Cake and brownies go vegan to dodge Brexit checks

A UK exporter of brownies and cakes has seen Brexit-related costs drop “significantly” after replacing animal-derived ingredients with vegan alternatives.

Leeds-based manufacturer Pecan Deluxe Candy has managed to bypass burdensome border checks by making some of its bestselling products plant-based.

The new products do not require the export health certificate (EHC) or veterinary inspection that composite food products containing butter or eggs do, allowing the company to reduce the costs and additional paperwork that came with exporting such goods.

The company said it has seen growing interest from clients in its new brownie, cake, cookie and cookie dough pieces, which were now all available without the ‘composite food’ classification that “can bring additional hassle for European customers purchasing from UK suppliers”.

The vast majority of Pecan Deluxe’s clients were from EU markets before Brexit, MD Graham Kingston told The Grocer. 

“Brexit has had a huge impact on our business,” Kingston said. ”Before the UK’s exit from the EU single market, 84% of the business’s sales came from European customers. That figure is now around 55%.”

Since introducing the revamped formulas – which include replacing butter with a mix of vegetable oils and entirely removing eggs from certain products – in October last year, Pecan Deluxe has seen a substantial drop in shipping, vet and paperwork costs.

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It has also experienced less consignment holdups and returns at the French border, while expanding its pool of haulage partners as the move created “less border hassle”, resulting in more interest from shipping companies.

The costs of transporting a load of the new non-composite products have also decreased by as much as 70% comparatively to the costs per load of the traditionally-manufactured composite products.

Additionally, Pecan Deluxe has seen growing interest from EU-based partners looking to slash import costs.

“It’s a win-win situation because some of these ingredients like butter and dairy have massively increased in price since last year, so EU importers are also looking to lower their costs by buying the reformulated products,” Kingston said.

The company is keen to continue finding solutions to Brexit-related trading barriers as it “cannot ignore what is our main marketplace”, he added.

Pecan Deluxe’s top importing countries are Germany, the Netherlands, France and Spain. It expects sales in the EU to grow again this year off the back of the changes to its products.