This Christmas has seen a cavalcade of new product launches from food and drink manufacturers in the UK, and we take a glimpse at them in this festive photo gallery.
Featured products this month include pigs in blankets with a South African twist, a new festive range from Nim’s Fruit Crisps and holiday offerings from biscuit manufacturer Pladis.
We also cover Christmas-themed launches by Muscle Food, Aldi, Nestlé and Burton’s.
To find out about all these products and more, click on the next image in the gallery.
Meanwhile, The Dalesman Group has launched a trio of vegan sausage roll mixes in the light of increased customer demand for plant-based alternatives to meat products.
This Christmas has seen a cavalcade of new product launches from food and drink manufacturers in the UK, and we take a glimpse at them in this festive photo gallery.
Featured products this month include pigs in blankets with a South African twist, a new festive range from Nim’s Fruit Crisps and holiday offerings from biscuit manufacturer Pladis.
We also cover Christmas-themed launches by Muscle Food, Aldi, Nestlé and Burton’s.
To find out about all these products and more, click on the next image in the gallery.
Meanwhile, The Dalesman Group has launched a trio of vegan sausage roll mixes in the light of increased customer demand for plant-based alternatives to meat products.
Pigs in blankets are set to receive a South African twist this Christmas, with the launch of K’s Wors boerewors through online retailer Ocado.
Boerewors – a type of sausage popular in South African cuisine – have been positioned as a replacement for the traditional Cumberland sausage used in the preparation of pigs in blankets and are available in three flavours: Countrystyle, Chakalaka and Chilli.
Founder Dee Mapasure said: “I’ve felt for some while that boerewors could work wonderfully in conjunction with best-in-class bacon. For the last two years boerewors have been building a head of steam during BBQ season. It was only ever going to be a matter of time before boerewors gate-crashed the Great British winter.”
Air-dried fruit and vegetable crisp manufacturer Nim’s has released three new festive-themed snacks to its range.
Beet & Butt (beetroot and butternut squash), Bubble & Squeak (parsnip, beetroot and Brussels sprouts) and Brussels crisps will be available in share-sized bags at independent retailers and online at £1.95 per bag.
Founder Nimisha Raja said: “Christmas is a great time to celebrate with friends and family, so we thought we’d introduce a number of festive favourites and package them in share bags so they could be enjoyed at parties and big gatherings.
“If they prove popular we may even have to keep some of the varieties – I mean could Brussels sprouts be a big seller?”
Pladis has released a number of new products under the McVitie’s brand across a variety of formats under its Christmas campaign ‘Merry Biscuits Everyone’.
New products for 2019 included a McVitie’s Mini Gingerbread Men Decorating Kit and McVitie’s Luxury Chocolate Biscuit Selection.
Returning favourites make an appearance this holiday season, including McVitie’s Victoria, McVitie’s Family Circle, McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes Christmas Pole, and McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes Christmas Tin.
Jonathan Bull, head of McVitie’s commercial and seasonal brands at Pladis UK&I, said: “Christmas is the time of year when being with loved ones is at the top of the agenda, and every product in the McVitie’s Christmas range has been carefully crafted as the perfect sharing treat for these moments.
“So, whether consumers are gathering with friends and family, work colleagues or neighbours, there’s something for every occasion in our latest seasonal range.”
A giant 20cm-long pig in blanket is the crown jewel of Muscle Food’s Christmas range, reportedly the largest of its kind in the UK.
The retailer has also launched stuffing baubles – each topped with a mini pig in blanket – a six-inch stuffing slab, triple pigs in blankets and variants of the above injected with red Leicester, mild cheddar and smoked cheddar cheese.
Muscle Food has also brought back its Christmas hampers, containing everything needed to cook breakfast and lunch for six people, including vegetables and gravy.
Head of product innovation at Muscle Food Amy Kershaw said: “We’ve been busy working away since the start of the year to come up with an exciting Christmas range of gourmet products and extra-special hampers that we know our customers will love to celebrate with this festive season.
“Thanks to our hand-picked, award-winning, luxury range, Brits can have their festive feasts delivered straight to their front doors without any hassle.”
Discount supermarket Aldi is heading its Christmas range with what it has claimed is the cheapest turkey in Britain.
At £8.99, the Oakhurst Small Whole British Turkey sits alongside the retailer’s premium Exquisite Hand Finished Chesham Bronze Turkey this Christmas (£8.99 per kg).
Making up the rest of the range are the free-range, oat-fed Specially Selected Roly Poly Turkey, Specially Selected Free-Range Bronze Stuffed Joint, Specially Selected Turkey Parcel, Specially Selected Free-Range Stuffed Turkey Crown and British Fresh Turkey Crown.
Burton’s has unveiled a new festive look for its iconic Jammie Dodgers, the first limited-edition design since the biscuits’ launch more than 50 years ago.
The embossed ‘splat’ on the biscuits will be replaced with three new designs – a stocking, a Christmas tree and a star – and they will come in a festive-themed pack.
Jammie Dodgers will be joined by a number of other Burton’s brands receiving a Christmas makeover, including Maryland Cookies and Cathedral City.
Isabel Lydall, category and insights controller at Burton’s, said: “Seasonal biscuits are a major opportunity for retailers, worth £169m last year.
“We’re enabling them to make the most of this opportunity by stocking a Christmas product range that caters for the three seasonal biscuit occasions: in-home treating, novelty and gifting. Merchandising by these key occasions will make life easier for shoppers, enabling retailers to capitalise on increased demand.”
Thorntons has introduced a new bar to its range of Christmas chocolates.
The Elf Self Treat bar will sit alongside the chocolate maker’s re-designed Cheeky Reindeer chocolate model and the new white chocolate Snowy Bear model. Thorntons’ Continental Winter Markets Box includes chocolates inspired by traditional European Christmas Markets.
Ian Tweedale, marketing director of Thorntons, said: “Christmas is a time for sharing, but it is also a time for treating yourself. So, whether you want to buy chocolate for your loved ones, or you fancy your own festive delight, make sure to check out our festive collection.
“Complete with the famous Cheeky Elf and new Elf Self-Treat there’s a lot of fun to be had with this year’s new and improved range. With treats to get everyone’s taste buds tingling, you’ll be sure to pass the love on with this collection.”
