The creators of handmade raw snacks have scooped a regional award for their entrepreneurial flair.

Husband and wife team Ian and Sophie Simmonds, of Glemsford, near Sudbury, were crowned cream of the crop at The One competition 2013, which aims to discover East Anglia’s best business talent.

They created Raw Nibbles, which makes raw chocolate bars, cakes and other snacks which are handmade to retain the natural goodness from the ingredients. The firm uses as few ingredients as possible in all of their recipes and doesn’t use vegetable fats and animal products. All of the products are free from dairy, wheat, gluten, egg, soya and beet or cane sugar, and are suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

Their prize includes more than £30,000 worth of business support consisting of PR services from Voice Communications, design consultancy from Phelan Barker, website consultancy from Rubious, on-line marketing from Climbing Trees, accountancy advice and annual returns from LB Group, MyRuby call answering service for a year, leadership and management coaching package from Julie Clements and legal support from Ellison’s Solicitors.

Sophie said they were “totally gobsmacked and completely speechless” at winning the contest.

“We feel that this prize package will help us grow our business tenfold and the win came at such a crucial time for us,” she said. “We are so excited to get to work and introduce the wonders of raw food to the nation.”

The couple wanted to make a chocolate that was free from beet or cane sugar and artificial sweeteners. As a vegan, Sophie also wanted to find a way of enjoying dairy free chocolate so the couple started to research products which they could use.

They eventually came across raw chocolate made using a natural process and created using just three ingredients.

For more on The One, visit www.onecompetition.co.uk.