Exclusive: Plamil Foods confirms debut showing at Fie event in Paris

British-based Plamil Foods ethically focused confectionery business has unveiled debut exhibiting plans at this year’s Fi Europe event, showcasing core ranges and several key innovations, reports Neill Barston.

Located in Folkestone, Kent the company has built a strong reputation for its Rainforest Alliance certified free-from and vegan chocolate ranges of bars, spreads and seasonal gifting ranges across its own brands, as well as for private label operations.

The company, which has decades of experience in the sector, devised its own series in recent years including its dairy free, organic So Free brand, as well as it ‘Vegan Chocolat’ offering aimed at the B2B trade market.

Visitors to this year’s Food Ingredients Europe (FiE), which is being staged in Paris Expo Porte de Versaille between 2-4 December, can visit the business at stand 73SU30, where it will be participating alongside more than 1,500 other enterprises. There will be a wide range of companies represented, including many across the confectionery and snacking sectors.

For this year’s event, the company will be highlighting its latest date sugar chocolate, its recently released Coffee Bar line, which was billed on its release as being a first of its kind using whole coffee beans. The business will also be showing its ‘Hazelnot’ 40g bars (below), which have utilised tiger nuts as a core ingredient as a new addition to its portfolio.

Speaking to Confectionery Production, Adrian Ling, CEO of Plamil Foods, explained its maiden venture into exhibiting at FiE offered a notable arena, as export opportunities for Europe are beginning to once more show signs of potential for British businesses.

He commented: “This is the first time we’re exhibiting at FiE, so we’re quite excited about it, with this being an ingredients show that includes chocolate, which is what we make, so it seemed a logical step for us.

“We haven’t done that many exhibitions, so this is all part of looking back into Europe and knowing that the UK chocolate is going to be more acceptable in the coming years in Europe than it probably has been with all the exporting difficulties that have been there in recent years, so it’s all part of going back into Europe and the UK being more welcome.

“Also, we recognise there’s a long new product development time as well. So while it’s possible to create ranges in a couple of months, with most companies, it can be a year or 18 months, so it’s worth getting all that NPD development in that period and it starts becoming easier to get products out over there in Europe. We have a lot of meetings set up there at Fie, and it’s generating quite a lot of interest,” noting that there was a sense that putting the business and brands out there to the market in the widest market possible would be particularly worthwhile.