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Who: HJ Heinz & Co

What: Rich Beef Broth with Smokey Paprika

Where: Ambient soups

When: Launched August 2014

How much: £1.19/400g

Why: Heinz’s Black Label soup range introduces new flavour combinations without impacting on the more established variants. The range - which has a 30p premium over the rsp of standard Heinz - was expanded this summer with new flavours including lentil soup with Indian spices and the beef broth with paprika tested here.

Consumer verdict: Black livery described by some of our respondents as bold, plus the trusted Heinz branding, contributed to high pre-trial interest. This was not maintained after sampling, with taste and texture attracting criticism. For some the paprika was overpowering and the aftertaste bitter, while others commented on the ‘slimy, soft and soggy’ texture. A quarter of testers said they would never buy, though the overall score was slightly above the category average. Some thought there were better, more affordable alternatives and those who said they would buy felt it would be only an occasional purchase.

Pre-trial purchase: 42%

Post-trial purchase: 37%

Better than what’s out there: 35%

New and different: 77%

Overall score: 36/50 

What is Fast Foodfax?

It is a subscriber service that has been running for more than 30 years, offering consumer assessments of new products and allowing comparisons with more than 17,000 products from our database. It is objective, impartial and totally independent, and each product is assessed using original consumer feedback from respondents across the UK. See here for further information.

Fast Foodfax is prepared by Cambridge Market Research , which works closely with The Grocer magazine on a variety of projects including the consumer judging element of the The Grocer’s Own-label Food & Drink Awards and New Product Awards. 

Tel. 01223 492 050 Email: Info@CambridgeMR.com

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