Rachel's Dairy has named Neil Brealey as its new sales director. Brealey joins the company from Dr Oetker where he was head of sales for chilled.
Prior to Dr Oetker, he worked at Arla Foods, St Ivel and Dairy Crest.
Brealey said that he was looking forward to a fresh challenge. "Rachel's is already a successful brand in growth," he said. "My challenge will be to grow sales further by encouraging more consumers to select Rachel's products and try them for the first time."
He joins the company at a time when shoppers are turning their back on the organic sector because of the recession. The Grocer revealed last month that sales of organic food and drink were down 1% in the 52 weeks to 25 January.
"It's true that for some consumers buying organic can become less important when purse strings tighten," Brealey said. "However, at Rachel's we are more than just organic. Because we are all about creating great-tasting, interesting products, we believe that we are well protected from the threat of consumer trade-down - and our sales confirm that consumers are still spending on the superior taste of Rachel's products."
According to The Grocer's 2008 Top Products Survey, Rachel's was the 14th-biggest dairy product in the yoghurt and desserts category, with sales up 13.7% to £26.2m in the year to year to 4 October.
Brealey replaces David Stacey who has gone into partnership to set up his own pie company called Grub (see bottom left).
Prior to Dr Oetker, he worked at Arla Foods, St Ivel and Dairy Crest.
Brealey said that he was looking forward to a fresh challenge. "Rachel's is already a successful brand in growth," he said. "My challenge will be to grow sales further by encouraging more consumers to select Rachel's products and try them for the first time."
He joins the company at a time when shoppers are turning their back on the organic sector because of the recession. The Grocer revealed last month that sales of organic food and drink were down 1% in the 52 weeks to 25 January.
"It's true that for some consumers buying organic can become less important when purse strings tighten," Brealey said. "However, at Rachel's we are more than just organic. Because we are all about creating great-tasting, interesting products, we believe that we are well protected from the threat of consumer trade-down - and our sales confirm that consumers are still spending on the superior taste of Rachel's products."
According to The Grocer's 2008 Top Products Survey, Rachel's was the 14th-biggest dairy product in the yoghurt and desserts category, with sales up 13.7% to £26.2m in the year to year to 4 October.
Brealey replaces David Stacey who has gone into partnership to set up his own pie company called Grub (see bottom left).
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