Latest news with #SephraPopcorn
Scotsman
4 hours ago
- Business
- Scotsman
Sephra Popcorn 'scores' several goals at football stadium kiosks
Fife-based Sephra Popcorn is celebrating a very successful foray into some of the country's top football stadiums. Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The brand, which is now the country's favourite tubbed popcorn, instantly recognisable through its distinctive Cinema style foil lined cardboard tub, is found in a growing network of consumer outlets, including theatres, independent cinemas, supermarkets, and convenience stores. It's now added several sports and football stadiums to the list. Its Sweet, and Sweet & Salty, flavour varieties can now be purchased as a snack option in kiosks at Manchester City FC, Dundee FC, Dundee United FC, and closer to home to its Kirkcaldy Head Office, Raith Rovers FC, as well as another Fife-based club, Dunfermline Athletic. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Wet popped in the traditional way, and sealed fresh, deliciously seasoned Sephra Popcorn is packed with flavour, offering a long shelf life. Its special kernels produce large, round puffs of popcorn that not only enhance the texture, but also maximises the surface area for seasoning. The result is a popcorn experience where every piece is packed with flavour, delivering a taste that truly stands out. Sweet & Salty is one of the signature flavours from Sephra Popcorn Scott Stewart, Business Development Executive, from Sephra, is delighted with how introducing the popcorn to football fans, north and south of the border, has gone. 'We have had brilliant feedback from all five football clubs that are currently stocking a mix of our popcorn, in the signature flavours of Sweet, and Sweet & Salty. We've given them our smaller 70g tub, which is more suited for a single person portion, whilst still giving the consumer a generous portion. The tubs we sell in supermarkets are 140g,' he said. 'Raith Rovers was the first football team to take our Sweet Variety popcorn for the beginning of the season 23/24. We reached out with the initial idea that our tubs would be a good kiosk offering, not really knowing how the thought would be received, and to our delight, they came back to us in agreement that the idea was indeed a good one, increasing fan choice from crisps, pies, and other snacks. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad "They invited us over for a meeting where we discussed the brand and the popcorn in more detail, and they then went ahead with launching it that season, which was an excellent start.' Scott Stewart is pictured with the popcorn 'Dundee & Dundee United both started taking the popcorn at the start of their 24/25 seasons,' continued Scott. 'With Dunfermline Athletic, it was as a result of the Scotland Fan Zones they held at East End Park in June last year for the Euro 2024 games. It was announced that for the Fan Zones, they would be having multiple food vendors, alongside a 'tuck shop' for snacks, chocolate, and so on. We knew that our popcorn would be a great addition, especially for kids that would be attending.' 'Luckily, DAFC loved the idea, and took stock of a full pallet (576 tubs) across our three flavours (sweet, sweet & salty, luxury toffee), selling the majority of it through the four events they held that summer. On the back of that success, we approached them about listing it through their kiosks, and it's now become a very popular choice with fans.' Scott, and his team, are particularly pleased to have secured leading English Premiership Club, Manchester City. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'We added Manchester City to our Football Club outlets at the end of February '25, with them taking the Sweet & Salty Variety. It started off in a few kiosks, particularly around the family sections. After the success of the product in those parts of the stadium, they opened it up to be available in every kiosk around the stadium. "They were particularly interested in our popcorn tubs as the eating experience is far superior than eating it from a bag. A contact at the Club said that he wanted the fans to feel like they are watching the greatest show on earth, and that the feeling you get from eating quality popcorn from an attractive foil lined tub certainly buys into that.' Commenting that he felt: 'this feeling can relate to any football club, the passion football fans have for their team even if they aren't performing well, doesn't fade,' Scott added that he: 'liked the idea that watching your team with our popcorn tub makes you feel like it's not just a football game, but in fact a piece of theatre, the greatest show on earth, even if it's a cold winters days, and your team is not winning!' Scott finished by saying that Sephra Popcorn's success in the football stadium market over the past two and a half years: 'has been significant, ensuring we will continue to target more clubs. It fits with our strategy to secure the brand across multiple different channels. Lovers of Sephra Popcorn are seeing it in more and more different places. We're delighted that many of these football clubs are looking to introduce point of sale material for us next season. This will ensure even greater visibility for our popcorn.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Sephra Popcorn, instantly recognisable through its distinctive Cinema style foil lined cardboard tub, has been available since 2017 through major UK supermarkets, plus a number of UK wide convenience store chains. The brand, which offers a variety of different flavours, including the classic cinema Sweet, Salted, Sweet & Salty mix, Luxury Toffee, and a new reduced sugar range with up to 40% less sugar, can also be found across the leisure sector, with holiday parks, theatres, independent cinemas, theme parks, football clubs and many more all stocking its lines.
The Herald Scotland
09-05-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Brexit has been huge challenge: Scottish chocolate fountain firm boss
David Archer Job title Managing director/owner What is your business called? Sephra is our main parent business, which operates in both the UK and the United States, and we also operate a sub-business under this umbrella called CFW. Additionally, we have a popcorn business called Sephra Popcorn. Where is it based? Our UK business is based in Kirkcaldy in Fife, with our office in the States based at Throop in Pennsylvania. What does it produce/do? We manufacture and distribute dessert-making, patisserie and bakery equipment, ingredients and confectionery for the food service and retail industry. To whom does it sell? Mostly to food service operators and distributors here and in the States, but also to major retailers (Asda and Morrisons stock Sephra Popcorn, and it is also found in cinema and theatre cafés and shops). We also sell equipment and products direct to consumers keen on baking and creating desserts and chocolates. What is its turnover? We estimate turnover in 2025 of £14m in the UK and $4m in the US. How many employees? 33 between the UK and US locations. What attracted you to your current role? I started the business so it was more of an entrepreneurial journey. To give you a bit of background, in 2003 Sephra, a US-based company, introduced groundbreaking innovations in chocolate fountains. Here in Europe, I started renting them out, modifying and improving the product as I went along as I recognised it had huge potential. In 2008, I took the step of forging a partnership with Sephra in the US, becoming a distributor and heralding the birth of Sephra Europe. We evolved from merely distributing the chocolate fountains to offering a huge range of delectable dessert products and in 2019 I acquired the brand from the original Sephra, allowing for Sephra Europe to solidify its status as a trailblazer in the marketplace. What were you doing before? I started off working in a musical instrument retailer then moved into field sales within the IT industry, as well as being a semi-pro musician. What do you least enjoy? Currently, the volatile cocoa market. Firstly, regarding the cocoa market, prices have more than quadrupled since 2022, due to a mix of extreme heat, crop disease and drought in the cocoa-producing West African countries of Ghana and Cote D'Ivoire, which account for 60 per cent of the world's cocoa crops. Levels are currently at their lowest for 46 years. Extreme weather may cause more problems this year, and it is estimated prices will remain elevated in the short term but then ease by around 13 per cent later this year and by 2 per cent next year. What do you consider to be the main successes of the business? Our continuous innovation, together with the diversification of our product range and sales channels. I am extremely proud this company I started pretty much in my garden shed, tinkering about with chocolate fountains, is now in collaboration and partnership with some of the biggest food names in the business, such as Nutella, Callebaut, Nestle and Dawn Foods, whose products can be found on our websites. Last year we announced an exciting landmark partnership with Ferrero which saw us exclusively bring innovative heated Nutella dispensers to the UK and Irish marketplace – to our customers running bakeries, hotels, coffee shops, and dessert parlours. This product has set us up perfectly to support these operators, with the machines, and the cartridges, available through our website with next day delivery to mainland UK. Read more What are your ambitions for the firm? To continue to grow the company both in Scotland and the US. We want to be the number one name in our sector. We've just had our key trade show season, which gives us a fantastic platform to directly get in front of our potential customers – we have attended shows such as The Artisan Ice Cream Show and ScotHot. We've been able to demonstrate signature products such as the heated Nutella dispenser. What are the challenges facing the sector and market, and what could be done to overcome or address these? Being in the food sector, Brexit has been a huge challenge for us, and setting up a European subsidiary may be the solution to regain the business we have lost from our European customers. The volatile cocoa market has caused significant increases in the cost of chocolate. And more latterly the tariff agenda by Donald Trump is causing us pain in our US business. What single thing would most help? A crystal ball! Seriously, though, a stabilisation of cocoa prices would be a great start. What is the most valuable lesson you have learned? The only constant is change. Spreading risk and making sure you don't have all your eggs in one basket. What was your best moment? Landing our first popcorn deal with Asda was a very high moment, which has proven to be a launchpad for our now well-established popcorn tub retail business. I think my other best moments have been making great recruitment choices by seeing the potential in people. What has been your most challenging moment in life or business? I think continuing to run the business through a period of ill health was the most challenging from a personal point of view. Luckily having a great team around me and supportive family made this possible. How do you relax? I still love to perform in my band and find this the best form of escapism. I also enjoy playing golf and football and watching Raith Rovers, although that is seldom relaxing. What phrase or quotation has inspired you the most? One swallow doesn't make a summer. What is the best book (fiction or non-fiction) you have ever read? Why is it the best? I don't read enough but the last book I read was The Saboteur of Auschwitz. I found it very inspirational and emotional as it was almost a true depiction of my grandfather's experience of being a prisoner of war in Auschwitz in the Second World War. Where do you find yourself most at ease? Entertaining with friends and family in my own home. If you weren't in your current role, what job would you most fancy? Being a professional musician or sportsman. What countries have you most enjoyed travelling to, for business or leisure, and why? Luckily, I have travelled extensively with the business and for pleasure, but I think my favourite really is the north west coast of Scotland as it reminds me of family holidays as a child and I find the beauty breathtaking. Although a Caribbean cruise does come a close second!
