McVitie's Cake Company is launching a range of muffins and flapjacks under the McVitie's To Go name in March in the first of a series of initiatives to exploit the booming eat now' snack cake sector. The seven strong range encompasses established brand names including Jaffa Cakes and Go Ahead! The company leads the £70m cake bar market with a 45% share [Information Resources] and sees the eat now' sector as the biggest growth opportunity for cake. Cake takes the biggest share of the snacking market, according to TN Sofres Superpanel, but is dominated by the eat later' sector. It claims the cake bar market will be worth £100m by 2003 and aims to double snack cakes' share of this from 20% to 40%. Senior brand marketing manager Will Ursell admitted there was no specific marketing support behind the launch of McVitie's To Go. "But we are confident heavyweight advertising behind the three parent brands will boost awareness," he said. McVitie's Cake Company is part of United Biscuits and produces McVitie's, Jaffa Cakes and Go Ahead! cakes. It also has the licence for Mars' Galaxy and Milky Way cakes. Rsps: McVitie's and Go Ahead! muffins 69p; Jaffa Cakes muffins 79p; McVitie's flapjacks 59p. {{P&P }}

Topics