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Graze (company)

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Nature Delivered Limited
Graze
FormerlyGordons133 Limited (2007–2008)[1]
Industry
Founded17 October 2007 (2007-10-17) in London, England[2]
FounderGraham Bosher
Headquarters
Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey
,
England[1]
Key people
Joanna Allen (CEO)
Products
  • Subscription boxes
  • Healthy snacks
OwnerUnilever[3]
Number of employees
500
ParentNd4a Limited[4]
Websitegraze.com
Graze snack boxes. The upper box is the 2018 redesign and the lower box is the pre-2018 design.

Nature Delivered Limited,[1] trading as Graze (stylised as graze), is a United Kingdom-based snack company which is owned by Unilever.[5] Graze offers over 200 snack combinations[6] through snack subscription boxes, an online shop[7] and retailers. The company distributes thousands of snack boxes per day across the UK.[8] Graze expanded operations to include the United States in 2013,[9] launching snacks into US retailers in 2016.[10]

Graze includes sweet and savoury snacks. Many of the products are suitable for vegans.

History

[edit]

Graze was launched in 2008 by seven friends brought together by Graham Bosher, the founder of LoveFilm.[11][12] The company began delivering snacks including nuts, small puddings, and porridge across the United Kingdom.[13] In November 2012, The Carlyle Group purchased the majority stake of Graze.[11][14]

Graze opened a distribution center in New Jersey in January 2013 to begin beta trials in the United States.[8][9][14] Graze officially expanded into the United States by late 2013 and has offices in Jersey City, New Jersey and Manhattan, New York.[15][16] By the end of 2014, Graze had generated £68 million in revenue.[17] In February 2017, Graze reported £75.8 million in revenue for the year.[18] As of September 2017, Graze was available in 7,500 stores across the United States.[19]

Graze announced the launch of a line of snack products to UK retailers including Sainsbury's, Boots UK, and WHSmith in July 2015.[20]

In 2015, Graze was listed as a member of the Sunday Times Fast Track 100,[21] the list of Britain's top 100 fastest growing companies.

In 2016, Graze launched an online shop[22] for one-off purchases, outside the snack subscription model, and began selling a range of their snacks in Walgreens stores across the US.[10]

In February 2019, Graze was acquired by Unilever.[23]

In August 2019, Graze subscribers in the US were notified that delivery on their subscriptions would end in September. As of September 2019, the Graze website store showed no products available for sale and no pending orders and by December 2019 it had reverted to a UK only website. The company has made no public announcement of why they have ceased business operations in the US.

In early 2024 they stopped their classic subscription box which fits through the letterbox and launched the new monthly subscription box in April 2024,[24] containing 8 snacks but no longer tailored to individual preferences. However, the new boxes were stopped being sent out after 3 months [25]

Production

[edit]

Graze used an algorithm called DARWIN (Decision Algorithm Rating What Ingredient's Next) to customise snack boxes based on the preferences subscribers entered on the site.[15][26] Graze develops its own recipes that do not include genetically engineered ingredients, artificial flavors or colors, high fructose corn syrup, or trans fats.[27] The old variety boxes contained four snacks and could be delivered weekly, biweekly, or monthly.[28] Larger sharing bags and multipacks are available to buy ad-hoc on graze's online shop [7]

Since 2023, graze has donated a portion of its profits to City Harvest,[29] a London-based charity that redistributes surplus food to help tackle food poverty. Before this, graze supported the graze School of Farming in Uganda which helped over 400 families gain the skills and experience needed to feed and support themselves.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "Nature Delivered Limited overview - Find and update company information - Gov.uk". Companies House. 17 October 2007. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  2. ^ "Incorporation". Companies House. 17 October 2007. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
  3. ^ "Unilever acquires Graze".
  4. ^ "Nature Delivered Limited persons with significant control - Find and update company information - Gov.uk". Companies House. 7 October 2017. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
  5. ^ "Unilever acquires Graze".
  6. ^ Rebecca Burn-Callander (6 December 2015). "Graze sales in supermarkets 'could overtake' online revenues". The Telegraph. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  7. ^ a b "the graze shop website".
  8. ^ a b Kacey Culliney (14 January 2014). "Graze.com ready to gobble up US market prospects". Bakery And Snacks. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  9. ^ a b Catherine Clifford (12 December 2013). "Graze.com Wants to Send You Boxes of Healthy Snacks for $6 a Pop". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  10. ^ a b Graham Ruddick (17 October 2016). "Graze aims for healthy bite of US snack market with bricks and mortar". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  11. ^ a b Jon Yeomans (29 September 2014). "Graze boxes up 31% sales growth". The Grocer. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  12. ^ Eleanor Ross (22 November 2014). "In the Spotlight... Anthony Fletcher, Graze chief executive". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  13. ^ Graham Ruddick (10 November 2013). "Families snack on graze boxes". Telegraph. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  14. ^ a b Rebecca Burn-Callander (12 December 2013). "Snack maker Graze.com launches in US". Telegraph. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  15. ^ a b Erin McCarthy (16 November 2015). "The Snacks-by-Mail Company Graze Turns Snacking into a Science". mental_floss. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  16. ^ Rick Pendrous (29 September 2014). "Grazs online sales of healthy snacks hit £53M". Food Manufacture. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  17. ^ Ben Sillitoe (9 June 2015). "Online healthy snacks retailer Graze.com reports US success". Essential Retail. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  18. ^ "Sales up and profits down at Graze, following multichannel and US investments". InternetRetailing. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  19. ^ Armstrong, Ashley (22 July 2017). "Graze groomed for £300m sale as healthy eating booms". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  20. ^ Nathan Gray (13 July 2015). "From online to in-store: graze.com aims to 'transform snacking' with UK retail move". Food Navigator. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  21. ^ "Graze.com - Fast Track". Sunday Times.
  22. ^ Leonie Roderick (19 November 2015). "Graze opens up its products to non-subscribers in ecommerce push\". Marketing Week. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  23. ^ Yu, Douglas (11 February 2019). "Unilever Acquires Graze To Boost Presence In Healthy Snacks Market". Forbes. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  24. ^ graze launches new monthly subscription box with ‘A Taste of the World’ (retailtimes.co.uk)
  25. ^ <https://uk.help.graze.com/hc/en-gb/articles/26005421804433-Can-I-still-get-a-monthly-subscription-box
  26. ^ Nate Lanxon (11 May 2012). "Graze anatomy: the tech behind Graze.com's customized snacks". Wired. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  27. ^ Anna Petrow (19 May 2015). "This Is the Easiest Way to Snack Healthy at Work". Brit+Co. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  28. ^ Jocelyn Voo. "Snack by Mail: The Best Snack Subscription Boxes". Fitness Magazine. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  29. ^ Graze 2022 Impact Report
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