New Covent Garden Soup Co has unveiled a new range of soups featuring a layer of fresh vegetables.

Hain Daniels is hoping to take the brand it acquired last year to the next level with Fresh Bowls - Smokey Tomato & Red Pepper and Red Thai Sweet Potato & Coconut soups that are sold in a microwaveable bowl (rsp: £2.99).

A layer of fresh vegetables separated from the liquid by a trivet are cooked by the steam from the soup when it is heated. The soups -which are rolling out to Sainsbury’s and Booths at the end of this month and have a nine-day shelf-life - can be eaten straight from the bowl.

“With consumers continuing to seek fresh, adventurous meal options, Fresh Bowls meets a genuine demand,” said group marketing director Nigel Parrott. “This is truly a new generation of soup, and the launch will reinforce New Covent Garden’s position as the innovator in fresh soup.”

Earlier this year, Hain Daniels CEO Rob Burnett highlighted convenience and food to go as key growth areas for the company’s portfolio of brands that came together following Hain Celestial’s acquisition of Daniels from Singapore Airport Terminal Services in October.

As well as announcing that he intended to stretch the New Covent Garden Soup Co brand in the UK, Burnett said he planned to launch it in the US later this year through a co-packing agreement.

Sales of the New Covent Garden Soup Co brand are currently £47m [Nielsen 3 March 2012].

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