity to 500,000 packs per week.
2016: With an established client base of 5000, DIFG sells more than 5million packs across the UK and Ireland.
2016: New packing machine commissioned increasing capacity to 500,000 packs per week.
2016: Achieves BRC AA accreditation
2017: DIFG attracts new business in Germany
2018: DIFG buys Barnack Confectionery adding high order value, private label options to retail clients, breaking into the retail sector for the first time.
Launched or about to launch
- Exclusive rights to supply a 100% Compostable Plant Based Water Bottle!
- New Vegan Bakery Range - launch August 2018
- Vegan Sweet Range - launch August 2018
Some of DIFG's brand partners (past and present):
9Bar; BURTS Crisps; Cofresh Peanut Brittle; Eat Natural Bars; Eat Real Chips; Food Doctor; Henry Goodes Liquorice; Highland Shortbread; Jakemans; KIND Bars; KINGS Jerky; Metcalfes; Nakd Bars; Penn State Pretzels; Perk!er Quinoa Bars; Sesame Snaps; Sugar Free/Organic Chocolate; Tregroes Waffles; TREK Protein Bars; Urban Fresh/BEAR; Wholebake Gluten Free Flapjacks; and more
Some of DIFG's contract catering/food service clients (past and present):
Compass; Foodbuy; Elior; Aramark; Sodexo; Olive; Dine Contract Catering; The Genuine Dining Company; Wasabi; WSH Group; Centerplate; Brakes; Bidfood; TRG; CH&CO; and more
Some of DIFG's retail clients (past and present):
Shell; Deli2go; Superdrug; New Look; Clintons; Ringtons Tea; Kingsbury; Spar; TopShop; TopMan; River Island; Next; Primark; WH Smith; Morrisons; Tesco; Palmer & Harvey; Evans; BHS; Burtons; P&O Ferries; Original Factory Shops; The Works; Penny's; and more
Useful links:
https://prnewslink.net/nr/6519/deliciousideas
http://www.delicious-ideas.com/private-label-packing/
http://www.delicious-ideas.com/promotions/
http://www.barnackconfectionery.com/confectionery_customers.htm
Other notes
DIFG ranges include CQIN compliant, gluten free, vegan and vegetarian, sugar free, GBS compliant snacks.
