Fresh innovation
Confectionery Production talks to Dan Shrimpton, co-founder and brand director at UK-based gum and mint company Peppersmith.
What is your background and what is the background to the business?
Mike Stevens (co-founder and commercial director) and I worked at Innocent drinks for many years. We spent a combined 13 years there.
Mike was originally running the supply chain, but then went to launch the brand in Scandinavia. I was in the marketing team, specifically dealing with brand communications.
We became friends, and like so many of that generation of ‘Innocent’ folks, always wanted to set up our own thing. Innocent was a great school for entrepreneurs, providing both the inspiration and the on the job training. Lots of start-ups within food and drink have a connection to Fruit Towers (Innocent’s London office address), which is testament to the legacy of its founders.
While we were there we looked at mints and gum and decided that there was room for some innovation in the sector. We’re both into health and real ingredients and none of the existing products appealed to us. So, we decided to develop a range of products that tasted good and did you good.
We launched Peppersmith – gum and mints that have an accreditation from the British Dental Health Foundation for being good for teeth, while tasting so good that they’ve won four Great Taste awards. The brand is now stocked in thousands of outlets across the UK (including Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Boots) and we’re working with distributors in Holland, Turkey and Japan.
Did you carry out any market research before starting out?
Yes we did, with different types of research at different stages. At the very beginning we did an online survey to test the appeal of the proposition. We then ran focus groups to obtain feedback on the packaging and taste, which we continue to do regularly.
How did you get the money together to get started?
Mike and I had enough savings to get the product launched. Once we proved we had something that would sell, we found an investor who put some money in to help us through the next phase of building the business.
Which trade shows do you attend and why?
Our mints in particular sell through a lot of channels – grocery, pharmacy, dental, health and whole food, travel, speciality, hospitality.
In fact, you can pretty much sell our mints anywhere.
We therefore have to be selective about which shows we attend as resources are limited. Some shows we only do every other year. In 2014 we’re going to be doing Natural and Organic Products Europe, The London Coffee Festival and The Dentistry Show.
How do you feel the gum and mints sectors are changing?
The gum sector isn’t changing. It still lacks innovation and the dominant brands are struggling to engage UK consumers. Gum used to be cool, but not anymore. Its dwindling relevance means the market is stagnating. But gum has the potential to fix these things and become relevant again. It needs to remind people of all its potential powerful benefits, including confidence and a healthy smile, and re-engage consumers with brands that share their values, which is exactly what we’re trying to do. Gum will be back, but it’s going to take some time.
The mints market is also struggling due to a lack of innovation. The main problem here is that leading brands are still sugar-containing products. Gum has been more than 90 per cent sugar free for years now and this is completely logical as in the mouth fresh sector, sugar is not the right ingredient to use. It creates more bacteria and can harm teeth. Mint manufacturers need to catch up and make products that will genuinely deliver a fresher cleaner mouth and not just a minty taste.
All of our products contain 100 per cent xylitol, a tooth-friendly ingredient that has been proven to help reduce plaque and the risk of tooth decay. Expect to see more products like ours in both the mints and gum sectors as manufacturers realise the potential of the sector to deliver benefits that consumers truly value. The ‘war on sugar’ (that has been the focus of the UK media for the past couple of months) represents a massive opportunity for mints and gum. Retailers and consumers are both going to be on the lookout for impulse confectionery that is sugar free, so products like ours are perfect.
In which countries do you sell your product?
We’re currently focussed on growing in the UK, but we also work with an excellent distributor in Holland. We’ve just started working with distributors in Japan and Turkey.
What do you consider to be the unique selling points of the brand?
There are no gum or mint products around that are better for teeth and oral care than Peppersmith and in the mouth fresh sector this is key. We’ve also won more Great Taste awards than any other brand in the category.
How do you promote and market the brand?
In such an impulse category, in-store marketing is key. We invest significantly in point of sale, in-store placement and merchandising visits. We also drive awareness and trial through lots of sampling (we’ll be sampling several million packs this year), PR and digital communications. A lot of resource is also put in to targeting dental health professionals as they can help to educate consumers about the dental benefits of the product.
How have you developed your range?
We first launched gum and from there it was a no-brainer to start doing mints, as they have the same benefits of freshness and oral care.
What are your best sellers?
Our best selling product is our peppermint mints. This isn’t much of a surprise as you can sell mints in more places than you can gum. Peppermint is always going to be the most popular flavour as it delivers the best levels of freshness. They are closely followed by our lemon mints, which people like as they are something different and interesting.
Do you have plans to expand?
There’s loads of room for expansion for us in the UK. And the great thing is there’s huge demand for mints and gum across the globe so once we’re established at home, there’s plenty more to go after.
