Start the day the right way

Newly released Belvita Breakfast biscuits are the only specially designed breakfast biscuits in Ireland

Breakfast is becoming a much more interesting meal with a large amount of diversification coming into the market. Fionnuala Carolan surveys the market.

Brand Central

14 September 2010

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At a glance: breakfast

Batchelors is Ireland’s number one brand in canned baked beans, peas and pulses
The latest launch from Boyne Valley is Manuka Active 15+ Honey
Bradley’s breakfast range of rashers, sausages and black and white pudding was launched this summer
Belvita Breakfast Biscuits were launched in August with a strong through the line press and television advertising campaign, PR support and sampling
Bonne Maman, the premium French jam has full distribution throughout Ireland and has seen a 25% growth year to date
Fruice’s core range comprises of 100% orange, apple and a cranberry juice drink and is available in a variety of take home and on-the-go packs
In April 2010, Fruice launched a dilutable juice range called ‘Fruice Dilute’. The range is the first branded double strength dilutable juice in a 750ml PET bottle and is available in three no added sugar variants (Orange, Blackcurrant & Orange & Pineapple)
Sqeez claims to be the number one Irish made juice brand with a market share of 23% (Nielsen July 2010)

Newly released Belvita Breakfast biscuits are the only specially designed breakfast biscuits in Ireland

The breakfast offering is broad and varied with the traditional products like sausages, rashers, puddings and porridge still very relevant and other products like cereal bars, breakfast biscuits and interesting mixes of juices in handy size cartons bringing new life to the sector. According to Belvita, a third of Irish people skip breakfast on a daily basis so there is a huge scope for retailers to target these consumers to become new customers of breakfast products if merchandising is tailored to the correct products, in the right location, at the right time of the day.

Bikkies for brekkie? Yes please!

Kraft Foods is set to revolutionise the way people in Ireland eat breakfast with the introduction of a brand new sub-category within the biscuit market, Belvita Breakfast biscuits. With a third of people in Ireland skipping the most important meal of the day each week, Belvita is being launched this month to bring greater choice to Irish consumers and offer them a new alternative at breakfast time.

They are made with wholegrain, rich in cereals, a source of fibre and contain a selection of vitamins and minerals. When eaten as part of a balanced breakfast, such as with a latte and apple, these low GI breakfast biscuits are clinically proven to regularly release carbohydrates over a four-hour period to keep you going throughout the morning.

The launch of Belvita Breakfast biscuits in August will be supported by a strong through the line press and television advertising campaign, PR support and sampling.

Sandra Gahan, marketing manager at Kraft Foods Ireland, said: “For decades people in continental Europe have enjoyed eating biscuits for breakfast where it’s part of their breakfast culture and where breakfast biscuits rich in cereal are recognised as part of a nutritious, balanced breakfast.

“We in Ireland love biscuits and Belvita Breakfast biscuits have been specially designed for breakfast, giving Irish consumers another opportunity to enjoy biscuits and greater choice at breakfast time. Each individually wrapped portion provides just the right amount to get a good start to the day in a format that enables people to enjoy them as part of a balanced breakfast – whether at home, on the go, or at work.”

One of Ireland’s leading consultant dieticians, Sarah Keogh, commented: “Nutritionists recognise breakfast as one of the most important meals of the day and people who skip breakfast find it much harder to get their recommended daily amounts of iron and other vitamins.

“People who eat breakfast have better concentration levels and find it easier to maintain a healthy weight. Any convenient, portion controlled and specially designed breakfast alternative that makes it easier for more of us to eat a balanced breakfast more often can only be a good thing.”

Start your day the Flahavan’s way

Flahavan’s has a loyal Irish customer base with over one million servings consumed nationwide each week. As one of the oldest private family-owned food companies in Ireland with a distinguished milling tradition spanning over 200 years, Flahavan’s brands are resonant of tradition, with a range of totally natural locally grown cereals.

As the hot oats cereal category leader with over 65% market share, Flahavan’s has delivered more growth to the oats category in line with consumers’ increasing interest in porridge as a healthy breakfast cereal choice. Today, consumers are taking a greater interest in managing their own health and Flahavan’s through its focus on innovation and research has broadened its portfolio to include products that concentrate on convenience, flavour and taste tailored to the demands and lifestyles of health-conscious Irish consumers.

Free from artificial colours and additives and made from 100% Irish wholegrain oats, the intrinsic health benefits of Flahavan’s Progress Oats, Organic Oats, and the quick and easy to prepare Quick Oats range in a sachet, drum and portable pots make Flahavan’s porridge the ideal breakfast or snack, anytime or anywhere, at home or in the office. More recently, Flahavan’s won two gold stars in the ‘Luxury breakfast cereal, to be cooked’ category, one star for Flahavan’s Organic Porridge Oats and the second for Flahavan’s Organic Jumbo Oats at the Great Taste Food Awards 2010 for its creamy texture and taste. The distinctive Flahavan’s taste, quality and innovative format varieties combine to make Flahavan’s Oats the number one brand that consumers can trust.

A bowl of Flahavan’s every morning provides a nutrient-rich, low-fat and low-calorie breakfast that is 100% natural, delivered from farm to the mill, to your table. Flahavan’s products are 100% Irish and are available nationwide. Flahavan’s supports the Love Irish Food initiative led by Irish manufacturing brands seeking to promote Irish food and drink brands in Ireland.
For oat- based recipes, visit the website on www.flahavans.com

Full of beans

Batchelors is Ireland’s number one brand in canned baked beans, peas and pulses and employs over 230 people. Batchelors is made in Dublin and has been since 1935. Batchelors are an active member of the Love Irish Food initiative and are proud to support and sustain local jobs and the economy.

Batchelors beans are an ideal addition to any breakfast – from the traditional fry to beans on toast. Irish consumers favour Batchelors canned foods as they are a nutritious and convenient meal-time solution. They are a great source of protein and fibre, low in sugar and saturated fats and are gluten free. Visit www.batchelors.ie for category management support.

We’re jamming

Bonne Maman, the premium French jam has full distribution throughout Ireland and has seen a very impressive 25% growth year to date. For many years Bonne Maman has been the uncontested leader in its market with a continuing strategy to sustain growing consumer demand.

Bonne Maman by its unique design and ‘home made’ image is the only jam brand that really stands out in-store and appears very attractive to the consumer. Irish consumers are trading into premium offerings in jam with an emphasis on quality and Bonne Maman jams boast a minimum of 50% whole fruit per 100g of jam product.

Bonne Maman is available in strawberry, apricot, blackcurrant, blackberry, raspberry, peach, damson plum, berries and cherries, wild blueberry, orange marmalade and mandarin marmalade flavour. Bonne Maman Jams are a 100% natural product and are free from preservatives, flavouring and colouring.

Bonne Maman’s heavyweight national promotional campaign will continue for the rest of 2010.

Boyne Valley Honey is 100% pure and natural

The sweetest thing

Boyne Valley Honey has been available to Irish consumers for almost 50 years and is the most popular brand of honey in Ireland. Boyne Valley Honey is 100% pure and natural. It is available in a range of formats from the 250g Bizzy Bee kid’s squeezy right up to the 907g jar. The 250g squeezy has been specifically developed with young consumers in mind and features the ‘Bizzy Bee’ character.

The latest launch from Boyne Valley is Manuka Active 15+ Honey and is available in 330g jars. Manuka Honey is one of the key drivers of growth in the honey category with consumers recognising the various health benefits. The Boyne Valley Manuka range also includes Boyne Valley Manuka Active 10+ and Boyne Valley Manuka Active 7+.

Bradley’s breakfast meat range launched

Irish Bacon Slicers has been delighted with the initial sales and consumer response to its Bradley’s breakfast range of rashers, sausages and black and white pudding to the Irish retail sector this summer. The brand has been launched with a completely new but distinctive livery and packaging to compete in the breakfast meats sector.

Irish Bacon Slicers is one of the largest producers of sliced bacon in Ireland. With over 30 years of experience in supplying sliced bacon to the retail and catering trade, this new breakfast brand is called after the company founder. The company was started by David Bradley, whilst his son and current managing director Olan continues the family tradition of offering clients a range of bacon products in any flavour, shape or size under branded, own label and catering packs.

Based in Ballincollig, County Cork, with a state of the art factory the company is able to supply client’s bacon products efficiently, cost effectively and with total flexibility. This highly specialized factory is accredited in accordance with Irish/International standards for quality management and food safety such as EFIS, Bord Bia Quality Assurance and HACCP. The product range includes sliced back rashers; dry-cured, smoked, streaky, low fat and low salt and sweet/maple cure bacon all of which can be supplied with full farm to fork traceability.

Bill Thuiller, Irish Bacon Slicers’ key account manager states: “the company is delighted with the initial success of the Bradley’s product range and we will be supporting the brand with investment in promotions and distribution to further strengthen the Bradley’s Breakfast range in the Irish retail sector this side of Christmas”.

Juicy goods

Fruice is number one for convenience

Fruice is the premium fruit juice range owned by Coca-Cola Hellenic Ireland. First launched in Northern Ireland in 2001 the brand has been going from strength to strength ever since.

The core range comprises of 100% orange, apple and a cranberry juice drink and is available in a variety of take home and on-the-go packs.

Despite the juice category being in decline at -5.6%, Fruice continues to perform ahead of the market at +6.9% with the Fruice Orange 1 litre pack ranked as the number one growth SKU within convenience.

As consumer tastes have changed over the years, so too has the Fruice range, keeping the brand at the forefront of innovation. For kids, Fruice Juicy is a pop-top juice in a quirky 250ml PET bottle, available in two flavours. It is the only juice of its kind with the ‘one of five’ RDA of fruit and vegetables. Fruice Juicy has recently undergone a new makeover. A new slim line ‘Fruice Juicy’ embossed bottle, a new label to clearly reinforce the ‘one of your five a day’ USP and a new card-wrap packaging to replace the shrink wrap.

Also in April 2010, Fruice launched a dilutable juice range called ‘Fruice Dilute’. The range is the first branded double strength dilutable juice in a 750ml PET bottle and is available in three no added sugar variants (Orange, Blackcurrant & Orange & Pineapple.)

Fruice is regularly supported by way of promotional activity which makes it an extremely competitive choice, giving added value while helping consumers to maintain a healthy and balanced diet through the inclusion of 100% fruit juice in the weekly shop. ATL and BTL activity will run throughout the remainder of the year reminding consumers Fruice is the healthy drink you can drink anytime and Fruice is so smooth, it goes with everything.

Tropicana is the market leader in chilled juice in Ireland

Get Squeezin’

Ever popular at the breakfast table, the extensive Sqeez 1 litre range includes traditional favourites such as Orange & Apple through to the more exotic Wild Blueberry & Tropical variants. Also very popular with those who have their breakfast “on the go” are the Sqeez 200ml cartons. Each carton contributes one portion of the recommended five a day, so it is easy to see why Sqeez remains a firm favourite with Irish families.

This autumn look out for the newly re-launched Sqeez Orange & Calcium 1 litre, which highlights that one out of three Irish teenagers are not getting enough calcium. Developing bones could be compared to a savings bank. During youth and young adulthood deposits of calcium can be made into your bone bank. Between the ages of nine and 16 your bone bank can build at its fastest rate. Therefore nine to 16 year olds are often most in need of an additional source of calcium in their diet.

Sqeez Orange & Calcium may offer a solution to parents of teens and pre-teens who may want to offer their children another option to top up their daily calcium intake, whilst simultaneously providing a good source of vitamins C and D.
For more information on any of the Sqeez range log onto www.sqeez.ie or find Sqeez on Facebook.

Tropicana

Irish consumers love chilled juice and this is seen in the 16% litre volume growth the category has been delivering since the start of 2009 (Total Scantrack YTD W/E Jun 13 2010). The appeal of chilled juice is especially seen in the vital role it can play as part of a healthy breakfast.

More and more Irish consumers are recognising the importance of a healthy start to the day, and what better way to start than with a glass of not from concentrate juice.

With over 60 years of fruit juice experience around the world, and as the market leader in chilled juice in Ireland and another year of strong growth (+14% YTD) (Litre Volume, Total Scantrack YTD W/E Jun 13 2010), Tropicana are in the perfect position to help you start your day the best way.

Tropicana have a wide variety of juices and smoothies to help consumers ensure they and their family get the nutrients from fruit into their diet. With 100% natural goodness in every glass, Tropicana provides refreshment at any time of day.

Just one glass of Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice provides a full day’s supply of vitamin C, a great natural source of folic acid and one of the recommended five fruit and vegetables a day.

Tropicana has the perfect range to meet any breakfast time taste with the Classic Original and Smooth Orange Juice as well the new Orange Juice with Extra Juicy Bits.

The brand also has in its range flavours like Golden Grapefruit, Pink Grapefruit, Ruby Breakfast and also the new Orange Creations of Orange & Mango, Orange & Watermelon and Orange & Lime; which are perfect for breakfast time and also throughout the day as a great source of refreshment.
(Source: *ACN 52 W/E 18 APR 10.)

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