Delightful Food Group

Co-Founder & CEO

March Foods Ltd

IBC Simply

Director

General Manager

Head of Marketing and Communications

Barney & Ben (Dinoshakes)

Managing Director

The Kent Theatre Company

Owner

🌟 I’m Ricky, the proud Co-Founder and CEO of the Delightful Food Group, founded in December 2023 as part of a strategic growth initiative.

🚀 Delightful Food Group is at the forefront of the food and drinks industry, bringing together the strengths of two well-established businesses. Our journey includes a pivotal strategic move, with IBC Simply, a renowned player in shaking up the beverage landscape for over 25 years, acquiring March Foods.

☕ IBC Simply (Italian Beverage Company) are manufacturers and suppliers of food and beverage products all around the world. Our range of Simply products are renowned for their quality and taste.

🌐 March Foods stands out as one of the UK’s leading co-packing and co-manufacturing entities, specializing in working with esteemed household names. They uniquely offer co-packing and co-manufacturing services anonymously, providing bespoke tailored bays to meet client's specific requirements.

💡 The synergy between IBC Simply and March Foods has been a driving force in our success, propelling both businesses to new heights. At Delightful Food Group, we pride ourselves on providing end-to-end expertise in innovation, product development, production, and packing.

🤝 Our dedicated teams are here to collaborate with you, leveraging insights and knowledge to bring your products to market successfully. Whether it's identifying the latest trends, presenting innovative ideas, or meticulously co-manufacturing and co-packing your products to exact specifications, we are committed to your success.

On Monday, I won Scale-Up Entrepreneur of the Year at the The Allica Bank Great British Entrepreneur Awards, which still feels a little bit surreal.

I’ve never chased awards, and to be honest, it’s not something I ever really expected. But looking back at what we’ve built this year as a group… it truly has been unbelievable.

When I walked into the IBC Simply office 13 years ago, I had zero intention of staying in the industry long-term. I came in to help out for a bit, and somehow that turned into scaling IBC, building the Delightful Food Group, and growing alongside March Foods Ltd

It’s been messy at times and definitely not a straight line, but we’ve learnt an insane amount along the way, and I’ve loved every second of it.

None of it (genuinely none of it) would have been possible without the people inside this group who show up every day, take ownership, and care about what we’re building, along with the people around me in my life who support me through thick and thin.

I can’t thank you all enough. There are far too many of you to tag, but you know exactly who you are. We wouldn’t be anywhere near this point without you.

And thank you as well to Frankie James for an amazing evening and all the work that goes into bringing the awards to life.

Big end to the year ahead for us at Delightful Food Group, and I’m excited to see where this momentum takes us next!

Ricky Flax

CEO of Delightful Food Group, IBC Simply & March Foods | Creating, Manufacturing, and Supplying “Best in Class” products to the Food and Drink Industry

On Friday, IBC Simply was named Silver Winner at the SME National Business Awards!

Couldn’t be prouder of the team right now.

Up against 18 incredible Regional winners from across the UK, this one really is a testament to the hard work, commitment and consistency of every single person in the business.

Massive thank you to everyone who’s played a part in getting us here. All the recognition we’ve received this year belongs to every single one of you.

We’ve had a great weekend celebrating this one, but now we’re straight back to doing what we do best. 

Huge well done, team 👏

SME Business Awards #SMENationals

When I first joined dad in the business, I didn’t have a grand vision to become CEO let alone create and build a food group.

I just came in to help build out their brand while I worked on getting my own business off the ground.

But somewhere along the way, I started learning the ropes, understanding the industry a bit better, and seeing where I could add some value.

After a short while, I was hooked.

Over the last few years, we’ve grown IBC Simply by more than 800%, acquired March Foods Ltd, and built the Delightful Food Group to bring it all together.

None of that happened because of one or two people either. It’s all down to every single person in this group, their mindset, their drive, and their ability to keep moving forward when things don’t go to plan.

Because it hasn’t been perfect

Things have gone wrong, markets have shifted, and plans have had to change sometimes overnight.

The real test has always been what we do after that.

For me, everything comes back to tenacity…

– Gaining the ability to learn fast
– Moving forward despite things going wrong
– Making sure we improve every single time.

Today, we’ve got a team of over 200 brilliant people across multiple sites who keep innovating, keep listening, and keep doing right by our customers.

Honestly, I couldn’t be more proud of how far we’ve come and how we’ve done it.

🚨 We Just Changed the Game 🚨

This one’s a big moment for us.
Not just another launch, but something genuinely new for the industry.

Earlier this year, we set out to solve a simple problem:

How can cafés and coffee shops keep drinks menus fresh and creative, without adding endless SKUs or slowing service?

The answer became SIMPLY Twist, our latest innovation and the first range of its kind.

Just a 4ml pump, around 6p per serve, and suddenly a latte, cocktail or cooler has a new identity, all while having barely any impact on the nutritional values.

🌶️ Chilli – tapping into the “swicy” sweet-meets-spicy trend.
Works with classics like chocolate and gingerbread but really comes into its own when paired with tropical fruit flavours like mango and pineapple - perfect alongside Simply Coolers.

🍪Cookie – buttery, baked and nostalgic.
It delivers buttery, baked notes and works seamlessly with raspberry, pistachio, white chocolate and nutty profiles like pecan.

🧂Salted – the ultimate savoury-sweet balance
It pairs beautifully with pistachio, honeycomb, chocolate, and chilli and taps into the Vietnamese coffee and cold foam trend.

🔥Toasted – rich, warm, and perfect for autumn menus.
Elevates classic nutty profiles like hazelnut, almond and pistachio, while enhancing vanilla and popcorn-based drinks with a warm, nostalgic edge

They’re bold, flexible and built to layer flavour, not add clutter. Perfect for menus that need to stand out all year, not just seasonally.

Kate Ailey sparked the idea, Yasmin P. developed it, Lydia Abbott brought it to life, and the team have delivered something that really changes the game for beverage menus.

I can’t wait to see what the industry does with it.

For more info on the SIMPLY Twist range, head to our website (Link in the comments below)

It’s always great to see the IBC Simply brand show up in new and unexpected places…

We were given the opportunity to do a gifted collaboration with Rimmel London for their Cappuccino Collection launch and it was a brilliant case of pairing flavour with style and introducing SIMPLY to a whole new audience.

For us, this wasn’t just about exposure (though the visibility has been brilliant, with influencers reaching audiences in the millions). It was more about alignment, and partnering with an established consumer brand that shares the same passion for creativity, quality and attention to detail.

As we continue to grow, collaborations like this will play a big part in taking IBC Simply into wider lifestyle spaces.

Huge well done to the team for driving this forward and continuing to push the boundaries of where the brand can go.

Excited to see what doors this opens next!

Images courtesy of Elle James, Harriet Gabriel, Chloe Ramsden and Emily May Clark on Instagram

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