SeaFood Business is the global trusted authority for seafood buyers and sellers. We are the seafood industry's leading trade magazine with more than 30 years of experience. Our coverage is based on the "business" of buying and selling seafood.
Issue link: https://seafoodbusiness.epubxp.com/i/72022
Global Retail recession has changed the way that Brits shop. "T e equivalent of 5 mil- lion people have started buy- ing more frozen food in the last six to 12 months, with more than half (58 percent) saying that saving money is the main motivation, with reducing waste (36 percent) and saving time (36 percent) also cited as key factors," says the report. Fish is equally as impor- tant for parent company Iglo Group. Last year, the compa- ny recorded its most success- ful 12 months of trading yet, with net sales growth in all three of its business units — Birds Eye, Iglo and new Ital- ian business Findus. Overall, the group's EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, deprecia- tion and amortization) grew 7 percent last year to €325.8 million ($407.8 million). "New product develop- ment was a key growth driver in 2011. We have created new categories and have now entered the broader seafood category," says Chief Execu- tive Martin Glenn, who also reveals the fi sh category has grown the most in the fi rst- quarter of this year in terms of market share. T e frozen category is not just benefi ting from the con- sumer perception of being more fresh expensive, but also from the weakening of the out-of-home dining sec- tor. According to Birds Eye's report, 38 percent of the people who were surveyed said they were eating out less as a result of the economic climate. Birds Eye also con- fi rms it has seen strong sales of foods that help families "make the most of nights in." Iglo's closest rival is the Lion Capital-owned Findus Group (not to be confused with Iglo's Italian business), which in the United King- dom owns Young's Seafood Ltd., comprising the three entities of T e £600 Co., Findus U.K. and the 200-year-old Young's food. T is million (€750.6 million, $939.7 mil- lion) turnover business has also leapt on the demand for higher-end frozen products. In May, for Young's Seafood answered the demand for higher-end frozen fi sh products with its "Gastro" range. Young's launched nched re its Gastro range oof restaurant- quality au nt frozen fi sh dishes, created by Serge Nollent, the company's development chef. Gastro comprises seven dif- ferent products, available in supermarkets at an aff ordable £3.99 (€4.99, $6.25) each, including Florentine Crusted Alaskan Pollock Fillets and Crispy Lemon & Herb Tem- pura Battered Basa Fillets. "We've created the Gas- tro range for people with busy lives who want to en- joy something diff erent and special in the week, without the stress. T e recipes are the type you'd fi nd on a restau- rant menu. It is gourmet fi sh, made easy," says Nollent. Young's Gastro line fol- lows on the heels of its Jamie Oliver Keep it Simple range, which saw the U.K. celebrity chef create a frozen line that endeavors to use sustainable, underutilized species such as North Sea whiting, Ma- rine Stewardship Council- certifi ed Alaska pollock and salmon rather than cod and haddock. As suggests, the products the branding are pitched at a lower price than the Gastro range. T e 12 products developed by Jamie Oliver consist of pies, fi sh cakes and fi sh fi ngers. On launching the range Visit us online at www.seafoodbusiness.com July 2012 SeaFood Business 37 retailers r tail are fast wearing away the old consumer mindset that frozen is an inferior product and big brands and retailers have seen to it that there's now equally as much variety in the frozen aisle as there is in the chilled cabinet. BFFF's Young says that fi sh Seafood Sea- in August last year, Oliver remarked: "T ere might be people saying 'Why has Jamie gone into frozen?'" More likely, people were saying that Oliver had made another shrewd busi- ness move. example, In shaking up the frozen fi sh c sh categor ory,, b brrands ands and is the only sector of U.K. fro- zen to have two heavyweight brands, Young's and Birds Eye, fi ghting it out toe-to-toe with venture capitalists sup- porting both, and both look- ing to increase sales to maxi- mize their growth. "Both businesses have been very active in terms of new products. T ey have been suc- cessful in both product and packaging, and both have done some important things from a marketing perspec- tive," he says. "I also believe there's a more ambitious off ering of fi sh spe- cies than perhaps there was fi ve years ago and I fully ex- pect that to continue. And I think that as long as we, as an industry, continue to be innovative, the category will continue to grow." Contributing Editor Jason Holland lives in London