Focus On Savoury Pastries and Meat Snacks: 18 November

Focus On Savoury Pastries and Meat Snacks by Natalie Brown (Natalie_brown@live.co.uk)

Publishing: 18 November

Advertising deadline: 7 November

Submissions deadline: 1 November

The Story

Brits might be eating less meat, but that doesn’t apply if the meat in question happens to be wrapped in pastry. Savoury pastries and meat snacks are in fine fettle, with the  nation having forked out an extra £3.5m on them in the past year. What’s driving the growth? And which retailers, brands and suppliers are cashing in? Who’s being left behind?  

Trends (this list is not exhaustive; we will investigate new angles as they arise): 

Meat snacks: The strong growth in meat snacks will be a key element of this story. We will investigate which brands and retailers are driving this growth, how these products are being promoted, priced and merchandised (the use of clip strips on the BWS aisle is of interest) and what’s next for the sector?

On-the-go: Another area of interest is how meat snack and savoury pastry brands are tapping into the on-the-go market. Are retailers dedicating more space to them in the on-the-go aisles/convenience stores? And are manufacturers bringing out more products aimed at this market? 

Retailers: How are different retailers approaching this category and what impact are their strategies having on their performance? We are particularly interested in how different retailers’ branded and own label ranges and approaches to merchandising, price, promotions vary. 

Brands v own label: Which brands and own label lines are making the most of Britain’s growing appetite for meat products? How are they using factors such as NPD, promotions advertising and marketing to win over shoppers? Are brands or own label winning the battle? Why? 

Price/promotions: This feature will also investigate how the price, promotional, marketing, advertising strategies of the category’s biggest players have evolved over the past year and how they will develop in the coming year to sustain growth or return brands to growth. Have meat snacking companies been investing heavily to drive growth in this sector? What about pie producers? 

Innovation: Key to this feature will be a discussion of the latest NPD from the category’s brands and own label players, large and small. The feature will explore the market trends that have inspired these innovations and weigh up which new launches are most likely to encourage new trends in the market. We will profile the most interesting launches to include 8 meat snacks, 4 pie innovations plus 4 savoury pastries in a separate innovation panel.