Heinz licensing deal launches pastry line and creates 20 jobs

Heinz has entered a licensing deal with a Welsh chilled food manufacturer to launch a new range of savoury pastry products, which will create 20 jobs.

Caerphilly-based Peter’s Food Services is now making a range of savoury pastry products based on the flavours of Heinz Beans, Heinz Tomato Ketchup and HP Sauce.

The manufacturer will invest more than £250,000 in increasing capacity at its production facility in Wales, creating 20 jobs in the process.

Heinz has decided to broaden the availability of its product to cash in on consumers’ increasing desire to eat convenience food ‘on the go’.

Heinz commercial licensing manager John Alderman said: “Consumers love Heinz Beanz and we wanted to make them available in more eating occasions.

‘Heinz Beanz out of home’

“The new range of slices is a convenient way of doing this and gives consumers the opportunity to enjoy their favourite Heinz Beanz out of home.

“We believe the introduction of these products, along with the vast consumer equity of the Heinz brand, will help stimulate category growth by bringing in new consumers to the category. We are confident that these convenient products will have wide market appeal.”

Peter’s Food Services md Mike Grimwood said: “Securing the licence agreement with Heinz is a fantastic achievement for our business – the culmination of years of market analysis and product development has led to what will be a major launch in the category.

“Heinz has a proud and respected history, much like Peter’s has here in Wales. We are delighted to be working with such an iconic brand to introduce a new convenience range to the chilled pastry market.”

New convenience range

The new range of 160g Heinz Beanz slices will be available in four flavours: classic Heinz Beanz; Heinz Beanz with Cheddar Cheese; Heinz Beanz with Spicy Meatballs and Heinz Beanz with Smoky Sausage.

The pastry products arrived on Asda’s shelves last week and will also be rolled out to Tesco, Morrisons, the Co-operative stores over the coming months.

Heinz is also introducing a range of sauce-topped pork sausage rolls for the convenience market. The range of 130g rolls is topped with Heinz Tomato Ketchup, HP Brown Sauce, and Heinz Ploughman’s Pickle for on the go snacking.

In addition, the firm is introducing a range of four multi-pack rolls topped with Heinz Tomato Ketchup and HP Brown Sauce. This range has been designed for picnics, parties or lunchboxes.