Struggling Premier Foods has pulled its range of Loyd Grossman pizzas from Sainsbury’s after failing to secure strong enough off-promotion sales.

Premier said the decision to withdraw the products which were delisted in June, according to BrandView data was a result of continual deep discounting in the pizza market. “The range sold well when on deal but suffered when others were on promotion and it wasn’t,” explained a Premier spokeswoman. “It was unsustainable for the brand to continuously support the range on promotion.”

The Loyd Grossman brand made its chilled food debut at the end of 2009 with the three-strong pizza range. The pizzas, available in Napoli salami, classic margherita and chicken arrabiata, carried a £3.99 rsp but initially launched at a promotional £2 price to encourage trial.

The problem was that they were neither fish nor fowl, said Pete Dewar, founding partner of branding agency The Clearing, and could not compete with the restaurant authenticity of Pizza Express pizzas or the price and range of own-label.

“Loyd Grossman may have performed in sauces but, while pizzas seemed like a natural extension, they are all about the headline toppings,” he added. “Even at the premium end of own label, the ingredients are a lot more ‘foodie’ than those used in these pizzas.”

In June, Premier revamped its Loyd Grossman For One range as sales had failed to hit target. Earlier this year, Tesco temporarily delisted a quarter of Premier’s branded products in a pricing row.

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