Florette, the fresh produce specialist, has announced that it will enter a new field with a range of pre-packed fresh fruit, leveraging its success as the UK’s No.1 salad brand, to inject growth into the prepared fruit category.
2009 has already been a significant year for Florette, having acquired fellow prepared salads producer Salads To Go in the Spring, and as Mark Newton, managing director, explains, this next chapter of the Florette story, is very much a natural one:
“Consumers trust the Florette brand because they know it delivers superior quality, natural taste and longer lasting freshness – vital requirements for prepared salad and fruit alike. As we are already well aware thanks to our heritage in prepared salads, convenience is a key consumer driver and this is especially the case when it comes to fresh fruit because it is more often than not consumed as a snack. With so many natural synergies across salads and fruit, we felt there was a strong opportunity to leverage the Florette brand to inject growth into the prepared fruit category.”
Although the prepared fruit category is worth almost £200m, only 1 in 3 consumers are buying prepared fruit, compared to prepared salad which is purchased by 3 out of 4. Therefore, Florette believes there is a huge opportunity to drive consumer penetration and that the category is truly ripe for development. Mark adds:
“This is a hugely significant opportunity for Florette as we believe we can offer real value to the prepared fruit category thanks to a loyal franchise of five million consumers and 82 percent brand awareness amongst ABC1 housewives, combined with a track record of employing product innovation, consumer insight and marketing investment to drive category growth.”
Given Florette’s commitment and reputation for expertise in quality, and a continued focus on freshness, it is no surprise that hand cut fresh fruit is being used across the new Florette range to deliver taste, quality and freshness excellence. The traditional hand cutting methods used will ensure the consumer receives the best quality product, which has been carefully handled through the process, resulting in superior presentation and freshness.
Mark Newton concludes: “Since we announced Florette was planning a move into the fruit market, we received such interest from our customers that we decided to move the launch of the range forward from 2010 to this autumn. We have already had positive feedback on the range, and plan to support its launch with price promotional and in-store demonstration activity to raise awareness and drive purchase and we are currently reviewing plans for more media investment.”
The new Florette fruit range will offer three different pack formats to meet snacking, on the go and family sharing needs. Florette Fresh Pineapple, Melon Medley and Fruit Medley will be available in both a 170g snack pot with fork (priced from £1.49) and a 350g family sharing pack (from £2.49), and the range will also include an apple and grape 80g snack pack at 65p. A host of other fruit type and pack options are already in development for launch later in the year and through 2010.
All stats included sourced from TNS/Mintel 2008
Soleco UK Ltd
Tel: 01543 250050
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