The UK’s number one plastic-free chewing gum brand, Milliways, has appointed former Wrigley category lead, Andrew Bradshaw, as sales director to supercharge its UK and international growth ambitions.
Bradshaw brings over 18-years’ experience to the business. Having joined Wrigley in 2006 he spent 13 years in sales and category leadership roles before taking a lead in the sales function integration of Wrigley into Mars Wrigley Confectionary. Further commercial roles at Andros and as Sales Director at Dole Packaged Foods Europe bring a wider perspective and experience to Milliways.
As Milliways sales director, Andrew has set his sights on scaling and growing both the brand and the category, recognising the triple win that Milliways provides for consumers, the category and the environment. By giving chewers choice without compromise, Bradshaw hopes to bring new or lapsed users back into the category.
Milliways plant-based and plastic-free chewing gum exploded onto the scene in 2021 as a biodegradable challenger brand following CEO Tom Raviv’s discovery that conventional gum is made from single-use plastic and other artificial ingredients, such as aspartame.
Since then, Milliways has been on a steep upward trajectory and is the leading plant-based chewing gum brand in the UK, growing to UK’s third largest chewing gum company after Wrigley and Perfetti Van Mel. In the past year, the brand has won retail listings in Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Ocado, Pret and Costa amongst others. Milliways’ has grown its retail footprint to over 6,500 stores nationwide.
Andrew Bradshaw said: “I am thrilled to be joining Tom and the Milliways team as we accelerate from scale-up to major player. There is a huge amount of expandability in the market and Milliways is perfectly positioned to give increasingly environmentally conscious consumers a great fresh taste AND plastic-free chew without having to compromise on quality.”
Milliways CEO, Tom Raviv, said: “We’re incredibly excited to welcome Andrew to our team. His arrival marks another major leap forward for Milliways, and his knowledge, experience and passion will be instrumental as we build the future of our industry. Throughout our journey Milliways has been shaped by our team and the people around us, and we’re delighted that Andrew will play a leading role in the next stage of our growth.”
