Interview with Mike Navarro, the Managing Director of Gnaw

Inspiration

Find out why Mike Navarro, the Managing Director of Gnaw is so passionate about their artisanal chocolate.

What’s the thinking behind Gnaw?

Gnaw was founded back in 2010 by Matt & Teri Legon. They were both determined to pursue an ambitious artisanal chocolate agenda with aspirations to deliver excitement, outstanding quality, and sustainability.

This was a brand that saw the perfect opportunity to contest two very different yet intrinsically linked fine food forums (chocolate bars and hot chocolate), offering products for both individuals to enjoy or gifting options that prioritized ‘shared joy,’ whilst simultaneously forging an enviable reputation as a trusted provider of incredible tasting yet consciously sourced chocolate.

Gnaw is an authentic disruptor within its sphere, a bona-fide challenger brand adamant that it would never take a backward step with regards to either taste or purpose in its ambitious agenda against bland, unsustainable alternatives.

From the outset, Gnaw threw its weight behind ethically sourced, superior quality cocoa beans and farms that prioritized fair treatment for their farmers whilst adhering to strict sustainable agricultural practices. They now source their cocoa from Colombia and have a proud mutually beneficial relationship with both sustainable cocoa suppliers and farms to ensure the strictest requirements are met.

By retaining full control of manufacturing operations and by not succumbing to outsourcing, Gnaw is better placed than most to ensure no shortcuts are taken in terms of taste or purpose.

What was the lightbulb moment you knew you were onto something?

I was quickly won over by our founder’s (Matt Legon) compelling vision to strike the perfect balance of happiness, playfulness, and premium chocolate that could be achieved in tandem with a robust social responsibility agenda.

With a career background that was primarily corporate blue-chip, the thought of championing the unique needs of a company founder who has genuine passion and love for his business was irresistible.

What’s your career background?

My first role was within the food division of Unilever, before moving onto Kimberly-Clark, working on brands such as Andrex, Kleenex & Huggies across category management and working my way up through the customer management hierarchy. These were both great companies with fantastic brands, but the allure of the SME world overtook my desire for corporate comfort, and I moved to the rice industry before joining Matt & Teri at Gnaw Chocolate – and what a great decision that was.

Who is your ideal customer?

There are a number of distinct demographic groups to whom our brand would appeal:

• Those committed to living a good life, who harbor foodie aspirations full of flavor, best-in-class ingredients, and intriguing flavor marriages whilst remaining environmentally aware.
• Social media-savvy followers of food blogs, experimental food trends, and world cuisine who frequent delis, farmers’ markets, food halls, and online whilst holding distinct ‘slow food’ values.
• Those committed to unearthing unique and memorable gifts to share with loved ones.
• Those seeking out businesses that prioritize ethically sourced ingredients and a wider sustainable vision.

What major obstacles have you had to overcome?

There have been two key obstacles.

The first is astronomical cocoa price rises. The situation is still extremely challenging and significantly different from the historical norm. Whilst some chocolate manufacturers are opting to reduce the level of cocoa in their chocolate or seek alternatives to cocoa, just to bring cost down, we have gone the other way and increased our cocoa content from 36% to 40% in our milk chocolate.

When others zig, we zag, delivering even better quality! The only answer is to add value in terms of innovation and intrigue, which means a constant pipeline of cool intertwined innovation.

The second obstacle is brand shyness. We are becoming a lot more vocal at telling our story as opposed to sitting on the sidelines. A new vibrant identity, a distinct tone of voice, a far-reaching range, and a clear stance on social responsibility all represent promising stepping stones. We now need to go even further in terms of engaging editors, influencers, participating in category reviews, contesting awards, and collaborating with non-conflicting kindred spirits.

What’s been your business highlight so far?

Without question, the recent relaunch of the entire Gnaw brand portfolio coupled with initiating a tonne of new product innovation within a highly competitive marketplace. It’s been exhausting yet immensely rewarding to see the team so enthused about our step-change evolution.

Today our range is jam-packed with hero ingredients, inspired by leading food trends from both ‘World Cuisine’ and closer to home. We have flavors that offer new levels of intrigue from New York Cheesecake and Sticky Toffee Pudding chocolate bars through to our NEW gooey-centered Pudding Spoons (decadent hot chocolates) whilst our game-changing Mocha Melts allow us to tap into chocolate’s unrivaled versatility and contest the bustling hot beverage fixture.

And your biggest gripe?

Doing tomorrow what could be done today. There’s so much still to do and I am passionate about getting things done and transforming the Gnaw brand.

We also deplore the growing trend of cynical greenwashing. Doing right by our planet should be part of our DNA, not simply a marketing tool.

Your best business move?

Evolving our brand identity to embrace our purpose and ambitions. The old look was playful and attention-grabbing, but we needed to increase the level of intrigue our adult heartland craved.

We re-designed all of our packaging to create a complete sensorial experience of our new chocolate flavors and our new innovations of Gooey Spoons and Mocha Melts, so that design became an extension of how our consumers feel when eating our chocolate.

Our design team nailed it, and I absolutely love our new look and feel of Gnaw. Fortunately, our challenger brand status means we are better placed than most to be nimble and pivot at speed.

What are your latest new product additions?

What unites our latest product addition is a willingness to step outside the comfort zone in order to accelerate change. Never be afraid to try something new; if it doesn’t scare you, it’s simply not worth committing either time, energy, or resources.

The time and attention to detail we took creating our Indulgent Spoons and Pudding Gooey Spoons ranges was immense, and these have just hit the shelves, elevating indulgent happiness in a cup.

We have also just launched Mocha Melts, which turns a good coffee into a great mocha, because a great mocha deserves real chocolate. I’m super excited about these because they are so good and already part of my daily morning ritual.

From a sustainable perspective, we’ve added to our clean energy commitments (solar roof) by championing compostable/recyclable wrappers, opting for vegetable inks, rejecting palm oil, and working with sustainable packaging pioneers Evopak, trialing ‘sharing packs’ with no microplastic footprint.

What does Gnaw look like two years down the line?

Whilst our heartland is primarily the specialty sector (department stores, delis, hampers, food halls, farm shops, and garden centres) and we do have a sizeable export business, we need to be always within arm’s reach of our shoppers. Growing our presence in supermarkets, convenience stores, forecourts, foodservice, and airlines are all prospective fields of opportunity. The world is literally our oyster!

Find out more about Gnaw.