Albert Bartlett is poised to return to the frozen and chilled aisles four years after its last foray beyond fresh produce.

The company is building a new £60m manufacturing facility to produce branded and own-label frozen and chilled potato products on the site of its 400,000 sq ft operation in Airdrie.

Chairman Ronnie Bartlett told The Grocer the facility would start by producing frozen French fries, though there was potential to do “whatever you can do with frozen potatoes.”

“We have a lot of commitment to a potato grower group and we have to change as a business,” said Bartlett. “Frozen is where the market is going.”

Earlier this month, the Potato Council said sales of fresh potatoes were down by 3.7% year on year for the 12 weeks ending 22 June [Kantar Worldpanel] while sales of frozen potato products were up 1.4% - with frozen chips up by 1.9%.

“With frozen food you can take what you want, then put it back and have it the next day,” said Bartlett. “And the way we have invested in the business we need to be somewhere else on the supermarket shelves. We have created the brand, maybe the consumer will want to try it in another area of the supermarket.”

Albert Bartlett first launched frozen chips in 2008 and chilled mashed potato in 2009, but both disappeared in 2010. Although Bartlett says there is a “nervousness” about the return to frozen, he insisted “nothing went wrong” last time.

“We decided to concentrate on the fresh brand where we had complete control,” he said. “We will be launching our new offer with the same level of control.”

As for whether he was confident about securing listings, Bartlett he was taking “nothing for granted. If the product isn’t good enough it won’t go anywhere.”

Topics