product update
savoury snacks
What’s your bag? MICHAEL LANE chomps his way through the latest NPD and news in the bagged snack sector Essex-based Fairfields Farm Crisps has launched a chorizo & sunblushed tomato flavour. Despite these apparently Continental flavours, the crisps are still in keeping with the producer’s ethos of East Anglian provenance as the chorizo used to season them is supplied by Suffolk Salami. Each 40g bag has an RRP of 85p. www.fairfieldsfarmcrisps.co.uk
The latest savoury addition to Joe & Seph’s long line-up of gourmet popcorn varieties is Irish cheddar & smoked paprika. It comes in 32g (RRP £1.65) and 80g pouches (RRP £2.99). www. joeandsephs. co.uk
Scottish crisp brand Mackie’s has launched a range of crisps for sharing as well as a variety aimed at health conscious consumers. The Ridge Cut range is available in four flavours – caramelised red onion, prawn cocktail, roast ham and sea salt & mixed peppercorns – in 150g sharing packs. Mackie’s has teamed up with Lo Salt to produce crisps, seasoned with the reduced sodium salt, in 40g packs. www.mackiescrisps.co.uk
The creators of the Salty Dog and Darling Spuds hand-cooked crisp brands have moved away from potatoes for their latest idea, Darling Corn. Judy and Dave Willis were inspired by a beach bar snack they encountered in Ibiza and decided that seasoned, toasted corn kernels could be a hit in the UK. The salt, barbecue, smoked and jalapeno & chilli varieties all come in 30g snacking bags and larger 150g sharing bags. www.darlingspuds.co.uk The Real Smoked Nut Company has upgraded the packaging for its hickory-smoked range. Hickory smoked almonds & cashews come in 180g and 100g packs (RRP £3.99 and £2.49) while it offers smoked almonds on their own and smoked cashews with black pepper in 100g packs (both RRP £2.49). All lines are available through Hider Foods. www.smokednuts.co.uk
Just Crisps’ jalapeno flavour was already available in 40g bags but now the producer, which fries all of its crisps in its sister firm Just Oil’s rapeseed oil, is releasing them in 150g share bags. The company says the move was down to demand from consumers at food shows. The larger size bags have an RRP of £1.85 and come in cases of 12 units (£12.64+VAT). www.justcrisps. co.uk
Hampshire’s Laverstoke Park Farm is famed for its buffalo products but it has also created a range of dried beef snacking lines. Both its classic and its peppered beef jerky is made on the farm in a dedicated factory using a traditional American marinade mix and smoked over apple wood. It also produces beef biltong bites and biltong fire sticks. All four of these ambient products now come in 50g pre-packs while the jerky is also available in 30g bags. The farm is currently working on new biltongs, including beetroot, hot chilli, tandoori, teriyaki and pork biltong. www.laverstokepark.co.uk
Tyrrells has extended its range of vegetable crisps with sweet potato & smoked chipotle chilli crisps in 40g and 150g packs (RRP £1.29 and £2.99 respectively). www.tyrrellscrisps.co.uk
Eighteen months since it gained a listing with Booths, Fiddler’s Lancashire Crisps has doubled that tally to six lines, stocked across the North West. The three flavours – sweet chilli, black pudding & mustard and sea salt & black pepper – were launched in 2013. All of its eight flavours are available in boxes of 24x40g and 12x150g bags which the company says offer retailers a 3040% margin. Following its recent launch, Simply Spuds, Fiddler’s is developing further flavours for later this year. www.fiddlerslancashirecrisps. co.uk
Pipers Crisps founder Alex Albone is adamant that his company won’t go in for fashionable or seasonal flavours. It hasn’t launched a flavour since late 2012 but says the Yorkshire Chorizo variety, flavoured with chorizo from Kirkby Malham farmer and butcher Chris Wildman, has proved popular. Rather than constant NPD, Albone is concentrating on customer service and, having set up two depots serving Greater London and the East Midlands, is set to open a third depot in Oxfordshire to supply more trade customers direct. www.piperscrisps.com
Burts Chips has improved the shelf life of its entire range by six weeks to 26 weeks thanks to the installation of gas flushing technology during a £2m update of its factory near Plymouth. The company has also installed fryers which have increased production capacity by 25% and will allow it to develop other snacks. www.burtschips.com
Greek producer Gaea now offers its 100% natural, sun ripened and hand-picked olives in liquidfree snacking pouches, designed to make eating on the move convenient and mess-free. Varieties, including pitted green olives with lemon & oregano, come in 65g re-sealable pouches with an RRP of £1.19. Gaea olives are available from RH Amar in the UK. www.rhamar.com
Leighton Brown’s latest artisan crisps are crafted from selected red and golden beetroots and then handseasoned with a hot horseradish and dill, for an “extra tangy flavour hit”. Despite only launching in November, the producer says these crisps have already gained popularity in its native London. Retailers can order them direct in cases of 35x40g bags.
Pistachio Provenance’s nuts are all grown in the orchards of Molos on the east coast of Greece by a small co-operative of independent farmers and roasted to a traditional Greek recipe. Based in Bradfordon-Avon, the company supplies the pistachios in two sizes of handtied bags: The Diddy (120g, trade £2.25) and The Deli (230g, £3.85).
www.leightonbrown.co.uk
www.pistachioprovenance.com
Vol.15 Issue 2 · March 2014
35