From PR man to plant-based pioneer: How one entrepreneur is investing in Britain's snacking revolution

Simon Goodman has an unusual claim to fame: he helped Cadbury’s launch its first Choc Ice in the early 1990s.

Three decades later, the former PR executive is back in frozen confectionery – but this time, he's ditching the dairy entirely.

His company, Over the Moo, makes bite-sized plant-based ice cream snacks designed for a Britain that no longer sits down for three meals a day. Instead, the average person now eats 2.5 meals a day instead of three, replaced by 5.6 snacking occasions, he explained.

Simon said:

"People aren't eating the way they used to. We lead these busy lives where we haven't got time to sit down and eat a proper meal. We're eating on the move, at speed."

The numbers back him up. Snacking is up around 30% since 2010, and 97% of UK adults snack every week, with an average weekly spend of nearly £12 per person, which adds up to an £11bn habit – and Simon believes ice cream is ripe for reinvention.

A lockdown epiphany

The idea came to him during COVID, when his fifth-generation East London-based family fashion business, Ludlow, which makes buttons and trimmings, ground to a halt.

"There was no shipping of clothing. We literally stopped," he recalled. Marooned on his sofa, Simon binge-watched Dragon's Den episodes from around the world.

One caught his eye: an Australian entrepreneur pitching a dairy-free ice cream brand called Over the Moo, which he’d actually tasted on a recent trip down under.

He said:

"I was stuffing it in my face in an Airbnb, and at the time I had no idea it was plant-based, it was just delicious.”

Six months later, he saw the same founder on Shark Tank. They connected, struck a trademark deal, and Simon pivoted the concept toward single-serve snacks rather than tubs.

"I always loved choc ices, but I always found them slightly too big," he said. "I'm a grazer. And portion control has become a thing, partly because of health, partly because of lifestyle."

A third of UK ice cream consumers are actively interested in bite-sized portions, the single biggest growth sector in the market, according to Mintel's 2024 data. Meanwhile, ice cream snacks are surging while take-home tubs are in decline – down around 10% year-on-year.

Simon’s Over the Moo bites only contain 30 calories, and so would work for the GLP-1 trend towards weight loss. He outsources manufacture to a factory in Italy (no UK manufacturer could produce them at the time) and exports them frozen across Europe and the Middle East. He's already stocked in Portuguese supermarkets, Spain, and an Ocado-style online grocer in the UAE called Kibsons. A UK supermarket listing is imminent.

But logistics have been a learning curve.

"Distribution is key," he said. "You need the middlemen."

He's now partnering with food service distributors like UK wholesaler Bidfood to get the product into schools, hospitals, theatres and restaurants. 

The GLP-1 factor

There's another trend Simon admits he hasn't explicitly marketed around but can't ignore. Between 4% and 7% of UK adults are either already using or actively considering GLP-1 weight loss medication, with an estimated 3.3 million UK adults expected to use weight-loss injections in 2026.

"Until recently, I hadn't connected what I'm doing with Ozempic or Mounjaro," he admitted. "GLP-1 users report prioritising smaller portions, lighter meals and higher protein options. People on those medications still crave treats, but they just can't eat much of them. A single spoonful of ice cream is disappointing. A bite-sized piece coated in dark chocolate? That's satisfying."

It's a potentially powerful PR angle, and one that aligns with shifting consumer priorities. Simon is already on top of those trends. Consumer data suggests purchase drivers include taste (85%), health (87%), convenience (78%), and portion control (78%). And crucially, 63% of snack purchases are still made on impulse.

Add to that the fact that 40% of UK adults are now flexitarian, and the dairy-free market is expanding rapidly.

"It's incredible how many people can't eat dairy," Simon said. "We don't service that at all, really, in the UK.

"But I want people to eat it because it's good, not because it's dairy-free."

Investment

Simon has so far invested around £200,000 of his own money and raised £300,000 from angel investors via SEIS and EIS. He's now raising another £250,000 to fund new production and scale distribution. 

With Britain snacking more than ever, hybrid working creating peak snack occasions at 10:30 am, 3:30 pm and 8:30 pm, and health-conscious consumers hunting for guilt-free indulgence, Simon's ice cream bites may have arrived at exactly the right moment.

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