Beyond the usual suspects

Walk past the fresh pasta sauce fixture in any major retailer and you'll be struck by the lack of branded products.

According to Pasta Reale, a producer of fresh sauces for sale under its own brand as well as retailer own labels, a whopping 95% of the category is owned by the multiples.

Klein Caporn, the 'slow' pasta sauce brand created by entrepreneurs Paddy Klein and Ed Caporn, is one of the few brands you'll find nestling among the identical potted offerings in Sainsbury and Waitrose.

"Fresh pasta sauces are very similar to ready meals in that it's a category the supermarkets have pioneered themselves, which is very unusual," says Klein. "Usually where Persil goes, the supermarkets go."

Deborah Carter, client director with consultancy Dragon Brands, makes similar observations: "Retailer own-brands dominate many areas of the chiller, particularly ready meals and meal components; it's therefore not surprising that pasta sauces should be in a section of the chiller where they have capitalised. While brands are prominent in grocery, fresh pasta and pasta sauces are big boom areas for the multiples."

Looking at the performance of fresh pasta sauces, it becomes clear that retailers have wasted no time in sewing up the market. According to a report compiled by Food Manufacture in association with RTS (www.foodmarketreports.com) , expenditure on fresh pasta sauces increased by over 21% between 2001 and 2006. In the same period, consumer spend on ambient pasta sauces grew by just under 5%. Admittedly, fresh sauces started from a smaller base (£19M in 2001 compared with ambient sauces' £247M), but these figures do demonstrate the growth potential in fresh sauces.

However, unless you've got a foot in both camps like Pasta Reale, gaining a foothold in this retailer-dominated market isn't easy.

Premium shows promise

"For a branded company to enter the market it has to have a real point of difference," says Carter. "There may be more opportunities for a fresh pasta sauce if it emerges from a trusted ambient parent. However, the sheer space dedicated to own label makes it almost impossible to compete on price on more standard lines. The smaller, 'boutique' manufacturers with a premium story and packaging may have the scope to create sophisticated 'finest' style concepts, but may find it hard to survive."

As yet, established ambient sauce stalwarts like Dolmio, Loyd Grossman, Sacla and Seeds of Change are leaving it to smaller players like Klein Caporn, the Knobbly Carrot Company and Tideford Organic Foods to carve out a niche at the luxury end of the category.

"The supermarkets don't seem to be able to get much above £2.50 - certainly they've tried £2.89 and £2.99 and not been successful, whereas we seem to have been able to persuade consumers that our offering is worth paying that little bit more for," says Klein.

He believes the key to justifying a £2.99 price tag and premium positioning lies in the recipe.

"The ingredients we use are those you would find in your home kitchen - there are no preservatives, modified starches or stabilisers, and all animal products are free-range."

The company also has a couple of 'star' ingredients which Klein says make all the difference. "Our napolitana is a very old Neopolitan recipe containing lemon zest and our bolognese contains chicken livers. They aren't twists we shout about, but they do add significantly to the depth and profile of our sauces. We also simmer our sauces for two hours or more to get the reduction and intensity of flavour - it's not a five minute high pressure cook."

Diana Cooper is founder of Tideford Organic Foods, another independent producer. In her view, two hours isn't quite long enough for simmering a bolognese. "Ours takes a minimum of three hours," she says," but that's nothing compared to a restaurant I used to go to where they cooked their bolognese for two days."

Clearly, in a food production environment, simmering sauces for two days isn't feasible. To achieve the thickness delivered by reduction, but within a more realistic time frame, historically, manufacturers turned to modified starch. However, the retailer drive to clean up labels means this is no longer acceptable.

"Trying to offer a clean ingredient declaration without the use of modified starches is tricky since you want to ensure the sauce has the right body and texture but you have to find alternative starches which work well in often acidic conditions," says Angela Mitton, creative product developer with NPD firm Beetroot & Orange.

Chris Lightfoot, a freelance product development chef who works with National Starch Food Innovation, recommends the company's clean label Novation tapioca starches or wheat and maize derived Homecraft functional flours for imparting a smooth texture, creamy mouthfeel and authentic flavour to sauces.

"So many people have come to me complaining that their cheese sauces are grainy. I've developed a beautiful two-cheese sauce which is in one of the retailers and is made with Homecraft Gold. It's clean, it's natural, it's not granular or grainy and it tastes exactly like I would make at home."

Get a feel for flavour

Pressure to slash salt in prepared foods is another issue manufacturers have to contend with, and it can have a detrimental effect on taste as well as shelf-life.

Pasta Reale reduced salt across its entire portfolio 18 months ago. The company says it tried using salt replacers, but wasn't satisfied with the flavour delivery they provided, so instead simply reduced the salt content and rebalanced the recipes.

"Where salt was used to enhance flavours, developers are using herbs and spices to boost the natural flavours in herb-infused sauces. Also, naturally acidic components such as speciality tomatoes, red wine, vinegar and citrus juices can help yield a more acidic product, which will help shelf-life without compromising on taste," says Mitton.

Many of the ingredients used in pasta sauces are fresh and seasonal. Yet with food miles a point of principle for 'ethical' consumers, some manufacturers are starting to rethink certain ingredients.

At Tideford, for example, the type of herbs it uses depends on the time of year. "When they are in season we use fresh herbs, but at this time of year we use IQF [individually quick frozen]," says Cooper.

Klein Caporn, on the other hand, doesn't use IQF basil in its sauces because it reckons it doesn't work with slow cooking. "It loses its fragrancy and colour and adds very little to the dish. Ripping up some fresh basil and stirring in just before serving is the only way to do it," says Klein.

Future developments

The fresh pasta sauce category might be young and dynamic, but when it comes to recipe development, there is still room for old favourites such as tomato and mascarpone, bolognese, tomato and herb and carbonara, says Pasta Reale's Anthony Wilkinson. "Classic recipes are the volume driver and with penetration gains still to be made in the category, this will be the case for years to come," he says.

However, others would prefer to focus on more innovative dishes. Lightfoot for one would like to see tomato and mascarpone displaced, as he says: "It's a really poor example of a great cuisine." Instead, he would like to see concepts like diavolo sauce, fish, chicken or vegetable stock-based sauces, balsamic-based sauces and sauces made with infused olive oil and fresh herbs gracing supermarket shelves.

"It's about taking pasta sauce away from heavy, rich, stabilised tomato sauce that keeps for weeks. Instead it should be fresh, clean and crisp with just a few quality ingredients."

Mitton suggests incorporating chunkier vegetable cuts where provenance is a feature, and introducing more unusual flavours and textures from ingredients like apricots, capers, fennel, rocket, beans and nuts.

Tideford Organic Foods is working on several new sauces at present. While Cooper is reluctant to give away too much, she does let slip that one of them will be spinach-based. "Spinach is one of the most popular vegetables at the moment; it grows here year-round, it's creamy and with a bit of herb or spice you can make it very European tasting - and it feels like it's good for you."

Maybe there's life after tomato after all. FM