Premier Adds Hartley's Fruit Toppers Desserts

02/05/08 Aimed principally at families with children, but also appealing to adults, the sauces are made from over 70% pure fruit, with no added colours or flavours - promising to bring a smile to children’s tea times and give mums the opportunity to encourage their kids to eat a healthier option.

Adding to the company’s growing range of squeezy products, Fruit Toppers feature strong Hartley’s branding to reinforce the fruit content message and ensure instant recognition on-shelf.

The packaging also suggests usage occasions - on ice cream, chopped fruit or yoghurt, in order to capitalise on current consumption and attract new consumers to the market.

Helen Touchais, Hartley’s marketing controller says: “Worth £17.4m, Sauces is one of the biggest ambient desserts sectors and is key to driving category growth. The Kids Sauces sector offers a real opportunity to grow the category through healthier NPD. As a brand that is out-performing the market, Hartley’s is well placed to spearhead growth in sauces with Fruit Toppers!

“Fruit Toppers bring much needed brand innovation into the mainstream sauces category, have great alignment with the major consumer trends of convenience and health for children and have the added benefit of bringing some fun to tea time by allowing kids to personalise their puddings, whilst increasing their fruit intake.”

Hartley’s is a strong and growing brand - last year delivering over 60% of desserts category growth and over 50% of the individual sector growth. The brand is outperforming all other brands in the ambient desserts category, growing at +15.3% year-on-year.

Hartley’s Fruit Toppers are available from late May, in flavours of Raspberry, Blackcurrant and Tropical. They have a RSP of £1.79 for 300g and each case includes six 300g packs.

Premier Foods recommends merchandising Fruit Toppers within ambient desserts and ice cream sundries to maximise the sales opportunity.