“as Challenger Brands, Everything We Do Must Be Different” – Made Uncommon Ceo Calum Haggerty Grapples With The “big Guys”

Calum Haggerty, CEO of Made Uncommon

Made Uncommon has weathered nan cocoa value large wind by playing for illustration nan “big guys” successful nan futures marketplace and has precocious expanded pinch 2 acquisitions.

Operating retired of Port Edgar Marina successful Edinburgh, nan cocoa business has precocious changed its firm personality from Coco Chocolatier to bespeak nan diverseness of challenger brands successful its portfolio, pinch ethically-sourced and kid labour-free cocoa astatine nan company’s core.

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The Coco and Up-Up brands, on pinch nan Otherly plant-based cocoa line, person now been joined by Love Cocoa and Seed & Bean. Love Cocoa was antecedently tally by James Cadbury, nan great, great, awesome grandson of Cadbury pioneer John Cadbury, and includes different plant-based brand, B-Corp-certified H!p.

Calum Haggerty, Coco Chocolatier’s laminitis and now CEO of Made Uncommon, discusses nan company’s plans and ESG credentials.

Simon Harvey (SH): What is nan history down Coco Chocolatier?

Calum Haggerty (CH): Coco Chocolatier was primitively started successful 2004 by an Australian female successful Edinburgh arsenic 2 mini unit stores. I bought that business successful 2013 and changed it from a nonstop user unit marque to a wholesale business.

SH: What brought you to 2 M&A deals successful speedy succession?

CH: They look speedy but I’d been moving connected them for ages. It’s reliable times successful nan cocoa manufacture pinch immense cocoa prices, though they’ve eased disconnected somewhat.

I was successful nan marketplace to turn nan business done acquisitions aft spending a batch of nan past 12 years building a factory, capacity and equipment. Coco Chocolatier besides developed 2 different brands – Up-Up Chocolate and Otherly – but for rather a niche customer base. As we developed nan expertise to do much measurement and scale, we needed to sweat those assets.

I cognize James Cadbury and heard connected nan grapevine that James was possibly looking to move connected truthful I approached him and that was really we were capable to building that woody and get it complete nan line.

I’d besides put nan connection connected nan thoroughfare that we were unfastened to looking astatine businesses and Seed & Bean approached me. That was an absorbing 1 because we didn’t person an integrated marque sitting successful nan Fairtrade space.

It’s difficult to make money [as a mini business] and erstwhile your earthy worldly costs spell up 70% overnight it’s moreover harder. I besides didn’t realise successful nan early days that galore start-ups outsource manufacturing. In hindsight, it’s nan point that’s allowed america to rotation done reliable times easier than others.

Now, we’re hoping to little nan value of Seed & Bean and regain immoderate marketplace share. In that space, it’s rather value competitory astatine nan infinitesimal and Seed & Bean had somewhat outpriced themselves successful nan market.

SH: Is manufacturing each in-house for each nan brands now?

CH: There are definite things we don’t make in-house but nan immense mostly we do. For some Love Cocoa H!p and Seed & Bean there’s a pre-existing shaper for each. But our scheme is to person each of that backmost in-house because that’s really erstwhile they commencement making consciousness for america commercially.

SH: What outer backing has nan business secured to finance M&A?

CH: Love Cocoa sewage a £4.3m ($5.6m) finance successful 2023. Our holding institution is Mothership Holdings, I’m nan sole shareholder and sole director. We didn’t return immoderate extracurricular finance but we had to get money to do these deals.

SH: How person you managed to navigate cocoa prices?

CH: The people of nan past 18 months has been nan biggest challenge. Not conscionable for maine but for everyone successful this business.

What’s perfectly captious successful bid for america to enactment live is you person to bargain nan aforesaid measurement arsenic nan large guys. If you’re buying done a UK supplier you’re toast. Those prices were going up by double-digit figures respective times a twelvemonth and it’s conscionable not sustainable. A batch of group fell by nan wayside that were somewhat smaller than us.

We’re buying from Colombia. You request a spot of other standard to bargain connected nan futures marketplace truthful successful conjunction pinch our partner successful Colombia we’ve taken a batch of positions successful nan futures market. We person a position for nan full of 2026 truthful we tin now hole prices for our customers moving forward. You request a small spot of luck arsenic good but I deliberation being astatine slightest 9 to 12 months successful beforehand of yourself is captious astatine nan infinitesimal because whilst nan marketplace has cooled it’s still up 100%.

I deliberation nan days of very inexpensive cocoa are possibly complete but I don’t needfully deliberation that’s a bad thing

Essentially, what happens successful westbound Africa successful nan cocoa marketplace affects nan value everywhere, truthful though we don’t root from location that’s nan powerhouse of nan industry.

Clearly, there’s been a batch of nether finance into nan harvest because nan value has been historically debased for truthful long. Farmgate prices person accrued importantly successful immoderate of these countries, which I deliberation is simply a bully point because I deliberation for excessively agelong there’s not been capable money making its measurement down to nan bottommost extremity of nan proviso chain.

We’re a very small-bit subordinate successful this marketplace and nan large boys are nan guys that move each these markets but you’d for illustration to deliberation immoderate lessons person been taken. Whether that’s nan case, we shall see. But I deliberation nan days of very inexpensive cocoa are possibly complete but I don’t needfully deliberation that’s a bad thing.

SH: What ESG considerations do you person connected committee for sourcing cocoa?

CH: We person six different brands and each 1 has a somewhat different measurement that it sources. What’s communal pinch each of them is we don’t bargain blended chocolate, that’s predominantly from westbound Africa, which has nary traceability whatsoever and almost surely has quality authorities abuses done it. The truth that can’t beryllium proven isn’t a bully capable modular for us.

The 1 that we really push into is pinch Up-Up. That’s a single-estate cocoa from 1 workplace verified arsenic kid labour-free, which we judge to beryllium beautiful unique. We don’t cognize anyone other doing that.

We’ve shrunk nan proviso concatenation to arsenic mini arsenic possible. It comes from 1 workplace successful Colombia and past from our partner that owns that farm. The group who activity connected nan workplace are employees, arsenic opposed to smallholders. Essentially, we’re buying nonstop because we’re buying from 1 personification that farms nan cocoa.

We usage a institution called Impactt. They do unannounced audits connected nan workplace and past check, for us, predominantly quality authorities stuff. Although group talk astir forced labour, it’s rather a mini problem everywhere. The biggest problem is kid labour successful nan proviso chain, surely successful westbound Africa.

SH: Where do you spell from present and really did you travel up pinch a sanction for illustration Made Uncommon?

CH: Each 1 of nan cocoa brands has its ain flimsy nuance pinch regards to what transmission it fits successful – Seed & Bean is organic, H!p which is works based, and Coco which is much conventional. The point that pulls them each together is they each person their ain unique, uncommon communicative that makes them each somewhat different.

As challenger brands, everything we do must beryllium a small spot different, otherwise, what’s nan constituent to exist?

We’re wholesale manufacturers – 95% of our gross is wholesale. When we coming our brands, we coming them nether Made Uncommon to buyers, wherever they tin spot nan full portfolio and, depending connected what benignant of purchaser they are, we dream they’ll thin into different things.

SH: What are nan different listings?

CH: H!p was successful Sainsbury’s, isn’t astatine nan moment, but it is successful Tesco and Boots. Up-Up is astir to spell into The Co-op. There are immoderate awesome listings, on pinch bigger section stores and independents, which is wherever we trim our teeth. We do a batch of export stuff, 50% of our business is export.

The biggest marketplace extracurricular nan UK is nan US. Up-Up is successful Fresh Market. We’ve sewage large customers successful South Korea, Japan and Australia. For a smaller marque for illustration us, sometimes it’s easier to find nan correct customer successful a marketplace than to effort and do what traditionally large companies do, which is conquer a market, past spell into different market. That requires immense finance and is beyond our intends astatine nan moment.

Sometimes it’s astir uncovering nan correct supermarket, for illustration Poland, wherever we will motorboat Otherly successful nan adjacent mates of weeks.

SH: Are you capable to talk astir maturation rates and revenues?

CH: Our maturation complaint this twelvemonth will beryllium 100% arsenic fundamentally we’ve doubled successful size. We are still a mini business. We presently person astir 16 members of staff. That will turn beautiful quickly up to astir 25 complete nan people of nan adjacent 3 to 4 months.

SH: What are your ambitions? Have you sewage immoderate targets successful position of turnover, aliases to make immoderate further acquisitions, aliases conscionable consolidate and build nan business arsenic it is?

CH: I deliberation complete nan people of nan adjacent six months it’s decidedly a play of consolidation. I would ne'er opportunity ne'er connected different opportunities. I deliberation it would person to beryllium correct and location would person to beryllium a logic to do it.

SH: How do you differentiate nan brands amid each nan competition?

CH: There are 2 aspects to that. One is really we source, which immoderate group are willing successful and immoderate group aren’t. That’s nan communicative that sits down it.

It besides comes backmost to nan Colombia thing. When you’re pitching a business to, let’s say, nan likes of Waitrose aliases Sainsbury’s aliases Tesco successful nan UK, yes they want to commercially succeed, but nan mobility fundamentally they’re asking you is, ‘why should we return 1 of our brands disconnected support to put you on, what’s unsocial astir you?’

A batch of that is communicative driven aliases traceability driven. There’s that benignant of first gross keeping wherever you person to beryllium different successful that way. And I would argue, if you’re not, past what’s nan logic for you to exist? All challenger bands should person that anyhow arsenic that’s what market buyers are looking for. And then, erstwhile you get that opportunity, staying connected shelf.

SH: Essentially, you’ve gone retired and bought brands alternatively than companies?

CH: Seed & Bean we bought nan IP. That’s fundamentally mostly nan marque and nan customer guidelines that comes pinch that. For Love Cocoa, we bought nan constricted company, truthful nan shares, each nan assets and liabilities.