Unilever is rolling Peperami beyond the meat snack market for the first time with a chilled pizza range that it predicts will make £30m in three years.
The three-strong Peperami Pizzas range is rolling into Tesco now, followed by other retailers in October, in a seven-inch format (rsp: £1.99). It comes in Original, Spicy and BBQ variants.
Positioned as a convenient snack or light meal, rather than a rival to the likes of Pizza Express, the range is designed to be microwaved and promises the same crusty base as oven pizzas thanks to new packaging technology brought to the UK by Bakkavör, which produces the range under licence.
"The USP of the range is a unique, hi-tech microwavable disc with ridges, which the pizza sits on, and which draws moisture out of the pizza as it cooks," said Julie McCleave, Unilever commercial manager for licensing.
"Most consumers prefer to bake their pizza in the oven to achieve a crisp finish, but exactly the same result can now be achieved in the microwave," she added.
McCleave predicted the pizzas would generate £14m in first-year sales, growing to £30m in three years. "Now is a perfect time to enter the chilled pizza sector, which was up 5.7% to £509m in the last year, and it's a natural next step for the Peperami brand."
The pizzas, which can also be cooked in a conventional oven, will benefit from a £4m spend for the total Peperami brand this year, sales of which are up 7.9% to £43m [Kantar Worldpanel 52w/e 12 June].
The three-strong Peperami Pizzas range is rolling into Tesco now, followed by other retailers in October, in a seven-inch format (rsp: £1.99). It comes in Original, Spicy and BBQ variants.
Positioned as a convenient snack or light meal, rather than a rival to the likes of Pizza Express, the range is designed to be microwaved and promises the same crusty base as oven pizzas thanks to new packaging technology brought to the UK by Bakkavör, which produces the range under licence.
"The USP of the range is a unique, hi-tech microwavable disc with ridges, which the pizza sits on, and which draws moisture out of the pizza as it cooks," said Julie McCleave, Unilever commercial manager for licensing.
"Most consumers prefer to bake their pizza in the oven to achieve a crisp finish, but exactly the same result can now be achieved in the microwave," she added.
McCleave predicted the pizzas would generate £14m in first-year sales, growing to £30m in three years. "Now is a perfect time to enter the chilled pizza sector, which was up 5.7% to £509m in the last year, and it's a natural next step for the Peperami brand."
The pizzas, which can also be cooked in a conventional oven, will benefit from a £4m spend for the total Peperami brand this year, sales of which are up 7.9% to £43m [Kantar Worldpanel 52w/e 12 June].
No comments yet