Upmarket condiments brand Stokes is moving into cooking sauces.
It has created a range of ‘Easy’ sauces which has debuted with four flavours: Japanese-Style Katsu Curry, Continental Red Wine & Peppercorn, Mexican-Inspired Salsa Roja and Mediterranean Pomodoro (rsp: £2.45-£2.65/175g).
Each jar features a three-step recipe on the label and a web link to further recipes and ideas created by Stokes resident chef Andy Weatherill.
The sauces would provide consumers with an “easy way to enjoy restaurant-quality meals at home, using simple ingredients lifted with the wonderfully authentic flavours, aromas, and culinary twists from across the globe”, said the brand.
They launched via the brand’s website earlier this month and will roll into Ocado over the coming weeks.
Stokes MD & founder Rick Sheepshanks said home cooking was “one of the few positive trends to grow from recent adversities, and one we’re sure is here to stay”.
Easy was created “to help budding home chefs develop simple skills to create extraordinary worldly meals in their own kitchens”, he added.
It comes after a strong year for the brand, which grew value sales of its condiments by 23.1% on volumes up 20.5% in the 52 weeks to 11 September [NielsenIQ].
Stokes isn’t the only brand hoping to capitalise on the home cooking boom.
Heinz, for instance, this month unveiled a range of pasta sauces billed as showcasing “innovative, exploratory flavours”.
According to Kantar, however, cooking sauce sales have now returned to levels similar to those seen before the pandemic: the market has shed 7.3% (£65.1m) of its value, with volumes down 6.4% – that’s 63.4 million fewer packs [Kantar 52 w/e 26 December 2021].
No comments yet