How come it has taken so long to make the most of your surname to launch this product?
Everyone I speak to about Brazil’s Nuts says to me ‘what a great idea, what took you so long?’. My friends David and Kevin came up with the idea, Dave (Evans) has the three Sports Bars & Grills in London (Farringdon, Marylebone, Victoria) and he is opening a fourth –Brazil’s Bar and Grill – in Waterloo, hopefully in May. He said 'what about Brazil’s nuts?' And, after initially looking down and saying 'what about them' I said 'what a great idea'. I was very close to Sir Bobby Robson from my days at Ipswich Town so I was keen to get a charity angle and raise funds for the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.
How will that work?
It depends on volume, however much we sell we will make a donation per the packs of peanuts we sell throughout the country. We are already selling and there will be a massive push in January along with jingles on Talk Sport.
So what makes your nuts better than the competition?
We have picked a quality brand, they are made by Intersnack. Bobby Robson was quality, I hope I am on radio and Talk Sport are very, very well listened to so it had to be at the top end of the market.
Why are snacks the best snack to have in the pub?
I love a bar, I love a pub. I finish work at 10am and I have all day to meet people and meeting places tend to be pubs or restaurants and there is nothing I like better than a pint and a packet of dry roasted.
You used to run the Black Adder pub in Ipswich, would you ever go down that path again?
Maybe, when we had the launch at the Sports Bar & Grill in Farringdon it got packed and I served a few pints because it was so busy. To be honest it felt natural so maybe I could go back and sell a few pints and my nuts!
So will it end with nuts or will we be seeing any brand extensions?
We have talked about all sort and if they go well then why not. There may be different food snacks but at the moment I am happy with what we have got but there are so many avenues we can go down with this.
Brazil’s Nuts, original salted and dry roasted, are available through Waverley TBS. Cashew and chilli will be launched in 2012.
