YouTube collective The Sidemen has partnered with New World Foods to launch a snacking brand called Sides.
Named after The Sidemen’s chain of fried chicken shops, the brand will make its grocery debut with a trio of ambient meat snacks.
Made with halal meat, they feature flavours inspired by the sauces available in the collective’s restaurants.
Buffalo Chicken, Chipotle Steak Strips and Korean BBQ Steak Strips (rsp: £2.50/35g) will launch exclusively into 3,000 Tescos and 1,000 One Stops on 3 April.
Each pack provides under 100 calories and at least 10g of protein.
The Sidemen (which includes Prime co-founder ‘KSI’, along with YouTubers ‘Miniminter’, ‘Zerkaa’, ‘TBJZL’, ‘Behzinga’, ‘Vikkstar123’ and ‘W2S’) boasts a combined reach of 150 million subscribers.
New World Foods CEO James Newitt told The Grocer his teenaged son came up with the idea for a collaboration with the group, after the beef jerky business made a bespoke pack of Wild West steak strips for West Ham United FC’s London Stadium.
“My son Calum said, ‘Dad, you know one of The Sidemen (Behzinga) is a West Ham fan.’”
“I said, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, but why don’t you contact them for me and see if they’d be interested in beef jerky?’”
“He did and they said yes.”
This was in November 2022, and the resultant innovations were “the culmination of over a year of hard work and effort from both teams”, said Newitt.
“This marks the beginning of an expanding range of healthy snacking products that will excite new and old meat snacking consumers,” he added.
Robin Mehta, CEO of Sides, said the casual dining chain was “loved for the flavour of our sauces”.
“We’ve combined that flavour knowhow with the market-leading expertise of the Wild West brand of New World Foods to create a meat snack range that’s second to none,” he added.
“We’re excited to see where this can go, both in the UK and internationally.”
It comes after The Sidemen launched its Best breakfast cereal, made in partnership with Mornflake, into Tesco earlier this month.
The cereal sold 100,000 units within its first two weeks, The Sidemen’s manager Jordan Schwarzenberger has claimed.
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