Kerry Foods and Kepak feature in UK’s top grocery brands
Kepak Group is celebrating the confirmation of its microwaveable burger brand, Rustlers, as one of the UK’s top-performing grocery brands.
It rose eight places from No 112 to No 104 in the annual Britain’s Biggest Brands survey for The Grocer magazine, which noted that the Rustlers brand “continues to gain a solid following”.
Kerry Foods is the only other Irish-origin company in the top rank of brands.
Rustlers’ improved ranking reflected annual sales of almost £90m (€103m), up 5.5% from last year.
“This is a tremendous achievement in what remains a highly challenging and competitive marketplace. It highlights the key role Rustlers continues to play throughout the day across key shopper missions,” said Adrian Lawlor, Kepak Convenience Foods’ marketing and business development director.
The biggest driver of Rustlers’ growth in the last 12 months was a near 3% increase in penetration, or 160,000 new buyers.
Consumer perception of the brand has improved due to new packaging and the launch of Rustlers gourmet burgers.
Kepak Group aims to build on the Rustlers success with the recent launch of the Rustlers all-day breakfast sausage muffin.
However, the Meath-based beef processor may be looking over their shoulders at the success of Quorn, the British-made meat substitute product which has advanced from brand No 55 to No 49.
“Few trends have exploded so spectacularly in the past year as the plant-based diet,” according to The Grocer.
Meanwhile, the best-performing brand with a strong Irish connection is Richmond, Britain’s best-loved sausage brand, a tea-time family favourite and a growing presence in cooked meats.
Falling back marginally from brand No 66 to No 68, Richmond is a Kerry Foods brand, and the subsidiary of the Tralee-based Kerry group invested £5m recently in a Richmond’s relaunch, according to The Grocer.
Irish dairy products didn’t feature in the top 100, which had the Lurpak butter brand owned by the Danish Dairy Board holding its league position as brand No 19, even though cost pressures in the global dairy industry had made Lurpak almost 20% more expensive this year.
Holding its position as brand No 23 is the Cathedral City brand of cheddar cheese manufactured by Dairy Crest, the most popular brand of cheese in the UK.
Anchor dairy products from Fonterra Co-op in New Zealand have made a notable advance from UK Brand No 79 to Brand No 72, after a sales increase of more than £6m, following years of value decline, according to The Grocer.
