KEY INTERVIEW: Cambridge Commodities Eyes Healthy Snacking

04 Apr 2016 --- Healthy snacking is being eyed as the key platform for growth for UK-based nutritional ingredient supplier Cambridge Commodities, as the company continues its entrepreneurial evolution from ingredient supplier to innovation partner. “We have seen a change in the consumer attitude to nutrition in the last 4-5 years. People are not taking as many capsules, or tablets anymore. They don’t want to be given medicine – they want to live a nutritious lifestyle,” says Managing Director, James Stevens. 

The past 4 years have seen the company’s turnover more than double from £12 million (US$17 million) to £30 million (US$42.5 million). Cambridge Commodities now has around 100 employees and is looking to capitalize on a “back to nature” trend and eye platforms within mainstream nutrition that are focused on balanced and guilt free healthy lifestyles, without sacrificing on taste. 

Stevens started the business in his hometown of Cambridge in 1998, with the ambition of becoming a one-stop shop for people making vitamin or mineral tablets, capsules and powder blends. “We achieved that within a 10 year period, when we already had 1,500 ingredients in stock. That was our key USP, we had a warehouse in the UK, where people could get serviced quickly,” he explains. 

But other opportunities existed. In 2008, Cambridge Commodities began to use the diverse stockpiles of ingredients to create new capsules and tablets internally. “There wasn’t much innovation going on back then. It was the beginning of sports nutrition becoming a bit more normal and we started innovation using capsules. What we have done is continue to push that further, but always going back to our ingredient portfolio,” he explained. 

New Growth Opportunities
With a current portfolio of up to 2,500 ingredients, the latest phase for growth is aimed around innovating in food itself and increasingly looking for opportunities outside of its UK base. “What keeps us evolving is the evolution in NPD itself. It excites us to be able to create new blends, capsules and tablets, and to bring new ingredients to market. There may be lots of pressures through regulatory issues like novel foods and import regulations, but now as one of the biggest ingredient suppliers within nutrition & health, people are coming to us with new ingredient ideas, or an old ingredient that we are able to market with more science backing the claims,” Stevens explains. 

Cambridge Commodities has now installed a team of 8 employees in continental Europe, with associates stationed in Scandinavia, in France, Iberia and soon Germany. Revenues of £6 million were achieved for this part of the business in 2015: 20% of total turnover. “Our plans are that within the next 4 years to be an £80 million company, with a little more than half coming from the European continent,” he says.

These ambitions could of course be rudely interrupted should the June 24, 2016 referendum result in the UK eventually leaving the EU. But Stevens maintains that even such a trade barrier could be scaled. “If a Brexit were to happen, we will find a way. We are an entrepreneurial company and if someone puts a barrier or a blockade in front our plans, we will manage. However, we are proud that our ingredients are in every widely known sports and health brand in Europe, and our next target is food and retailers on the continent,” he adds.

In the last 18 months, Cambridge Commodities has evolved from never having spoken about making nutritional bars, to creating 100 different flapjack and shortbreads concepts, but without the usual ingredients. “We use date syrup rather than refined sugar. We use butter rather than margarine. Then we have some space for our vitamins, minerals, which can give a myriad of EFSA health claims, or our rainbows of color blends, which are really exciting superfood blends, which we can add into normal bars now. All our bars have a nutrition story: we can skew them to be high in protein, fiber, we can have meal replacement bars, or even superfood bars which are having the most success right now, because they look and taste so fantastic,” says Stevens.

Eyeing Reformulation Strategies
There are huge opportunities in helping brands to cut down on salt, saturated fat and especially sugar. “You walk down supermarket aisles where the claims are around healthy, where the sugar content has been slightly reduced or a gluten free claim is made. But I don’t see the point of a product that was always gluten free until the claim was made, but still has lots of sugar,” he explains. 

“We have been abusing sugar for years and now we are suffering with obesity and type 2 diabetes problems. For me, healthy snacking is where we need to be with no added sugar. For example, if you add banana powder you are adding a sugar [fructose], but you are also adding a lot of fruit,” he says.
The company has therefore created a 100% banana powder, which when put it into a bar, foodstuff, water or milk, can deliver a real banana flavor on many different levels, including mouthfeel, texture and levels of flavor. “It is a great sugar replacer in itself, while at the same time delivering a nutritional and sweetening story,” he says.

Stevia is gaining traction as a natural high intensity sweetener, however Stevens notes that it still has the negative of a slightly bitter licorice aftertaste. “We have been working hard with our flavor teams internally, to formulate it together with ingredients like inulin, which can work together with the stevia to remove the aftertaste, while at the same time functioning as a sugar replacer,” he notes. “Inulin goes further than just replacing sugar; it replaces it with a soluble fiber, which is such a great story. People are not getting enough fiber in their diets, especially with the current rise of the high protein diet,” he adds. 

The replacement of saturated fats with healthier oils is another opportunity. “There are amazing oils out there like avocado seed oil and hemp seed oil. We have had 30 years of people saying that fats are bad for you, but now we are learning that there are good and bad fats,” says Stevens. 

The company’s latest introduction is a range of high quality vegan proteins to meet the increased demand for plant-based protein ingredients. The ProEarth range consists of black bean, almond, cranberry, buckwheat, hemp, pumpkin seed and quinoa powders with a protein content ranging from 20% to 80%. Extracted from superfoods, ProEarth vegan proteins are clean label, often allergen free and easily digestible due to their fiber content. Plant protein sources can provide a full profile of amino acids and omega 3 fatty acids, connecting with key drivers of health-conscious consumers.

This type of innovation drive and business growth is being recognized. The company was named in the 2015 Sunday Times International Track 200 report which ranks Britain’s mid-sized companies in terms of the international growth. Most recently it was identified as one of London Stock Exchange’s 1000 Companies to Inspire Britain. To be included in the list, companies needed to show consistent revenue growth over a minimum of three years, significantly outperforming their industry peers.

By riding key trends such as clean & clear label, organic, superfoods and vegan, ingredient innovators such as Cambridge Commodities, demonstrate that partnering on innovation can turn commodities into specialties to help create the healthy snacks of tomorrow. 

By Robin Wyers