Bacon and sausage brand The Jolly Hog has hailed a “record year” of trading fuelled by significant gains across the major mults and foodservice.
The Bristol-based brand, established by former professional rugby player Olly Kohn and his brothers Max and Josh in 2008, racked up £7.7m of retail sausage sales (including chicken) last year [Kantar 52 w/e 24 December 2023].
This was an “unprecedented” year-on-year rise of 35%, while sales in the 12 weeks to 24 December jumped by 51%, the brand said.
The sales increases made it the fastest-growing player in branded sausages and dwarfed the category’s overall value growth of 8%.
Branded market share rose from 3.4% to 4.3% over the course of the year and from 3.5% to 4.9% during the fourth quarter, it added.
Sales of branded pork sausages alone also saw similar strong growth, with the brand’s share up from 4.6% to 5.6% year on year (and from 4.6% to 6.1% in the final quarter), edging The Jolly Hog closer to Heck’s pork sausage share, which stood at 8.9%.
The Jolly Hog also grew its bacon value by 45%, despite the category as a whole only growing by 5%, proving it was “a force to be reckoned with in the meat aisle”, it claimed.
The brand attributed its performance to new retail listings at the likes of Morrisons and Waitrose, alongside growth at existing customers, meaning it now boasted Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Morrison’s, Tesco, Ocado, Co-op and Asda as stockists. The brand also expanded into new categories such as sandwiches.
“We have grown across the category and are now available in more supermarkets than ever before and we are outperforming our competitors and the market leaders,” said Olly Kohn.
“But ultimately, it all comes down to the consumers. They are demanding quality over quantity when making their meat choices and while the cost of living has seen consumers shop around for the best value, they are also upgrading items in their basket, such as bacon and sausages, to ensure they’re getting great tasting, high welfare produce.”
Kohn and his brothers had always been “obsessive about providing consumers with the absolute best tasting products that are always high welfare, so it is great to see that passion and dedication pay off”, he said.
The Jolly Hog has also seen significant growth within its restaurant offering following strategic partnerships with the likes of Honest Burgers, the Stonegate Pub Company and Punch Taverns, while also expanding its offering to travel institutions, including Cunard Cruises.
Last year also saw it partner with the Wimbledon tennis championships for the first time, supplying sausage rolls and scotch eggs to tennis fans at the tournament.
It comes as the brand has announced the expansion of its food-to-go offering with the a new Gochujang Pulled Pork Wrap, which will go on sale in March in Sainsbury’s (rsp: £4.50/215g, or part of Sainsbury’s £5 premium meal deal).
The NPD combined The Jolly Hog’s outdoor bred, high welfare pulled pork with a spicy Gochujang sauce, crispy slaw, kimchi, spinach, coriander and mayonnaise, which was wrapped in a soft tortilla. The launch follows the unveiling of its new sandwich range in the retailer last summer.
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