Role at BIOVIT
Bob brings founder-to-founder experience to the BIOVIT board, having taken a natural ingredients business from start-up to category leadership in UK retail. He advises the BIOVIT team on scaling a brand built around natural credentials, building retailer relationships, and growing distribution across food service, food manufacturing, and the major UK supermarkets - all in service of the BETTER FOOD FOR ALL. mission.
Background
With more than thirty years in the UK food industry, Bob founded Clarks UK in 2009 in Newport, South Wales. From a standing start, he built Clarks into the UK’s leading maple syrup brand, supplying all four of the UK’s major supermarket groups - Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, and Morrisons - alongside hotels, restaurants, schools, hospitals, and food manufacturers.
Clarks expanded its portfolio beyond pure maple syrup into a range of natural sweeteners including honey, carob, date, and agave syrups, with production rolling more than twelve thousand bottles a day at its Newport plant. By 2016, Clarks was generating around £7 million in net sales and was described by industry press as the UK market leader in maple syrup.
In 2017, Hain Celestial - the US natural and organic foods group - acquired Clarks UK, citing the strength of the brand and its potential across the UK and continental Europe.
Since exiting Clarks, Bob has remained closely involved in the UK food and drink sector as an investor in early-stage food and drink businesses. He also serves as Chair of Judges for the Food and Drink Awards Wales. Away from work, he is a keen beekeeper.
Expertise
Founding and scaling a natural ingredients brand; UK supermarket and grocery retailer relationships; food service and food manufacturing distribution; brand and packaging design for natural products; exit and acquisition; early-stage investment in UK food and drink.