Granary announces first investment
GRANARY Investment Partners has made its first investment in a new healthy snacking brand.
The fund, set up in May by well-known Yorkshire corporate financier Mark Lister and food industry entrepreneur Paul Simmonds, has invested in Grimsby-based vegetable crisp business Scrubbys Foods.
Granary will take a significant minority stake in Scrubbys, which was founded by John and Claire Brumby and sells through top end retailers such as Harrods and Planet Organic and has recently been listed in Ocado and Waitrose.
Simmonds, the ex-chief executive of food business Glisten, will become chairman of Scrubbys and will work alongside John and Claire to help them build the business.
John and Claire Brumby said: “We are delighted with this progress; Granary has a fantastic team and we are very much looking forward to working with them. We are very ambitious and have big future plans for continued growth, expansion and innovation. This will assist in accelerating our vision of building the Scrubbys brand and add value to the healthier snacking category, our immediate aim is to increase our market share and become the leading brand in vegetable and fruit snacking in the UK.”
Simmonds said: “The Granary team and I are looking forward to working with John and Claire to help them grow the Scrubbys brand. This is Granary’s first investment in a young, up and coming business, and we believe it has real potential. It’s exactly the kind of business we were hoping to be able to participate in when we set up Granary – the food tastes fantastic and has great health credentials at the same time.”
Harrogate-based Granary, whose partners also include former Sainsbury’s and Waitrose board director Angela Megson, food industry finance director Rob Davies and sustainable food expert Simon Wright, is looking to invest growth capital of up to £1m in SMEs in the food sector.
