Swizzels

What Swizzels does

Swizzels Matlow Limited is a privately held, family-owned British confectionery manufacturer founded in 1928 in London and relocated to New Mills, Derbyshire in 1940 after the Blitz. The company produces sugar confectionery across multiple product platforms — compressed fizzy tablets (Fizzers, Refreshers), heart-shaped embossed-message sweets (Love Hearts), chewy lollies (Drumstick, Double Lollies), soft foam sweets (Squashies, launched 2012), marshmallow products (Mallows, 2022), and lollipops (Fruity Pops) — at two manufacturing facilities in New Mills and Middlewich (the latter opened in 2022 to meet Squashies demand). Annual production volumes exceed 1.8 billion Refresher chew bars, 100 million Parma Violets rolls, and 180 million Fruity Pops, with the workforce of approximately 600 split between headquarters and the Middlewich facility.

The company's business model rests on three revenue pillars: branded wholesale confectionery sold through all major UK retailers (Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, Morrisons, Waitrose), discounters (Lidl, Aldi), and convenience/e-commerce channels; brand licensing of heritage IPs (primarily Love Hearts) into giftware, plush toys, ceramics, apparel, car scents, and personal care; and direct-to-consumer sales via shop.swizzels.com including personalized Love Hearts and wedding favors. Product development is driven by flavor extensions within core brands (Squashies, Refreshers) alongside category extensions like the Atomix soft-chew platform (2026) and Squashies Drumstick Ice Cream range, while strategic partnerships with entertainment (Minions/Universal), sports (Nottingham Forest FC), and entertainment venues (Co-op Live) extend marketing reach. The company is run by the third generation of the Matlow and Dee founding families, with no external institutional shareholders, and maintains HFSS-compliant product variants to navigate UK sugar-content regulation.

Name

Swizzels

Legal name

Swizzels Matlow Limited

Website

https://swizzels.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1928

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Swizzels Matlow is a privately held, third-generation family-owned UK confectionery manufacturer (founded 1928) producing iconic heritage brands — Love Hearts, Drumstick, Refreshers, Squashies, Parma Violets — distributed through all major British supermarkets, discounters, and e-commerce, with two factories and ~600 employees.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sugar Confectionery

NAICS

Nonchocolate Confectionery Manufacturing (31134), Sugar and Confectionery Product Manufacturing (3113), Nonchocolate Confectionery Manufacturing (311340)

SIC

Sugar & Confectionery Products (2060), Food And Kindred Products (2000)

akta.pro primary industry

Sugar Confectionery (Gummies, Hard Candy, Chews) (CRADABAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Frozen & Refrigerated Snack Foods (Ice Cream Novelties, Snack Bites) (CRADABAL), Bakery & Confectionery Wholesale (AFAIABAG)

Keywords

• Sugar confectionery
• Compressed dextrose sweets
• Fizzy chew bars
• Marshmallow confectionery
• Licensed candy brands

Headquarters

HQ city

New Mills

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Confectionery product sales: Manufacturing and selling sugar confectionery products through retail and wholesale channels. Products include Squashies, Love Hearts, Refreshers, Drumstick, and licensed branded confectionery.
2. Licensing and brand collaborations: Licensing Love Hearts and other brand imagery for merchandise including plush toys, giftware, clothing accessories, and partnership products with external brands.
3. Competition and promotion partnerships: Joint promotional activities with retail partners (Co-op Live ticket giveaways) driving product sales through purchase-based entry mechanics.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Swizzels is a UK-based, family-owned sugar confectionery manufacturer founded in 1928 that produces and sells branded sweets including Love Hearts, Drumstick, Refreshers, and Squashies to retailers and consumers in the United Kingdom and selected export markets. The company manufactures compressed dextrose sweets, chew bars, marshmallow, and foam-based confectionery products in its own UK production facilities and distributes them through major grocery, discount, and convenience channels.

Product overview

Swizzels Matlow is a British confectionery company founded in 1928, operating from New Mills, Derbyshire. The company offers a diverse portfolio of sweets and treats organized across multiple product lines: Squashies (soft foam sweets launched 2012 with multiple flavors), Drumstick (iconic chewy lollies since 1957), Love Hearts (heart-shaped message sweets since 1954), Refreshers (fizzy sherbet chews since 1955), Mallows (marshmallow with Drumstick flavor), Double Lollies (dual-flavored sherbet lollies since 1952), Rainbow Drops (puffed maize/rice candy since pre-WWII), Parma Violets (perfumed violet sweets since 1946), Fizzers (compressed fizzy sweets since 1933), Fruity Pops (lollipops since 1960s), Vimto Chew Bars (collaboration), Sweet Tubs (bulk gum/foam sweets), Classics (retro sweets), Pick 'n' Mix (bulk offerings), Variety Packs, Atomix (new modern reimagining), Minions (licensed franchise products), and Vegan sweets. The company also produces licensed collaborations including Love Hearts gift products, Emma Bridgewater ceramics, and bubble tea partnerships. Swizzels is a family business run by third-generation Matlow/Dee families, employing approximately 600 people.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Squashies: Soft and foamy fruit-flavoured sweets launched in 2012, combining favourite Swizzels flavours in a uniquely soft texture.
• Love Hearts
• Drumstick
• Refreshers
• Rainbow Drops
• Parma Violets
• Mallows
• Minions x Swizzels
• Fizzers
• Double Lollies
• Vimto Chew Bars
• Atomix

Products and services

• Love Hearts
• Drumstick
• Refreshers
• Squashies
• Swizzels licensed character and entertainment ranges
• Swizzels online shop (direct-to-consumer)

Quantifiable outcome

• 1.8 billion+ Refresher chew bars manufactured annually
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments3 records

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Co-op / Co-op LivecoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 20 August 2025Swizzels partnered with Co-op as official sweet supplier. Promotional partnership includes a 'Buy, Scan, Win' competition offering 30 pairs of Co-op Live tickets. Promotion ran from August-September 2025.
• Parklife FestivalminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2025Squashies bundle x Parklife competition with UK winners (16+). Promotion period June 20-22, 2026. Prize includes one bag of every flavour of Squashies with 5 winners total.
• Nottingham Forest Football ClubcoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2024Swizzels established a partnership with Nottingham Forest Football Club as official sweet supplier, engaging sports fans with branded confectionery.
• The Brit FestminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2024Swizzels x The Brit Fest VIP tickets competition. Prize consisted of 2 VIP weekend tickets including car parking, exclusive VIP area access, and front stage access.
• Krispy KrememinorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2021Love Hearts x Krispy Kreme Valentine's competition partnership. Prize included a year's supply of Krispy Kreme doughnuts (£156 on gift card), Donut Worry soft toy, and Love Hearts products.
• The Cheshire Cheese CompanyminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2016Swizzels partnered with The Cheshire Cheese Company to create Parma Violets Cheese - a limited edition product combining Cheshire cheese with the distinctive Parma Violets flavor. The pale purple cheese with purple wax gained national press, TV, and radio coverage.
• Vimto (Nichols plc)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSwizzels collaborated with Vimto to create Vimto Chew Bars - a deliciously fruity chew bar combining Swizzels confectionery expertise with Vimto's signature flavor profile. Vimto is a registered trademark of Nichols plc, WA12 0HH, UK.
• English Cheesecake CompanyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLove Hearts collaborated with English Cheesecake Company to create a deliciously sweet dessert product for sharing.
• Bubble PandaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSwizzels collaborated with Bubble Panda to bring favourite Swizzels sweets into bubble tea format - a new category extension.
• Applied NutritionminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSwizzels x Applied Nutrition collaboration bringing modern functional nutrition with classic Swizzels taste.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Mondelez International: Mondelez operates Cadbury, Maynards Bassetts and other UK confectionery brands that overlap with Swizzels in sugar and jelly sweets. As a broader snack and chocolate conglomerate, it competes for the same retailer shelf space and consumer occasions but is not focused on Swizzels' heritage sugar sweets niche.
• Ferrero: Global confectionery incumbent producing Kinder, Tic Tac, and a wide range of seasonal gifting products sold in UK retail. Ferrero competes with Swizzels in seasonal gifting, retail shelf allocation and family confectionery occasions, though with a primarily chocolate-based portfolio.
• Mars Wrigley: Mars Wrigley is the global confectionery incumbent operating brands such as Starburst, Skittles, Galaxy and Maltesers that compete with Swizzels in UK impulse and grocery confectionery, and uses comparable manufacturing, retail distribution and HFSS-compliance capabilities — though at much larger scale and across both chocolate and sugar categories.

Direct peers

• Perfetti Van Melle: Owner of Mentos, Chupa Chups, Fruit-tella and Smint, Perfetti Van Melle directly competes with Swizzels in UK sugar confectionery (chew bars, lollipops, fizzy sweets) with comparable product formats and mass-market grocery distribution.
• Tangerine Confectionery: UK-based private sugar confectionery manufacturer producing foam sweets (e.g. Millions, Fruity Filled Eggs, Vimto confectionery) with comparable scale and customer overlap with major UK grocers. Tangerine is one of the closest like-for-like direct peers to Swizzels in the British sugar confectionery manufacturing space.
• Haribo: Global leader in gummy and chewy confectionery including jelly sweets, foam-based sweets (e.g. Maoam) and licorice. Haribo competes directly with Swizzels' Squashies, Love Hearts, Drumstick and Refreshers ranges in UK grocery aisles and shares the same sugar-confectionery DNA, HFSS exposure and gummy/foam format specialisation.
• Maynards Bassetts (Mondelez): Specialising in jelly babies, wine gums and other sugar/gelatine-based sweets sold in UK supermarkets, Maynards Bassetts is a direct competitor to Swizzels' jelly, chew and foam ranges, sharing the same retail channels and target audience of family confectionery shoppers.

Regional players

• Hotel Chocolat: UK-headquartered premium chocolate maker with shared distribution through major UK grocers and a similar focus on branded, giftable and seasonal confectionery. While chocolate-led rather than sugar, Hotel Chocolat competes for similar consumer occasions, gifting purchases and premium shelf space.

Emerging players

• Swizzels competitor: Swizzel's-style indie pick-and-mix brands: Independent pick-and-mix and traditional British sweet brands (e.g., Treat Street, Kingdom of Sweets, A Great Little Sweet Shop) competing in heritage British confectionery niches — they overlap with Swizzels' Sweet Shop Favourites, Pick 'n' Mix and retro Classics lines at the smaller-batch or retail-front level.
• Candy Kittens: UK challenger brand producing gourmet, vegan-friendly and better-for-you gummy sweets sold in major retailers. Candy Kittens targets the same UK grocery and convenience channels as Swizzels with a more contemporary, adult-focused positioning, representing an emerging competitive threat in the sugar/gummy category.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SwizzelsMatlow
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCvZC0UNTF2ZBCSS5UDXpCVg
• Facebookfacebook.com/SwizzelsMatlow
• Instagraminstagram.com/swizzels_sweets
• TikToktiktok.com/@swizzels_sweets
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/swizzels-matlow-ltd

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Swizzels