SGF Welcomes Partnership with Calbee Group UK

Scottish Grocer’s Federation is delighted to announce a new partnership with Calbee Group UK a young, ambitious snack company which boldly seeks to disrupt the UK and European bagged-snacks categories through exciting innovation.

A complete start-up in 2015, but now a strong challenger in the snacking category, Calbee Group UK forms part of Japanese global snack-manufacturer, Calbee Inc., founded more than 65 years ago. One of the largest snack companies in the world, Calbee Inc has more than 3,800 employees across 12 different countries, making Calbee Group UK part of a £2.3 billion global business.

In addition to achieving significant growth organically with their first factory located in Deeside, North Wales, a huge milestone in Calbee Group UK’s short history has been the successful acquisition of Seabrook Crisps in 2018.  Bradford-based Seabrook, a dynamic company with a great history, tradition and first to market initiatives has served as a perfect complement to the young, ambitious business that is Calbee UK. Bringing them together has demonstrated a powerful move to leverage the combined strengths of both businesses to accelerate growth and increase market penetration.

SGF chief executive Dr Pete Cheema OBE said: “We are delighted to welcome Calbee Group UK into the Federation. Customers now more than ever want choice, quality and convenience. The bagged snacks products made by Calbee UK are sure to appeal to customers throughout the convenience sector. We look forward to a long and successful partnership.”

Jon Wood, commercial director of Calbee Group UK said:

“Calbee Group UK Limited are delighted to announce that we are joining SGF as a Silver Member from 2020 and will now be entering the Scottish convenience market. With the recent introduction of our new kids licensed products in Paw Patrol and Trolls World Tour, we feel that it is an ideal opportunity to offer Scottish convenience retailers products which meet very specific consumer needs. It is also a great opportunity for us to extend the reach of our core Seabrook crinkle cut crisps brand to this important retail market”.