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UK savoury biscuits SME raises £550k

By Bethan Grylls

- Last updated on GMT

Founder Steve Monk (pictured) is looking to accelerate savoury biscuits growth with the new funds.
Founder Steve Monk (pictured) is looking to accelerate savoury biscuits growth with the new funds.

Related tags Business Investment

Good Guys Bakehouse, founded by ex-United Biscuits general manager, Steve Monk, has raised £550k to fuel retail growth for its biscuits range.

The UK business secured three major FMCG angel investors in Nick Bunker – non-executive chair of Spar Retail UK and ex MD of Pladis UK and KP Snacks; David Bell – chair of Hackney Gelato and ex VP of sales at Mars UK; and Tom Carroll – previously COO of Graze.

The funds will be used to increase marketing to support new and trial listings, drive new product development and expand the team.

This follows Good Guys Bakehouse’s retail debut in 2022, with its cheddar and peppered varieties of biscuits hitting Sainsbury’s shelves weeks before Christmas.

At the time, founder Steve Monk had said the brand had been set up to bring ‘much needed’ innovation to the savoury biscuit aisle that was crowded with calorific options.

Two years later, Monk says the brand has “successfully disrupted an ageing savoury biscuits category” ​having also secured shelf space in Ocado.

“There’s a clear consumer appetite for tastier and healthier savoury snack biscuits, baked with more cheese than the leading cheese biscuits brand but with only 5 calories per biscuit,”​ he said.

“Now, with a successful investment round complete, we are in a strong position to scale up our grocery presence in the UK, driving distribution and opening up new listings.

“In addition, we’ll be ramping up our marketing efforts, building the team, and growing our product range as we head into the second half of 2024.”

Bunker who has joined the team as a non-executive director, added: “Over the course of my career I’ve been involved with a number of brands that have demonstrated genuine potential to go the distance. Good Guys is one of them.

“This raise is a significant milestone in the brand’s mission to shake up the savoury biscuits category, and with Steve at the helm, we are on course to make Good Guys Bakehouse a household name in the UK and beyond.”

Monk concluded: “As a brand, we have a unique opportunity to reinvigorate the savoury biscuits category with a new and exciting product proposition, and with the backing of high calibre industry investors, we are perfectly poised to do this.”

In other news, Bailey's is trialling paper-based bottles, with parent company Diageo to see how the bottles fare travelling from the filling site in Ireland to Spain.

Related topics Bakery Start-ups

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