Britain’s top-selling spread Rowse honey has revealed it is revamping its brand in a bid to capitalise on surging sales - as honey overtakes jam for the first time.

Brits have embraced the health credentials and versatility of Winnie the Pooh’s favourite spread, spending £113.2m on honey last year - 6.2% more than in 2012 - while sales of jam rose just 1.8% to £109.4m [Kantar Worldpanel 52 w/e 10 November 2013]. In volume terms, shoppers bought the equivalent of almost three million more 340g jars of honey last year than in 2012.

Honey’s success has been driven by its widening usage, with more people using it in cooking or as a topping.

Rowse said it hoped to tap such opportunities with a revamp and NPD. Next month, it will begin rolling out new-look packaging featuring a larger and more prominent logo. It is also repositioning some of its single origin and flora honeys as a range for cooks that will include a new Chinese honey described as ideal for stir-fries and curries.

Later in the year, it plans to launch new products aimed at driving the use of honey at breakfast, including a honey designed for use with porridge. It is also repositioning its Super Honey, which contains manuka, as a cold and flu remedy and intends to launch a range of medical honeys in 2015.

“We are fuelling the momentum and want to ensure we stay ahead of Marmite,” said Rowse, which is spending £3m on a TV advertising push from next month.

Last month, The Grocer’s Top Products Survey revealed Rowse had overtaken Marmite as Britain’s best-selling spread, with sales up 17.6% to £45.6m, while Marmite’s fell 5.1% to £37.4m [Nielsen 52 w/e 18 October 2013].