Hi guys, so great to meet you & I am very much looking forward to hearing about all things Nu

Hi there, it’s a delight to meet you as I know I’m a big fan of your band. Tell me what or who inspires you

Our biggest inspirations are Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado and clothing brand Patagonia.

Salgado planted millions of trees on his family farm and then founded the biggest reforestation initiative in Brazil. Patagonia inspires us because they started putting their purpose of saving the planet in front of any business goal before it was a hype.

What’s in a name? Why nu?

We wanted to reposition the role of companies in times of climate change and conscious capitalism – showing the ‘nu’ way of doing business nowadays. Quite simply, we make food for a ‘new’ world, and felt that including ‘nu’ in our company title would help us keep our mission clear – driving change for future generations that’s bigger than our products and not being afraid to do things differently.

You aim to plant 1 billion trees by 2030, with 10m already planted (one for every bar bought). That will be some achievement. Are you on track to meet this?

It certainly is an ambitious target; we know that. But we don’t do anything by halves at the nu company and wanted to challenge ourselves and set a significant target to strive for. We’ve planted almost 11 million trees to date (if you check out our website you can see the tree counter going up every day) and yes, we are confident we will hit our target.

Planting trees is important to us. That’s why, for every bar sold, we will plant a tree in partnership with Eden Reforestation Projects.

We’re chocolate with a conscience. Eden works with local communities in various countries to plant forests on a large scale, creating local jobs and protecting ecosystems. In doing so, we make a major contribution to mitigating climate change.

Which is your favourite flavour in your collection?

Now that’s a tricky one, as I love them all! Our best seller and the one I think we are most proud of is the raspberry crisp nucao, not least because it reminds me of summer!

By law, white chocolate can only be referred to as such if it contains no less than 14% milk solids. Therefore, our nucao raspberry crisp bars will be known as ‘white choc’, as you won’t be finding any dairy in our ingredients. However, they still have that creamy taste and that’s quite an achievement.

With nucao white, you can enjoy a milder treat without making compromises on your health or the environment. nucao white is packed with natural ingredients such as hemp seeds and tigernut, and sweetened with a pinch of coconut sugar.

I love that our bars are plastic free too. It’s like guilt-free chocolate on every level

100%. We are glad that you think so and we couldn’t agree more.

It is vital to us. It is our mission to make every beep at the checkout a signal for a healthier and greener world. We believe that consumption can and should have a positive impact on the planet.

Since day one, we have always been committed to sustainable packaging. Ours is 100% plastic-free, made from home compostable cellulose film, a thin cover of starch blend and paper. Our wrappers can also be put in home composting bins and we hope, in the future, organic waste bins, but the existing infrastructure won’t permit this. Where you don’t have home composting, you can dispose of the packaging in general waste, where it will be burnt; in this process it leaves a tiny bit of carbon but no toxic gases, so it’s still a better variant than regular packaging.

We are also part of the Circular Packaging Initiative – a collective of five companies ensuring more transparency around the disposal of compostable packaging and the potential of this. Since cellulose has the best degradation properties compared to other biodegradable plastics, including PLA, we have identified cellulose film as the best alternative to conventional plastic for us at the moment. Because our packaging is biobased as well as home compostable, it was certified with the ‘plastic free standard’ by ‘a plastic planet.’

All the cocoa beans and cocoa mass that we buy from our importer comes from the Apanosan farmers’ cooperative in Satipo, a region in Peru. Our single origin cocoa is not mixed with cocoa beans from other regions. We go out of our way to make sure the farmers receive a good price; 30% more pay for their cocoa beans than the global average price.

What do you say to those who say vegan chocolate isn’t tasty?

Like all vegan chocolate, nucao does taste slightly different to regular chocolate but feedback from people has been great; they love the taste! nucao is a great, healthier and ethical alternative to chocolate, and every bit as tasty. It’s made with cocoa beans and cocoa mass, and our nucao ‘L!KE MILK’ is creamy chocolate as you remember it, but with a clear conscience.

Choose from crunchy nougat and raspberry crisp nucao white, almond sea salt, creamy noisette and crisp and crunch – all available in Sainsbury’s.

Your background is in industrial engineering. What made you make the leap to nu?

We founded the nu company in 2016; three friends (Mathias, Christian and Thomas), who were all studying engineering at university together. We were in the uni library one day and one of us commented on how we wanted a snack but everything available was junk food.

The next thing we knew, we’d bought a DIY chocolate making kit and were practicing around the kitchen table, cooking up different recipes which satisfied our need for a snack that was vegan, organic, ethically-sourced and healthier than regular chocolate.

Between us, we suffered from some health issues growing up and turning to a plant-based diet has helped overcome those issues. We’ve never felt better.

Do you feel post-pandemic that people are more conscious of sustainability?

Without a doubt. The pandemic gave us all some time to reflect on what’s important to us.

More and more people are adopting a more ethically-aware diet. We want to know where our food comes from, to recycle packaging, what the carbon footprint of a product is and if the workers in the food chain were paid fairly, for example.

The vegan sector is one of the fastest-growing areas of the food industry right now – and for good reason. Eating a more plant-based diet is better for our planet. But that’s not to say our nucao bars are just for vegans; they are a great snack to grab and go if you are consciously trying to reduce the amount of animal products you consume, or if allergies mean you can’t eat dairy, for example.

What does a day in the life of nu look like?

We care about our colleagues, so while a busy, growing start-up, it’s important to us to make sure there is a good work/life balance and a great working environment is provided.

There are exciting times ahead for the brand, as we develop our existing products, try new flavours and ingredients, and continue to grow to meet the needs of our customers.

We operate a holacracy company model. What’s that, you ask? In its purest form it is an organisation run with a totally flat structure, with decentralised management and organisational governance, where its people form distinct, autonomous, teams to accomplish tasks and company goals. Simply put, you take full control and ownership of your area of responsibility and how you deliver.

We put the wellbeing of our people at the forefront of our company philosophy. At our head office in Germany, the team is served with a vegan, organic lunch every day and we also provide yoga & mindfulness classes.

We do things together too. Every year we get out and plant trees and play our part in our reforestation initiative.

We are also in the process of seeking a UK base and the same principles will be applied there.

nucao is available in five flavours varieties in Sainsbury’s, Holland & Barrett and Planet Organic, and online at www.the-nu-company.co.uk