After taking Sweetdreams forward over the past two decades, Matthew Stephenson is loving life overseeing its evolution this summer into the ZRO Group, as he prepares to speak at the World Confectionery Conference. Neill Barston meets him at its new Northumberland HQ

Having determination, passion and a strong strategic vision for any business venture are all elements Matthew Stephenson rightly acknowledges are vital for a company’s long-term prospects.

That’s certainly been the case for his own firm, Sweetdreams Ltd, which he ambitiously took on with his wife Cathy nearly two decades ago, and is now fast evolving under new ownership as part of parent company, SugaRich, specialists in food reprocessing.

Consequently, its bold evolution this summer into a new incarnation, ZRO Group, reflects its worthy goal of delivering significant waste reductions across its confectionery manufacturing operations. 

Notably, as the company’s affable managing director confirms, its trusty Choc
Nibbles will be retained as a firm fixture among its wider mix of produce for the
foreseeable future.

He will be presenting at this year’s World Confectionery Conference on 10 September in London at the One America Square venue, and in celebration of World Chocolate Day earlier this week, we have brought back early bird visit rates for one week only, until 14 July, so don’t miss out on making the most of that offer at the following direct link.

While the much-loved quirky chocolate series may on first inspection appear to visually have more in common with pet treats than classic confectionery, these unlikely morsels are devilishly moreish.

Matthew Stephenson, MD of the ZRO Group, which has this week transitioned from its former identity as Sweetdreams Ltd, will be appearing at this year’s World Confectionery Conference. Pic: Neill Barston

There will be plenty of space for them in its portfolio as a flagship feature, as the business goes about exploring scaling-up potential additional product ranges across the wider food and snacking market.

Consequently, this unlikely chocolatey champion, which retains a cult following
from its original 90s creation, is, like the business behind it, evolving to the next level. See our exclusive video version of our interview with Matthew Stephenson below.

Its re-imaginging is focused around the benefit of recyclable packaging and bolder branding that is seeing it reach an even broader audience with expanded retail listings. This will form just one of many future ventures for the company.

As the ambitious firm’s long-standing director explains as we take a seat in the
boardroom of its modern, well-appointed facilities at Ashington, Northumberland, there’s plenty of optimism ahead with a fresh financial backing and renewed creative inspiration amid its ranks.

This significant new chapter in its history appears the perfect juncture to offer some inspiration to the wider industry audience at our World Confectionery Conference, focusing on just how it’s possible to drive a business to
the next level.

“I’m very grateful to be asked to do the conference, and I am keen to do this as I
think we finally have a really big story to tell, with what has happened at Sweetdreams and its acquisition by SugaRich, the investment that has been made, and that journey that we’ve been on,” enthuses the company’s
director, who notes there are some exciting developments within the business, which is rapidly growing in confidence within its forward-thinking new set-up.

As any observer of the region’s history will note, the wider North East of England area surrounding Newcastle, Middlesbrough and Sunderland all have proud industrial heritages, including in food manufacturing,

Contrasted against these historic steel and coal heartlands, the strikingly scenic Northumberland coast above it offering its own unique character that has the sense of place that is very much showing resilience and a re-awakening after a notably challenging period for many sectors.

But while the general picture within the food and drink sector for the UK right now appears in a fairly challenging situation as with the broader economy, there are sparks of innovation that offer hope.

This is being directly evidenced with the likes of the newly-named ZRO Group,
unveiling a credible business plan, backed by a supportive parent company that has encouraged its broader quest to unleash an enhanced range of products utilising other food waste across biscuits, pasta and crisps
to name just several potential lines.

“We are achieving things now that we just couldn’t have dreamt of before,”
enthuses Matthew on its tightly-run operation that now meets strict BRC
production standards. These enable a key gateway for ensuring the successful
development of its product proposition for a larger commercial market.

Encouragingly, there’s also been continuing enterprise support from the
Advance Northumberland regeneration organisation, which scouted out the
company’s more extensive Jubilee Industrial Estate facilities in Ashington, that provide a spacious and well-appointed modern manufacturing base.

This achievement is all the more impressive given the kinds of combined post
Brexit pressures many companies operating across sectors in the UK during the past few years of economic tests.

So, to witness a company such as ZRO making the move to expand under new
ownership, and being given relative creative room to develop its full range of possibilities seems remarkably refreshing. 

Commendably, its approach to re-using material is based upon a specific model of the ‘hierarchy of waste.’

As we review its headline strategy in the company’s new boardroom, a slick
powerpoint presentation reveals the philosophy behind its new title – Z
represents zero waste, seeking every opportunity to maximise efficiency.

Its R stands for ‘rethink, repurpose and repeat’ in its approach to carefully re-
purposing ingredients that it sources from manufacturers, and lastly, the O represents ‘Outcomes’ – focusing on the real world positive impact of its recycling across the board.

To its credit during its history, the company has not been afraid to think big
and embrace opportunities in expanding its horizons.

Along the way on the firm’s pathway in the industry, there have been some notable experiments, including moving into the premium chocolate bar market several years ago within the UK sector.

This was seen with its fabulously named Gozo series, emerging just prior to
considerable cocoa price volatility taking hold in the market during the past two years, which ultimately counted against this fledgling series that heralded much promise amid a highly competitive market.

Despite making the decision to move away from premium chocolate bar series, the team at ZRO has no regrets on its previous moves to tests its own boundaries, and indeed those of the broader market, which is now holding
considerable prospects.

There’s a genuine buzz around its smartly styled HQ, which feels especially
encouraging to witness, in witnessing its strong legacy being continued with new branding and fresh financial backing.

“Having our site here in Ashington has made a massive difference to us – we were a business that was scaling up in our previous location of Cramlington, where we had a lovely little factory there. But when we became part of the SugaRich family, they acknowledged that we had to grow, and that
we also had to have somewhere to grow into.

“We’ve gone from 24,000, to 46,000 square ft for our new site, which is quite a
leap, but we’re quite full here, and are investing in packaging lines, as well as
manual handling systems. I feel like we’re a proper player in what we do here, and it has enabled us to completely refresh our position, and packaging for Choc Nibbles. We’re now looking at other opportunities,” explains the
pragmatic business leader.

He feels its core message of upcyling surplus food – namely working with leading global confectionery and snacking brands in gaining key ingredients that form the basis of its core series, is a model that can work across a wide range of potential additional products among its portfolio.

These days at ZRO HQ, the process is enthusiastically referred to as ‘rescuing
ingredients’ rather than reprocessing items that would either simply go to waste, despite being perfectly edible.

In an age when we’re being told as a society that a third of our food is still going
directly to landfill, Matthew feels the business is very much tapping into that
need for us to collectively do better in terms of what can physically be achieved in reducing levels of such clear waste.

But just what is it that makes its flagship confectionery line the hero product that they continue to be?

“Everyone who knows me knows that I can wax lyrical about Choc Nibbles and that everyone should stock it, but sadly that’s not reality, though a lot of people do buy and stock it. But it was getting tired, and it had been supported by B&M Bargains – and being part of SugaRich enabled us to invest in research, which for anyone who is scaling up a business is a real luxury, and we knew
that it had another journey to go on.

“It’s stayed the same – delicious, quirky, odd looking – but we have managed to
align the packaging and messaging to a new audience and reinforce what we have got for our loyal audience, and maintained our value point,” explains Matthew, who remarks the move to delivering fully curbside recyclable packaging is proving a gamechanger for the business.

• For an extended version of this piece, see our July edition of Confectionery Production magazine. You can register at a reduced early rate to see Matthew for our World Confectionery Conference alongside a dynamic range of speakers including keynotes from Cargill, Ferrero, Caobisco European confectionery trade association and Euromonitor International providing major sector insights, as well as an extended optional evening networking and meal  via the following link.