Growing consumer demand for hot food that can be eaten on the move is opening up new profit opportunities for micro snacks stockists.
“Consumers of all ages are now looking to eat hot, easy to prepare snacks when they’re out and about,” says John Armstrong, Marketing Director of Kepak Convenience Foods, the UK’s leading supplier of micro snacks.
“Shoppers are snacking more throughout the day and micro snacks such as marketleading Rustlers enable retailers to offer consumers quick, hot, tasty food that, with simple cooking solutions, can be heated on the premises.”
For wholesalers looking to maximise growing demand for hot food to go products, Kepak is accelerating the growth of the £120 million*1 microsnacking market with heavyweight support for Rustlers Super 6 – Rustlers top-selling SKUs all pricemarked at £1.99.
The Rustlers Super 6 range includes the £25 million Rustlers Quarter Pounder, already bought by 2 million households. It also includes the Rustlers BBQ Rib, the UK’s second best-selling micro-snack and Rustlers Chicken Sandwich, a healthier option popular with women.
Completing the line-up are the Rustlers Deluxe (Bacon Cheeseburger), the Rustlers Southern Fried Chicken Hot Sub, which has brought the mass market Subway format into micro-snacking, and the Rustlers Hot Panini Pepperoni, which taps into lunch on-the-go.
Armstrong adds that it’s important for wholesalers to stock the key brands that are sought by young adults, and that retailers will be looking for. Rustlers’ core consumers are 16-34 year olds – perfect for stores with a large young adult population nearby.
This year Kepak broadened the appeal of Rustlers, with the launch of two great-tasting panini products.
The new panini lines are Chicken & Pesto (flame grilled chicken with mozzarella and a pesto mayonnaise) and Pepperoni (slices of pepperoni with mozzarella and a tomato and herb sauce).
Both products feature an rrp of £2.29, merchandised in outers of 4.
Kepak Marketing Director John Armstrong says panini products are now ‘mainstream’ and so widely available in foodservice that introducing panini to Rustlers – and driving the growth of panini in retail – was a ‘natural next step’.
*1 IRI Total Market 52 & 12 w/e 31st Jan 2015
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