LDC Top 50 2026
Michael Hall MBE
Founder and CEO
Forest Feast
Michael Hall founded a dried fruit and nut packing company in 1991, straight out of university. By 1996, he had created Forest Feast in Northern Ireland.
“Back then, most people only used dried fruit and nuts for baking,” he says. “We sourced premium products and created our category.” His relentless focus on quality has won the business, which creates and sells dried fruit snacks, trail mixes and chocolate-covered fruits and nuts, over 20 Great Taste awards and a turnover that will top £50 million this year. Michael is expanding Forest Feast’s footprint in over 30 countries and has a strong pipeline of products responding to social media trends and international tastes.
We created a category by turning commodities into distinctive, added-value snacks. Now we’re on track to reach £100 million by 2030.”
Q&A
How have you achieved scale?
My father had his own food business so it’s in my blood. My brother and I worked in his factory as kids during the school holidays. Now, I’ve got 30 years’ experience sourcing quality ingredients. We roast our own nuts, have our own chocolate plant and our packaging has been carefully designed to reflect permissible indulgence. That’s the magic that’s helped us create this category.
How do you give back?
Our sourcing creates value for the communities behind the ingredients. We buy our chocolate through Cacao-Trace, which supports local farming communities, ensuring they get a price premium as well as contributing to projects such as new schools, solar wells and maternity services. Our work with the Preda Foundation in the Philippines takes children off the streets and gives them education and a better life. We’re also a great supporter of grassroots sport here in Northern Ireland, sponsoring initiatives like the Forest Feast Aquasprint junior swimming league for 20 years.
Tell me about a tough time.
In 1997 I persuaded my wife Lorraine to throw in the towel with her salaried job, car and pension and work for almost nothing with me. In the early days, it was relentless. She went into labour with our eldest on a site visit to a supermarket and, after my daughter was born, it wasn’t long before she had to get back to work. We built the business together but, in 2014, she got breast cancer. She passed away in 2017 when our kids were just 19 and 15. I had to keep the business going. Today, our daughter is working in our marketing department and is a chip off the old block, just like her mother. Our son is doing a master’s in AI and digital transformation and has helped us with projects. It’s a proper family business and her legacy.
