Propercorn founder Cassandra Stavrou explains how her snack brand went global without losing its heart

There’s barely a workspace in the UK without a bag of Propercorn poised for elevensies.

That’s because four million bags of the guilt-free snack are sold here every month, making Propercorn the UK’s bestselling gourmet popcorn brand.

It was former law graduate Cassandra Stavrou, then aged 25, who changed the face of office snacking from her kitchen 11 years ago, after quitting her ad agency job to create a healthy snack that could beat the munchies between meals.

And while her empire was – and still is – rapidly growing, Cassandra was determined to keep her strong company ethos at the heart of her business, no matter how big it became.

‘Structurally, there was this natural growth of the business,’ Cassandra tells Metro.co.uk. ‘But we have been determined that keep the values, culture and personality of the brand the same.

‘And I don’t think it has.’

Now, Cassandra and her co-founder Ryan Kohn run Propercorn – a certified B-corps business, balancing profit with purpose – with a team of 50 and the snack is a favourite in 15 countries.

Even now, the high-flying business owner still insists on having lunch with her team every single day and she’s implemented flexible working schemes that are founded on trusting her employees.

‘Sometimes it’s really easy to define everything and make it formal in business but we have the opposite approach.

‘There’s no formalized working hours, or expectation to work from the office at Propercorn, plus we have an unlimited holiday policy,’ Cassandra says.

‘But these aren’t perks or benefit, it’s all founded on trust and the expectation that you do what you have to do to produce your best standard of work, greatest ideas and optimal performance.

‘It’s complete empowerment to make the right decisions to enable you to deliver the best in your job.’

Cassandra’s team has been able to scale Propercorn by leveraging Dropbox Business to centralise and manage workflows.

With space for sharing and collaboration, the tool has become what Propercorn considers a ‘vital’ part of their everyday office operations, whether remote, or together.

Cassandra says: ‘We are still growing really quickly. So Dropbox Business has become a really integral part of creating simple systems and efficient processes that we use day-to-day.

‘On a practical level, assets like pictures and product information are accessible and easy to find, which saves us time that we could be using elsewhere on creative thinking and making progress.’

‘Without Dropbox, our processes would be very linear, like passing a baton or standing in a queue –our team has been able to grow without limits.’

‘But no good team is linear because one thought can inform someone else’s thinking. If your process gets backed up, you’re only benefitting from the people in front of you.’

As they continue to excel at a rapid pace, 2019 also marks the advent of Proper, the evolution of a new overarching snack brand that launches in new categories and new global markets later this year.

‘This is a really big year for us,’ says Cassandra. ‘To prove that we can expand and go truly global, but also to do it in our own way.’

And even with a huge challenge on her hands, Cassandra is ‘loving’ being an entrepreneur ‘more than ever’.

‘I’m more engaged and excited than I ever have been. It’s surprised me because I’m quite a long way down the journey, but this really feels like just the beginning!’