Sauces: Cooking: Top Products 2019

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PESTO

Source: Unsplash

The cooking sauce is back. Brits spent an extra £14.7m on the category this year, putting an end to years of continuous decline. And world flavours are to thank. “We’re seeing a migration towards Indian and Far Eastern sauce brands,” says Nielsen analyst Juliette de Nettancourt.

Examples abound. Asian brands Sharwood’s and Blue Dragon secured the two highest absolute value gains of £4.9m and £3.6m respectively. The Spice Tailor, Lee Kum Kee and Geeta’s all boasted double-digit percentage rises.

But as one area of the market rises, another one falls. “Italian cooking sauces are losing share as Asian sauces are growing,” says Nielsen’s de Nettancourt.

The market leader serves as proof. Dolmio shed £2.9m, the largest drop in the category. Fellow Italian players Napolina and Filippo Berio also lost sales. That shoppers are more confident creating their own Italian dishes from scratch than say, a Goan curry, must be a factor here.

There is an exception to this rule, however. “Italian bolognese, lasagne and pasta sauces as well as oven bakes have struggled, but pestos are still performing strongly,” explains Nettancourt. For proof, see the performance of Saclà. Sales of its range, which is predominantly made up of pesto, are up 8.3%.

Still, cuisines aren’t the only battleground in the cooking sauces arena. There is also a growing fight between brands and own label. Brands have gained £5.8m, but that’s entirely down to average price rises. Volumes have fallen 0.8%. Meanwhile, own label sauces secured an extra £8.9m, driven by a 4.2% increase in volume. That makes retail ranges responsible for just over 60% of growth in cooking sauces, despite being less than half the size of the branded market.

The increase in cheaper own label offerings means brands need to give shoppers a compelling reason to spend more. “It is vitally important for brands to offer a clear point of difference,” says Emma Eggleton, brand controller for Blue Dragon. “Shoppers are looking for some excitement and something new, and we’ve seen products offering unique flavours and formats winning this year.”

Indeed, Nielsen reports premium branded lines are growing. They are “swiping shoppers from mid-tier and value brands,” says de Nettancourt. The trend is evidenced in the likes of value brand Homepride, whose sales plummeted 11.5% this year. Mid-tier brands Old El Paso and Uncle Ben’s both suffered value and volume declines.

So, it seems in the world of cooking sauces, you need to be on one side of the fence: premium and exotic, or cheap and own label. Otherwise, you’re likely to wind up left on the shelf.

The Top Products

In association with nielsen

Top 20 Sauces: cooking
				£m	change (£m)	change (%)
			Total Category:	823.1	14.7	1.8
Total volume change:	0.90%		Total Own Label:	231.6	8.9	4.0

This year’s rank	Last year’s rank	Brand	Manufacturer	£m	change (£m)	change (%)
1	1	Dolmio	Mars	103.3	-2.9	-2.8
2	2	Old El Paso	General Mills	100.0	-0.8	-0.8
3	3	Pataks	ABF	61.7	-0.3	-0.5
4	4	Sharwoods	Premier Foods	60.4	4.9	8.8
5	6	Blue Dragon	ABF	50.8	3.6	7.6
6	5	Loyd Grossman	Premier Foods	49.7	1.8	3.7
7	8	Sacla	Sacla	23.7	1.8	8.3
8	9	Amoy	Kraft Heinz Co	22.7	1.2	5.5
9	7	Homepride	Premier Foods	20.7	-2.7	-11.5
10	10	Uncle Bens	Mars	18.2	-0.7	-3.6
11	13	Kikkoman	Kikkoman	9.4	0.8	8.7
12	11	Santa Maria	Santa Maria	8.4	-2.2	-20.9
13	12	Napolina	Princes Foods	8.1	-0.6	-7.2
14	14	The Spice Tailor	The Spice Tailor	7.5	0.9	13.5
15	16	Lee Kum Kee	Princes Foods	5.9	0.8	15.3
16	17	Chicken Tonight	Symingtons	4.7	0.1	2.1
17	15	Seeds Of Change	Mars	4.4	-1.0	-19.1
18	18	Thai Taste	Bespoke Foods	3.6	-0.2	-4.0
19	19	Kingfisher	Lovering Foods	3.6	0.2	6.3
20	21	Geetas	Geetas Foods	2.7	0.4	17.6

The Grocer’s Top Launch

ROSE HARISSA

Rose Harissa Pesto by WJFG

Belazu Ingredient Company’s Rose Harissa Pesto taps a trio of consumer trends. It’s premium. It’s spicy. And it has world food credentials. Launched in May, the Mediterranean-style sauce has a “distinct but not overpowering” heat from a blend of Belazu’s signature rose harissa paste, spices and sun-dried tomatoes. And it looks set for success, too: earlier this year, it was named champion of champions at The Grocer New Product Awards.