Tim Brooks Oct 7, 2026
Stay squdgy – a clear strategy for sustainable success
Soreen has been baked in Manchester since the late 1930s, when a Danish entrepreneur (John Rahbek Sorensen) started selling his sticky malt loaf from a bakery in Beswick. The recipe: dense, dark, squidgy, has reportedly never changed. The factory is now in Trafford Park and produces around 300,000 loaves a day.
Soreen has invested heavily in extending beyond the original loaf, into lunchbox loaves for children, soft-baked Lift Bars for on-the-go snacking, mini loaves for seasonal occasions, and a growing range of flavours including banana, chocolate and, more recently, sticky toffee. These all position Soreen as a genuinely better-for-you snack: lower in fat than many alternatives, a source of iron, made with wholemeal flour.
In January 2026, Soreen partnered with Susie Dent (Countdown's resident word expert) to launch Wordplay. Limited-edition packs of five-count Lunchbox Loaves now include a card insert featuring new words, definitions and short stories designed to spark conversations between parents and children.
The idea came from research commissioned by Soreen: seven in ten adults believe children today use fewer words than previous generations, with 67% saying children struggle to express themselves confidently. Three-quarters of adults attributed shrinking vocabularies to increased screen time. The inserts rolled out across 1.5 million packs.
This is personal. Brands have a unique ability to be evocative. This can be genuinely emotional. Product experiences, especially a childhood one, can get etched into our sub-conscious but it is uncanny how the brand behind it magnifies this memory exponentially. It is a trigger. Cleverer people have explained the deep psychology of this, but it is a core component of mental availability. Yes, brands must regularly remind people they exist, but some brands have a secret superpower to unlock a positive (or occasionally a negative) emotional connection in uniquely personal ways.
Soreen Malt Loaf is like this for me. A slice of it (with butter) was the ultimate comfort food of my early years. It takes me to a positive world full of childhood memories. Only a brand can do this. I still buy it because it will nudge me to this warm place. Obviously, Soreen cannot rely on my occasional bouts of nostalgia, so like all good brands it moves on.
The bright packaging is clean and simple. It keeps the brand fun and fresh. The innovation has delivered great occasions (lunch box portion sizes) and the addition of healthy flavour variants (blueberry, banana, apple) and even some indulgence (toffee & apple). But everything is still true to the brand.
The benefit – tasty (healthy) energy is a great way to keep a c.90-year-old brand relevant. We love the way its marketing uses this to balance meeting the needs of adults – especially parents - AND kids without compromise. The ad is nice, fun and simple. It delivers the energy/emotional pick me up benefit whilst magnifying the distinctive brand asset – the squidgy-ness. This isn’t just #whatbrandsdo, it is #whatONLYbrandsdo.
Great work Soreen... ... I will now need to go and buy a loaf.
