Proper and Eat Real to form new healthy snacking company

Exponent Private Equity has agreed to buy a majority stake in Proper, which will join forces with Exponent’s Eat Real brand to create a new healthy snacking group.

Headquartered in London, Proper is a snack brand offering ready-to-eat and microwaveable popcorn, as well as chips.

Founded as Propercorn in 2011, the company rebranded as Proper in 2019 to reflect its expansion in the snacking category beyond popcorn.

Proper’s revenues are said to have reached £24 million in 2020, and the brand is now stocked in ten countries. The company has been supported by Piper and JamJar, which invested in 2016.

The new partnership with Exponent will bring together Proper and the private equity firm’s Eat Real brand under a new company, set to be formed by the end of Q1 2021.

Both Eat Real – which produces a range of snack chips, puffs and straws – and Proper will remain distinct brands within the new ‘better-for-you’ snacking group, which will be led by Chris Schulze-Melander.

Schulze-Melander, the current CEO of People Against Dirty, will take up his position at the beginning of March. Meanwhile, Proper’s current CEO Mike Hedges will oversee the transition for the brand until the summer.

“After ten years of building Proper, choosing the right partner for our next chapter meant everything to me,” said Proper co-founder Cassandra Stavrou, who will remain in a senior leadership position and sit on the board of the new company.

“We’d like to thank Piper and JamJar for their expertise in helping us take Proper to new heights. Working with Exponent and Eat Real to achieve our vision was an opportunity too good to miss. While our brands will remain distinct, we have a shared goal to take healthy snacking mainstream and global. This partnership will amplify every arm of the business. I can’t wait to get started.”