The Sweet Consultant, Andy Baxendale, joins the World Confectionery Conference

The Sweet Consultant, Andy Baxendale, joins the World Confectionery Conference

UK-based Sweetdreams Confectionery has named Andy Baxendale, known throughout the industry as the ‘Sweet Consultant’ as the company’s speaker for this year’s World Confectionery Conference taking place this October.

Serving as technical director for the company, he has gained decades of experience working across manufacturing within the industry, as well as engaging in a wealth of sector project work around the globe.

Andy, who is also an editorial board member of Confectionery Production, will be discussing the creation of Sweetdreams’ latest premium entrant into the market, Gozo chocolate, which has seen a significant investment into the company’s manufacturing capabilities. In addition, he will also speak about the journey of the business, as it has continually evolved its core Choc Nibbles confectionery line, to meet the ever-shifting product demands of the sector, and discussing some of the company’s shared industry challenges.

He joins the conference as we confirm a special extension to our Early Bird visitor entry rates, which will be a limited time offer until 5 August, so contact our Confectionery Production magazine sales manager Chris Meer at [email protected] to take advantage of a notable £30 off entry prices for our key industry event.

For his part, Andy joins an accomplished line-up of speakers across the event on 5 October, including Nestle, Caobisco European confectionery trade association, Cargill, Ferrero, Fairtrade and FMCG Gurus’ senior specialist Mike Hughes set to offer some valuable analysis on significant trends within the marketplace, and how the sector has remained resilient.

He said: “I am really looking forward to participating in the World Confectionery Conference this October. It will be fabulous to be able to share the successes, frustrations and lessons learned from the Sweetdreams journey over the last few years.”

In addition, the speaker line-up also feature’s York Cocoa House’s Sophie Jewett, who will be lending her considerable knowledge as a chocolatier to the event, as well as leading a special chocolate making activity day in neighbouring York on 6 October.

For the ingredients and equipment segments of the industry, we have with MacIntyre chocolate systems offering a keynote presentation on its well-established ranges, as well as contributions from Baker Perkins, Cama Packaging, GNT, Duyvis Wiener, Farmforce and Ghana Cocoa Board, plus the return of our Q&A session.

Editor Neill Barston said: “We are glad to welcome our colleague Andy Baxendale to our World Confectionery Conference for the 2023 edition. He has been a firm supporter of our events, since our first online version of the conference in 2021. So it is only fitting that he will form a valuable part of proceedings as we move forward with it in its physical form. The story of Sweetdreams is an especially inspiring one, with the business growing from relatively modest origins to see its manufacturing scale-up considerably, thanks to a strong creative vision at the heart of the business.”