Heck has responded to the growing cost of living crisis with a new, standalone value tier brand called the Yorkshire Sausage Co.
The brainchild of Leeds-based single mum Elisia Proctor – a member of the Keeble family that owns the Heck business – the new brand’s pork sausages differ from Heck’s premium lineup due to their lower meat content (42%). This pitches them against more value-orientated products in own label and market-leading brand Richmond.
The sausages go on sale in Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons in September, and will retail at the £2 mark for a 410g pack. By comparison, a 400g pack of Heck 97% pork sausages normally retails at £3.
The sausages are gluten, dairy and soy-free, made using British pork and will be sold in a fully recyclable topseal tray made from card, rather than the plastic flow-wrap used by many value tier sausages, said Heck’s co-founder Andrew Keeble.
Citing the opportunities for the brand in the value tier, Keeble stressed the new brand was “not a Richmond copy” – a move made by several retailers.
However, he admitted Richmond was a “brand we respect” that operated in a “huge” market – an area the YSC brand would be targeting.
He said the packaging would give the brand “real shelf standout”. And despite having a lower meat content than standard Heck sausages, he insisted the NPD was “a great mainstream product, this is not a cheapo sausage”.
Heck has devoted a manufacturing line to the new brand and Keeble has set out hopes for it to be a £10m brand by its second year in operation.
Mum-of-two Proctor will front a PR, digital and tasting campaign for the new brand, which was also in discussion with other retailers over a wider distribution.
“I brought the idea to Andrew and Debbie (Keeble’s wife) as my children and many people don’t really like a meaty premium sausage, they prefer a smoother, yet still flavoursome sausage,” she said.
“Inflation is absolutely soaring, every parent is struggling, so this is a something shoppers can buy that has quality [but] without spending a fortune,” she added.
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