South Queensferry-based business Coco Chocolatier has snapped up organic chocolate brand Seed & Bean’s IP for an undisclosed sum.
Coco Chocolatier, which has been led by MD Calum Haggerty since 2013, has acquired Seed & Bean’s leftover stock and e-commerce site in an asset deal.
Seed & Bean was founded by Stephen Rudkin in 2005, and in 2013 struck a four-year deal to become the official chocolate supplier to Glastonbury Festival.
From 2016 to September 2024, the business was run by co-owner Oliver Shorts. It snagged a Sainsbury’s listing in 2020 for its Coconut & Raspberry, Mandarin & Ginger and Lavender Dark Chocolate bars, but they disappeared from shelves in the retailer within two years [Assosia].
According to Haggerty, there are now no staff members left in the business, following the exit of Seed & Bean’s owners.
“A lot of brands that outsource their manufacturing and logistics have really struggled with the increased cocoa prices,” he said.
“Because we do our own manufacturing and we do our own fulfilment, there’s just a line of cost that we just don’t have that they do.”
At the time of writing, a 75g format of Seed & Bean’s Dark 58% Lemon & Cardamom, Dark 70% Cornish Sea Salt, Dark 72% Mandarin & Ginger, Dark 72% Lavender, Dark 58% Espresso and Milk Sea Salt & Tropical Lime were listed on Ocado at £3.75 each. Just one year ago, larger 85g versions of the bars were priced at £2.95 in the retailer.
A house of brands
Following the deal, Seed & Bean has joined Coco Chocolatier’s newly established collective, Made Uncommon, which also includes Haggerty’s Otherly and Up-Up chocolate brands.
Haggerty said he wanted to create a “house of brands”, so that as acquisitions came in, they had a “logical slot to come into”.
“We started with Coco Chocolatier, very much in that gifting space and working with lots of independents; that’s really how we built the business.
“I’ve been doing that since 2013 – and then the end of 2023 to the start of 2024 was our first year trading with both Up-Up and Otherly.”
Otherly is an oat milk chocolate brand and “unlike Coco, it’s very much kind of focused on bigger distribution into grocery”. Meanwhile, Up-Up has just launched into Co-op’s Apiary scheme.
“We can pull [Seed & Bean] in under our manufacturing, our fulfilment, our pre-existing overhead and push forward the brand into the future in a more sustainable way,” said Haggerty, adding that he was confident Seed & Bean would not cannibalise sales from Made Uncommon’s other chocolate brands.
“We speak to lots of customers are organic only, so that’s it fills that niche for us,” he said.
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