Pladis, a London-based snack company, recently announced the integration of the Godiva brand into its portfolio and the appointment of Steve Lesnard, formerly of Nike, The North Face and Sephora, as CEO.
It’s not really a change of ownership. Turkey-based Yildiz Holding acquired the luxury chocolatier in 2008 from Campbell Soup Co., and Yildiz created Pladis in 2016 as the holding company for a handful of acquired snack brands, many of them of British lineage. Pladis also is home to United Biscuits, Ülker and DeMet’s Candy Co.
“The integration of the Godiva brand brings additional scale and consumer excitement to the rapidly growing Pladis business in America and Greater China,” the parent company said. “It joins key brands Flipz and Turtles, which are both on significant growth journeys driven largely by innovation, winning market share. In fact, Turtles is on the cusp of becoming a $100m brand in America while Flipz has already broken this threshold at $125m for 2023.”
Pladis already had £3billion ($3.8 billion) in total annual net revenue prior to Godiva’s addition. The parent started the integration of Godiva in 2023; Lesnard’s appointment, effective May 1, appears to be the final piece.
Lesnard leaves Sephora, where he served as global chief brand officer and president of private label. He may be replacing Nurtac Ziyal Afridi, who was a longtime Godiva board member as well as chief strategy and growth officer for Yildiz Holding.
