Heck’s £1M investment to boost sales

A team of 25 people are currently employed by the Yorkshire-based company, which had an annual turnover of £3M last year and is expected to double to £6M this year.

The financial injection would allow the company to boost consumer awareness through marketing activity, it said.

Premium range​

Two kinds of sausages are manufactured by the company. The first – under The Harrogate Sausage Company brand – is a mid-priced product, while the second – Heck – is a premium range.

Both brands have listings with Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Waitrose.

The company is family-run and was founded by Debbie and Andrew Keeble in 2012, after they built and sold the UK’s leading premium sausage brand Debbie and Andrew’s.

The Keebles sold the brand to JJ Tranfield in 2005, before it was then sold on to the Vion Food group in 2007.

After Vion announced its exit from the UK in 2012, the brand was then sold to ABP’s W A Turner sausage division the following year.

At its peak, Debbie and Andrew’s accounted for 26% of the premium sausage market in the UK.

Disappointment​

Following the sale of the company to ABP, the Keebles expressed their disappointment at the fact they were not offered the opportunity​ to buy the brand back.

Andrew Keeble said large companies struggled to maintain the provenance and values instilled in products under the ownership of small companies.

Heck was launched in response to the lack of a small premium sausage company on the market, he added.

The brand has been marketed towards 20 to 45 year-olds and more than 200,000 sausages are produced each week at its facility in Northallerton, Yorkshire.

Sausage sales in the UK rose by 8.8% last year compared to the previous year, according to recent figures from the British Pig Executive (BPEX).

Sales of fresh pork, however, declined and the number of households buying fresh pork in 2013 dipped by 1.5% on the previous year, according to BPEX.

Debbie and Andrew brand timeline: ​

• 2000 – Debbie and Andrew's brand established
• 2005 – JJ Tranfield buys the brand, but it is still run by the Keebles
• 2007 – Vion buys the brand and the Keebles help to integrate it into the business
• March 2012 – The Keebles resign from the business
• November 2012 – Vion announces its exit from the UK
• January 2013 – Vion sells Debbie and Andrew's to ABP
• April 2013 – The Keebles launch Heck in Tesco