SME Food & Drink Brand of the Year - Bear bites deeper into the healthy snacking market

Healthy snacking brand Bear may be less than four years old but it’s got its claws deeply into the grocery market.

The range of natural fruit snacks - Nibbles pieces and Yo Yos fruit rolls - helped Bear grow its number of stockists from around 6,000 in 2011 to just under 10,000 last year, while increasing its annual turnover by 87%.

Tapping into growing demand for natural, healthy foods - particularly for children - Bear is self-funded and has shown that a business doesn’t need private equity backing to become a challenger brand.

You do need marketing, however, and last year Bear unveiled its first above-the-line activity with an outdoor, press and digital campaign that meant 39% of all UK adults ‘heard its growl’. It has also worked with the Forestry Commission to encourage healthy lifestyles.

On trend and on the way up - Bear is on a roll.