Munchy Seeds of Leiston powering ahead under new owners

Des Smith - a former boss at Debenham cider makers Aspall and later Skinner's dog food - and Sara Pearson - founder of London PR agency Spider - took on snack maker Munchy Seeds of Leiston in December 2022.  

The pair have also founded Hug Pet Food - which they have also brought to the Leiston site. It specialises in a revolutionary new product - frozen microwavable ready meals for pets. 

The Hug products are made from human-grade ingredients, and the meals - for dogs and cats - include British meat, seasonal vegetables and essential vitamins.

Des and Sara met while he was managing Aspall - one of her clients. They enjoyed working together and after he left the company they decided to collaborate on a business venture, Somfolk.

"Des gave me a call and said he was looking at a pet food business. At the time it was based in Wiltshire," explained Sara.

"I was very interested in the pet food sector because I felt there was an opportunity  there."

They decided to break out of the traditional pet food mould and offer a product which aligned with a growing new group of pet owners looking for good quality convenience foods for their animals.

"They are frozen and you cook them yourself but they are extremely high quality meat and veg," said Sara.

Pet ownership has grown hugely since the pandemic - creating a large market of around 13m dogs and cats - following a pandemic rise of some 3m, she explained.

"This enormous increase in the dog and cat population is due to urban owners. They are often people who have never had a pet before. The pet is often the baby replacement and it occupies an important place in their lives."

But some of these new owners are not comfortable handling raw food. So the company has created a range of balanced meals including lamb with mint, beef with sweet potato and venison with blackberry to pop into the microwave.

"They are familiar with the concept of going to the freezer, taking it to the microwave," said Sara. "It's absolutely good enough to eat yourself and it's perfect nutrition for the pet."

They have a Mid Suffolk partner which manufactures the pet food product for them - and with a national retail listing lined up this year, the concept appears to be taking off.

The finished product comes to their 15-strong combined workforce at Leiston, where it is packed and transported.

"The buyer did say to us they had determined this was the future for pet food. Previously it was either dry food and tinned food," said Sara.

Des met Lucinda and Crispin Clay, the former owners of Munchy Seeds, three years ago - and ended up buying the company along with Sara.

"At the time they asked me if I would go in and build a business plan which I did. I could see Munchy Seeds was a really good business. It was a premium product and very popular but not very well known," he said.

When the Clays decided to relocate to Lucinda's home country of New Zealand where they bought a vineyard they touched base with Des again in 2022.

"They contacted me in August and said this is what they were thinking of doing and offered the business. Sara and I had a conversation and decided it was a very exciting business and we bought it in December."

Suffolk and Norfolk are "the most extraordinary breeding ground" for food brands, said Sara.

There are owners who don't know how to get to the next level or don't want to. They see other opportunities there, and are in conversation with other businesses as they build a portfolio - so the pair see opportunities for to take on more businesses. 

"We don't want mass market - we want premium and obviously businesses with legs to enable them to fulfil their own potential," said Sara.

By looking at the planning side, they have increased the capacity at Munchy Seeds and have been helped by a "very dedicated" workforce who believed in the product, said Sara.

They have also found niche areas to operate in, such as by becoming Itsu's sole sesame supplier through the snack firm's connection with a specialist supplier in India. The company has also seen growth in other seeds such as sunflower and pumpkin seeds.

Because of this, Des and Sara were able to grow the business by 40% in the first year, taking it from £1.3m in the year to December 2022, to £1.9m the following year. By the end of this year, they expect to see it grow again to £2.6m. 

"Seeds are just being recognised quite rightly as one of the super foods. They are full of the things you want in a diet," said Sara. 

"We are working on number of projects at the moment with some quite global companies who see us as the main seed and sesame supplier and they have come to us to help grow their business as well as theirs," added Des.

The snacks range from very healthy to indulgent, including cinnamon or honey coatings, to savoury options.

This year they are investing about £100k in plant - with the help of Natwest from whom they have had "fantastic" support. Their aim is to bring some of the sweet snack manufacturing which is currently outsourced overseas in-house.

They have also increased the footprint of the operation by 20% to build capacity for growth.

They are also hoping to grow Hug through a link-up with a major wholesaler. With growth on the cards for both businesses they are hoping to build a bigger team this year, potentially adding an additional five workers by the end of the year.

"We see Leiston being the hub so any other businesses we look at we would keep the admin side at Leiston and see how we could run the business from there," said Des.

"I'm extremely excited. I do often compare Munchy Seeds to my initial time at Aspall where wherever you looked you could see tremendous opportunity. I think at Munchy Seeds we have got a similar thing."

The pair feel they work well together and that they both bring their own skill sets and strengths.

"I always call Des my Eeyore. I'm Tigger in this relationship. I have been around the block many times and I think he's the best business partner I have ever had in my career. He has talents I couldn't even begin to acquire," said Sara.

"He's brilliant about managing the factory and supply. We have very clear areas of expertise and they come together very efficiently. I'm very excsting about it because we have got two extraordinary opportunities."