JUNE 2025


EDITORIAL Editor


Kiran Grewal kgrewal@kennedys.co.uk


Features Editor Suzanne Callander


scallander@kennedys.co.uk


Production & Design Marc Miller


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Business Development Manager Gary Smythson


gsmythson@kennedys.co.uk 01622 699183


Subscriptions Manager Nic Wood


nic.wood@c-cms.com Events


Gary Smythson


gsmythson@kennedys.co.uk 01622 699183


ACCOUNTS accounts@datateam.co.uk EDITOR’s LETTER


I’ve found myself looking back on how far this magazine has come. With every issue, we aim to do more than report on trends; we try to bring you closer to the people, the places, and the pivotal moments in our industry. This edition, in particular, feels like a culmination of that mission. It’s packed with exclusives we’re genuinely proud to share, stories that aren’t just timely, but thoughtful, and showcase the real, often emotional layers of confectionery today.


Let’s start with the event that left my notebook brimming with exclamation marks: the Oumé pre-launch (page 18). Walking into that room, it was clear we weren’t at just another press junket. Instead, it felt like a collective heartbeat—creatives all aligned by the same conviction that chocolate can (and must) be a force for social good. Listening to co-founders Salomon Kalou and Karina Ferreira speak about empowering cocoa-growing communities, I found myself swapping business cards one minute and swapping stories about childhood chocolate memories the next. I hope the feature captures that sense of shared purpose; I promise you’ll feel it on every line.


I experienced a very different full-circle moment earlier last month when I toured Haldiram’s new UK factory in Southall (page 14). This is a site where Indian heritage is preserved and   there’s a palpable sense of pride and teamwork driving the operation, and being able to witness that, especially with my mum beside me, who once worked in that very area when 


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Kennedy’s Confection ISSN 1474-3841


Set up in 1890, Kennedy’s Confection is the longest– established magazine in the trade and is distributed exclusively worldwide to manufacturers of chocolate, sugar confectionery and bakery products.


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Part of the Datateam Media Group Media Director Paul Ryder


Registered in England No. 1771113. Entire contents © 2025 Kennedy’s Publications, part of the Datateam Media Group. Material may not be reproduced in any form without the publisher’s written approval. For details on reprints and permissions, contact the director of Kennedy’s


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Kiran Grewal, Editor kgrewal@kennedys.co.uk


Kennedy’s Confection June 2025 3


I hope the exclusives we’ve packed into these pages leave you both informed and inspired. As always, keep the emails coming; your feedback steers this magazine as surely as any editorial calendar. Here’s to stories that matter, chocolate that changes lives, and moments—  


On page 20, Flavours & Colours delves into how regulatory shifts are turning “clean label” from a buzzword into a baseline expectation; page 26’s High-Speed Production  & Waste-Reducing Packaging on page 32 questions whether striking design still holds page 36’s Circular Economy in Production examines why closing the loop is essential.


One last shout-out: we’re previewing speaker line-ups for the London Chocolate Forum and wrapping up our post-show review from iba 2025 in Düsseldorf. If you spotted our team racing between stands, notebooks in hand and sugar levels dangerously high, thanks for the camaraderie—and for every tip that turned into a headline here.


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