Speakers

Stu Macdonald is properly into Peanut Butter. Peanut butter isn’t just a business for Stu, he is passionate about where it’s from, where it is going, and the incredible people involved along the way. He is fascinated with the craft element of producing quality product, which he believes is aligned with the sourcing ethos of coffee, chocolate, and wine with a focus on the terroir, roasts, and batch production.

Stu founded ManiLife off the back of a year stint in Argentina where he was working for a peanut butter social enterprise. He subsequently met the people behind the estate that ManiLife still source from today and fell in love with them. After importing the first ton of peanuts, he had a brief spell as an accountant at PwC before finally packing it in and going full-time peanut butter in October 2016.

Today, ManiLife has over 10,000 UK distribution points and has seen phenomenal growth. While the first ton took six months to sell, ManiLife now produces over 65 tons per month. Though volumes have increased substantially, the brand stays true to its craft ethos, making all products in batches - over 2,000 small batches a month to be precise!