One of Germany's largest meat producers is looking to shake up UK frozen food with the launch of "the meat equivalent of the Pop-Tart" this autumn.
Toast Me! a frozen meat snack that can be put into the toaster straight from the freezer will go on sale at the beginning of October, with an anticipated retail price of £1.30 for a pack of two. The savoury 'Pop-Tart' will initially be available in two variants chicken and bacon-and-egg breakfast with a vegetable version to follow in the first quarter of 2011.
Made by Tillman's, a subsidiary of German meat company Tönnies, Toast Me! will be the first Tillman's brand to be sold in the UK and its launch will be supported by a £2m TV ad and social media campaign.
Tönnies, Europe's largest privately owned slaughtering and meat processing business, has been selling Toast Me! in its German home market under the slogan 'Tillman's Toasty Don't call it schnitzel!' since January 2008, and is currently shifting 15 million units a year, with a turnover of 30m.
In the UK, the company is targeting £5m in retail sales in the first year, rising to between £10m and £15m in year two.
Toast Me! boasted a coating robust enough to ensure the frozen squares keep their form and to stop oil from dripping into the toaster during heating, said its makers.
It would reinvigorate the UK frozen snack category, predicted Jon Gymer, commercial director of ZMI, the company managing Tillman's in the UK. The category was "under-developed" and dominated by party food, he said.
Toast Me!'s nutrient profile meant it could be advertised to children in line with Ofcom rules, he added. The chicken version is made using 100% chicken breast fillet while the breakfast variant uses 100% back bacon. Both have a fat content of less than 10%.
Unlike most other frozen food products, Toast Me! will come in "shelf-ready" packaging to encourage impulse buying.
The product will be targeted at students as well as young families looking for an easy-to-prepare after-school snack.
Tönnies hopes it will act as a launch pad for other Tillman's products into the UK. Marketing director Michael Ebeling said the company planned to introduce one further frozen meat item likely to be an "authentic German product" and one chilled meat line in the first quarter of next year. Tönnies also wants to enter the UK own-label meat product market.
Gymer said he would announce listings for Toast Me! in the next three weeks.
Toast Me! a frozen meat snack that can be put into the toaster straight from the freezer will go on sale at the beginning of October, with an anticipated retail price of £1.30 for a pack of two. The savoury 'Pop-Tart' will initially be available in two variants chicken and bacon-and-egg breakfast with a vegetable version to follow in the first quarter of 2011.
Made by Tillman's, a subsidiary of German meat company Tönnies, Toast Me! will be the first Tillman's brand to be sold in the UK and its launch will be supported by a £2m TV ad and social media campaign.
Tönnies, Europe's largest privately owned slaughtering and meat processing business, has been selling Toast Me! in its German home market under the slogan 'Tillman's Toasty Don't call it schnitzel!' since January 2008, and is currently shifting 15 million units a year, with a turnover of 30m.
In the UK, the company is targeting £5m in retail sales in the first year, rising to between £10m and £15m in year two.
Toast Me! boasted a coating robust enough to ensure the frozen squares keep their form and to stop oil from dripping into the toaster during heating, said its makers.
It would reinvigorate the UK frozen snack category, predicted Jon Gymer, commercial director of ZMI, the company managing Tillman's in the UK. The category was "under-developed" and dominated by party food, he said.
Toast Me!'s nutrient profile meant it could be advertised to children in line with Ofcom rules, he added. The chicken version is made using 100% chicken breast fillet while the breakfast variant uses 100% back bacon. Both have a fat content of less than 10%.
Unlike most other frozen food products, Toast Me! will come in "shelf-ready" packaging to encourage impulse buying.
The product will be targeted at students as well as young families looking for an easy-to-prepare after-school snack.
Tönnies hopes it will act as a launch pad for other Tillman's products into the UK. Marketing director Michael Ebeling said the company planned to introduce one further frozen meat item likely to be an "authentic German product" and one chilled meat line in the first quarter of next year. Tönnies also wants to enter the UK own-label meat product market.
Gymer said he would announce listings for Toast Me! in the next three weeks.
No comments yet