Batchelors has been hit by supply issues, leaving Brits struggling to get hold of many of its key noodles and pasta SKUs.
Approximately 45 SKUs across the brand’s Super Noodles and Big Pasta ‘n’ Sauce brands were unavailable in the supermarkets online at the time of writing, according to research by The Grocer using Assosia data [12 w/e 13 September 2022].
The majority of affected SKUs were 90g packs of Super Noodles flavours including Bacon, BBQ Beef, Chicken, Chow Mein, Mild Curry and Southern Fried Chicken, and 85g Big Pasta ‘n’ Sauce pots in flavours such as Cheese & Broccoli, Mac ‘n’ Cheese Bacon, and Chicken & Mushroom.
A spokesman for the Batchelors brand said owner Premier Foods had “seen high levels of consumer demand over recent months” which had “resulted in us carrying lower levels of stock than usual”.
However, the brand was now “ramping up production to help our customers replenish stock levels”.
The news comes on the back of a period of significant growth for Premier Foods, which recently hailed a “strong start” to the year thanks to growing sales of noodles, sauces and stock cubes amid the burgeoning cost of living crisis.
Sales over the 13 weeks to 2 July were up 6% year on year, with branded sales 4.2% higher, it revealed. CEO Alex Whitehouse also said the business had successfully passed on cost price increases to retailers, a move that had made “good progress” in recovering input cost inflation.
Shoppers were “increasingly looking to cook tasty, affordable meals at home”, he added, which “was illustrated by the strong performance of Batchelors and [instant ramen] Nissin in the quarter”.
Premier made headlines earlier this year when it snapped up Indian meal kit brand The Spice Tailor for £44m, citing the brand as being “highly complementary” to its existing home cooking brands.
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