The Mani Story
2014: STU (MANILIFE FOUNDER) MOVES TO ARGENTINA
2014: STU (MANILIFE FOUNDER) MOVES TO ARGENTINA
Attempting to escape a job in accountancy, Stu moves to Argentina and gets a job with a peanut butter social enterprise. Inspired by the different ways it can be used in cooking and just how delicious it was, he starts making and selling peanut butter in the local community.
DEVELOPING A PASSION
FOR PEANUT BUTTER
DEVELOPING A PASSION
FOR PEANUT BUTTER
Much to his dismay, Argentines aren’t as obsessed with peanut butter as we are here in the UK. Stu sells very little. However, using his oven and a small blender in his mate's kitchen, Stu continues to experiment with recipes and flavours. The first peanut butter jar is created, with a somewhat egocentric brand name!
2015: MEETING THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE MANI
2015: MEETING THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE MANI
Stu then tracks down the family behind the peanut estate that we still source from to this day. They hit it off and it just so happens they farm the best peanuts on the planet! It is from this relationship that ManiLife is born.
A COMPLETE DISASTER.
A COMPLETE DISASTER.
Stu moves back to the UK with an ambition to start the world's first provenance led peanut butter brand. He imports a tonne of peanuts. The day they arrive his manufacturing partner pulls out, leaving him with a literal tonne of peanuts in 25kg bags in his bedroom.
AN UNLIKELY PEANUT BUTTER VENTURE
AN UNLIKELY PEANUT BUTTER VENTURE
Stu turns to his friends for help. That summer, 45 of them come together. In an old rugby club kitchen in Raynes Park, they make 4,000 jars of peanut butter. One jar at a time. Little do they know they are laying the foundations of a production method, never before seen in Peanut Butter, that would underpin ManiLIfe's quality in for years to come.
From ‘Stu’s peanut butter’ to ‘ManiLife’
From ‘Stu’s peanut butter’ to ‘ManiLife’
"Preferring life outside the limelight" Stu changes the name. Why ManiLife? Mani means peanut in Latin American Spanish. And 'Life' because we're all about making people happy. We spend the next two years shouting at google who seem to think the world of Peanut Butter is suddenly obsessed with a financial services firm called ManuLife. They eventually come round..
DISTRACTION LEADS TO DEEP ROAST
DISTRACTION LEADS TO DEEP ROAST
One day, Stu and friends get distracted. They over-roast a batch peanuts! They taste it and are blown away.
'Deep Roast' Peanut Butter is born. The first of its kind, it goes on to become the most awarded Peanut Butter in history. These are the first ever jars of Deep Roast, the most beautiful name we could coin for "burned"!
2017: GETTING LUCKY WITH GOUSTO
2017: GETTING LUCKY WITH GOUSTO
A year on the backburner and a very short lived career as an accountant follows, before luck (and LOVE) strikes.
A fledging recipe box brand called Gousto needs 9,000 mini pots at short notice. This motley crew of men & women come together to pack all 9,000 mini pots over two nights (the group includes a lady called Saz, who turns out to be the love of Stu’s life and is now his wife). At time of writing the Gousto and Saz relationship are still going strong.
2020: WAITROSE TAKES MANI MAINSTREAM
2020: WAITROSE TAKES MANI MAINSTREAM
In 2019, after perhaps millions of requests for ManiLife nationwide, a major supermarket finally takes a punt on proper peanut butter. It pays off and we’ve been friends ever since.
Our first Waitrose visit…just a stone's throw from the rugby club kitchen where it all began.
ALL GREAT TIMELINES MUST COME TO AN END…
ALL GREAT TIMELINES MUST COME TO AN END…
…But the Mani-story continues. We've grown from a small kitchen fuelled by friends to a 15,000 sq ft factory manned by an expert team. There is more to come but THANK YOU to all those who have got us here. Keep spreading the word. It makes a massive difference!