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By Paul Thomas McHenry · September 22, 2025 · Curated by George's Blog

From £12m profit to red ink in one year.

Grenade was once the UK’s fastest-growing protein bar.

Built by Alan and Juliet Barratt.

Sold to Mondelēz in 2021 for over two hundred million.

Now the numbers tell a different story.

Turnover down from ninety-three million to eighty million.

Profit of twelve million flipped into a loss.

UK sales down.

Rest of world cut in half.

The official line is “investment for future growth.”

But this looks like a familiar pattern.

Green & Black’s was the same.

It began as the organic pioneer.

Under Mondelēz the edge was dulled, the purpose diluted and the brand became just another bar on the shelf.

The pattern is clear, when scale increases, the agility disappears and the founders’ authenticity gets traded for corporate process.

Cadbury continues to grow inside Mondelēz, but challengers like Grenade and Green & Black’s lose the spark that made them matter.

The lesson for brand builders is simple.

Selling to a multinational is not just an exit. It is a handover of the cultural engine that built your brand in the first place.

Some corporates protect that DNA. Unfortunately, most don’t.