TV star Jimmy Doherty has followed celebrity pal Jamie Oliver into the multiples with a new range of premium sausages.

The Jimmy’s Range branded classic pork sausages contain cracked black pepper and sea salt and have gone into 235 Tesco stores this month [rsp: £2.99 for six]. Sainsbury’s has also been approached as an ideal outlet for the line, which it is hoped will become a £1m brand.

The move represents Doherty’s first foray into the mainstream retail market. Although he launched a range of Jimmy’s Range condiments and beers earlier this year, they were restricted to being sold online and through Jimmy’s farm shop.

The sausages contain only natural ingredients and are made using pork from British free-range pigs. “We believe in the highest animal welfare standards,” said Doherty. “The pigs we use for our sausages are free to roam around in the open air.”

Doherty, who said he had “big ambitions for the range”, also revealed he was working on extending the brand into bacon and ready meals. Burgers and other sausage varieties are also understood to be in development.

The Jimmy’s launch is a coup for supplier Finnebrogue, which has made the brand a key element in its growth plans.

The Northern Irish company had a turnover of £4.5m last year, but expects to increase this to £12m by 2010 on the back of the growth of brands such as Jimmy’s, the Paul Rankin line and The Good Little Company.

It also scored a major victory last month when Marks & Spencer confirmed that it was switching the supply of its full premium sausage range to Finnebrogue from next March, tripling the amount the company supplies to the retailer in the process.

Finnebrogue is investing £1.1m over the next three months in upgrading its site to handle the increase in demand for its products, said commercial and technical manager Dominic Darby.

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