Orkla Snacks

What Orkla Snacks does

Orkla Snacks AS is a Nordic and Baltic packaged food company operating in confectionery, snacks, and biscuits, wholly owned by publicly listed Norwegian conglomerate Orkla ASA. Headquartered in Oslo and established in its current portfolio-company form in 2023, the business consolidates heritage brands such as BUBS, Smash!, Nidar, KiMs, OLW, Sætre, Panda, Kalev, Laima, Taffel, and Göteborgs Kex — some dating back to 1806 — and runs 13 manufacturing facilities across Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Iceland, employing approximately 3,000 people. Reported turnover for 2025 is 10.3 billion NOK, split across confectionery (~46%, 4.7 BNOK), snacks (~43%, 4.4 BNOK), and biscuits (~12%, 1.2 BNOK), with #1 or #2 category positions in most home markets.

The business model is a traditional consumer packaged goods (CPG) one-time-purchase retail model: products are sold through grocery, convenience, and specialty retailers, with no direct-to-consumer or subscription revenue disclosed. Distribution is asset-heavy and locally manufactured, providing supply security in Nordic and Baltic markets. The go-to-market combines a heritage brand portfolio with selective viral amplification (notably BUBS' 2024 TikTok breakthrough under #swedishcandy) and channel partnerships, exemplified by the 2025 U.S. launch of BUBS via Mount Franklin Foods, which has delivered national placement at Target, Walmart, Kroger, Albertsons, CVS, Five Below, and Walgreens. Capex programs — a new BUBS production line in Jönköping and a Smash! line at the Nidar factory in Trondheim (full operations 2027) — indicate management's confidence in volume growth, particularly for BUBS and Smash!, the latter of which grew over 20% in the prior year and is sold in eight countries.

Name

Orkla Snacks

Legal name

Orkla Snacks AS

Website

https://orklasnacks.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Orkla Snacks is a Nordic and Baltic packaged food company operating 13 factories across seven countries, generating 10.3 BNOK in annual turnover from heritage brands in confectionery, snacks, and biscuits, and serving mass retail consumers in its home markets plus a newly launched U.S. presence via the BUBS brand.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Snack Foods and Confectionery

NAICS

Cookie and Cracker Manufacturing (311821), Snack Food Manufacturing (31191), Food Manufacturing (311)

SIC

Bakery Products (2050), Cookies & Crackers (2052), Food And Kindred Products (2000)

akta.pro primary industry

Chocolate & Candy Snacks Manufacturing (AFAKAIAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Specialty Snack Foods Manufacturing (Ethnic/Regional, Gourmet, Functional) (AFAKAIAO), Snack Bakery (Cookies, Crackers, Bars) Wholesale (AFAIAFAI)

Keywords

• Snack food manufacturing
• Confectionery products
• Chocolate and biscuits
• Nordic food brands
• Sweet and savory snacks

Headquarters

HQ city

Oslo

HQ country

Norway

HQ region

Europe

Offices15 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Snacks: Potato chips, nut mixes, and cheese doodles products under brands like OLW, KiMs, Taffel, and Ādažu. Revenue from snacks category represents approximately 43% of total turnover at 4.4 BNOK.
2. Confectionery: Chocolate, pick and mix, caramels, and licorice products under brands like BUBS, Smash!, Nidar, Panda, and Kalev. Revenue from confectionery category represents approximately 46% of total turnover at 4.7 BNOK.
3. Biscuits: Premium biscuits including cookies, crackers, and wafers under brands like Sætre, Selga, and Göteborgs Kex. Revenue from biscuits category represents approximately 12% of total turnover at 1.2 BNOK.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Orkla Snacks AS manufactures and sells snacks, confectionery, biscuits, and related food products under a portfolio of owned heritage and challenger brands across the Nordic and Baltic markets, with selected expansion into additional markets. The company operates multiple production facilities and sells through grocery retail and food service channels.

Product overview

Orkla Snacks is a portfolio of strong local heritage snack, confectionery, and biscuit brands operating across the Nordic and Baltic countries. The company operates three main product categories: Snacks (approximately 4.4 BNOK/43% of revenue), Confectionery (approximately 4.7 BNOK/46% of revenue), and Biscuits (approximately 1.2 BNOK/12% of revenue). The portfolio consists of iconic brands including BUBS (Swedish candy), Smash! (Norwegian chocolate snack), Nidar (Norwegian confectionery), KiMs (Nordic potato chips), OLW (Swedish snacks including Cheez Doodles), Panda (Finnish licorice), Kalev (Estonian chocolate), Laima (Latvian confectionery), Taffel (Finnish chips), Sætre (Norwegian biscuits), and Göteborgs Kex (Swedish biscuits). These heritage brands date back as early as 1806 and hold strong #1 and #2 market positions across most markets. The company manufactures products across 13 factories in seven countries and employs approximately 3,000 people with annual turnover of approximately 10.3 billion NOK.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• BUBS: Candy brand known for chewy-meets-foamy texture and playful skull and oval designs, established in Sweden in 1992.
• KiMs
• OLW
• Nidar
• Sætre
• Panda
• Kalev
• Laima
• Taffel
• Göteborgs Kex
• Smash!
• Polly
• Selga
• Ādažu
• Staburadze
• Nói Síríus

Products and services

• BUBS
• Smash!
• Nidar
• KiMs
• OLW
• Panda
• Kalev
• Laima
• Taffel
• Sætre
• Göteborgs Kex
• Selga
• Ādažu
• Staburadze
• Nóa Síríus
• Polly

Quantifiable outcome

• Smash! achieved over 20% growth last year
• +2 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Mount Franklin FoodscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 January 2025Strategic partnership for BUBS U.S. market launch. Mount Franklin Foods is an American company with solid market knowledge, strong production expertise, and well-established distribution capabilities. The partnership aims to achieve national reach with leading retail chains in the U.S.
• International Cocoa Initiative (ICI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGlobal partnership to help combat child labour and forced labour in cocoa production. ICI is a non-profit organization bringing together civil society, certifiers, cocoa and chocolate industry, international institutions, and governments to address labour challenges in the cocoa sector.

Scale indicators14 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Cloetta AB: Cloetta is a Swedish-headquartered confectionery and snacks company operating across the Nordics with brands like Kexchoklad, Plopp, and Center, making it the most direct comparable to Orkla Snacks' Swedish and Finnish confectionery operations including BUBS and Panda.
• Fazer Group: Fazer is a Finnish family-owned confectionery and bakery group operating in the Nordics, Baltics, and beyond with the iconic Fazer Blue chocolate and Karl Fazer brands, directly overlapping with Orkla Snacks' Panda, Kalev, and Laima confectionery footprint in Finland and the Baltics.
• Lotus Bakeries: Lotus Bakeries is a Belgian biscuits and sweet-snacks company best known for Biscoff, directly comparable to Orkla Snacks' Sætre and Göteborgs Kex biscuit brands in terms of product format, premium heritage positioning, and European specialty distribution.
• Haribo GmbH & Co. KG: Haribo is a German-headquartered gummy and fruit confectionery company that is the global benchmark in foamy/gummy candy, the exact format BUBS competes in and that went viral on TikTok with #swedishcandy.
• Toms Chokolade (Toms Gruppen): Toms is a Danish chocolate and sugar confectionery company with strong heritage in the Nordics, directly competing with Orkla Snacks' Nidar chocolate lines in Denmark and Norway within similar retail and impulse-purchase channels.

Broad incumbents

• Mondelez International: Mondelez is the global snacks and chocolate major behind Cadbury, Oreo, Toblerone, and Marabou, operating broadly across biscuits and confectionery categories that overlap with Orkla Snacks' Sætre, Göteborgs Kex, and Smash! categories at a much larger global scale.
• Mars, Incorporated: Mars is a global confectionery and food incumbent (Mars, Snickers, M&M's, Twix, Wrigley) operating at massive scale in the same candy and savory-snack categories that compete with Orkla Snacks' BUBS U.S. launch and broader Smash!/Nidar portfolios.
• Hershey Company: Hershey is a leading U.S. confectionery incumbent and will be a direct competitor to BUBS now that Orkla Snacks has launched BUBS into the U.S. via Target, Walmart, Kroger, Albertsons and CVS, sharing the U.S. candy shelf with established Hershey, Reese's and SkinnyPop ranges.
• Ferrero Group: Ferrero is a global confectionery incumbent with brands like Kinder, Nutella, Tic Tac, and Ferrero Rocher competing across the same chocolate and sugar-confectionery aisles as Orkla Snacks' Nidar, Panda, and Laima brands.
• Nestlé S.A. Nestlé is the world's largest food and beverage company with extensive confectionery and biscuit operations (KitKat, Smarties, Quality Street) competing broadly in the same aisles as Orkla Snacks across European and U.S. markets.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/orkla-snacks

Compliance10 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries6 records

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 Orkla Snacks