Birds Eye is hoping to take the fear factor out of handling raw fish - and boost total category sales - with the launch of two new "no touch" premium ranges.
The frozen giant is eyeing £10m in combined first-year sales for its new Bake to Perfection and Naked & Natural ranges, which are being launched this month under its premium banner Simply. The ranges will be supported by a £3.2m TV ad campaign that also kicks off mid-month.
The fish comes wrapped in a specially patented foil pouch, which creates a vaccuum seal to prevent the aroma and juices from escaping. Consumers just have to place the frozen fillets into the oven to bake.
The quick and convenient method did away with the hassle of cooking and touching raw fish, said Ben Pearman, Birds Eye's marketing director.
"Current product offerings don't address the usage barriers we have identified, so the growth in households buying into the sector is lower than expected," he said. "Most people have a fear of cooking fish as it can be quite smelly and messy. With these products they don't even have to touch the fish."
The five-strong Simply Bake to Perfection range consists of fillets topped with herb-infused butter and comes in variants such as wild pink salmon fillets with a lemon & herb butter sauce, succulent king prawns with a sweet chilli sauce and basa fillets with a chilli & lemongrass butter sauce, rsp £3.99.
Naked & Natural follows the same format but without sauce and is aimed at more confident cooks who prefer to make their own coating. It is available in chunky cod, salmon, haddock and pollock fillet variants, rsp £3.49.
Pearman predicted the ranges would appeal to recession-hit consumers who couldn't afford to eat fish in restaurants.
The ranges were also expected to help rejuvenate the £85m natural, uncoated fish category, which is growing at 4% year-on-year compared with 6% for the entire frozen fish market, according to Birds Eye.
The frozen giant is eyeing £10m in combined first-year sales for its new Bake to Perfection and Naked & Natural ranges, which are being launched this month under its premium banner Simply. The ranges will be supported by a £3.2m TV ad campaign that also kicks off mid-month.
The fish comes wrapped in a specially patented foil pouch, which creates a vaccuum seal to prevent the aroma and juices from escaping. Consumers just have to place the frozen fillets into the oven to bake.
The quick and convenient method did away with the hassle of cooking and touching raw fish, said Ben Pearman, Birds Eye's marketing director.
"Current product offerings don't address the usage barriers we have identified, so the growth in households buying into the sector is lower than expected," he said. "Most people have a fear of cooking fish as it can be quite smelly and messy. With these products they don't even have to touch the fish."
The five-strong Simply Bake to Perfection range consists of fillets topped with herb-infused butter and comes in variants such as wild pink salmon fillets with a lemon & herb butter sauce, succulent king prawns with a sweet chilli sauce and basa fillets with a chilli & lemongrass butter sauce, rsp £3.99.
Naked & Natural follows the same format but without sauce and is aimed at more confident cooks who prefer to make their own coating. It is available in chunky cod, salmon, haddock and pollock fillet variants, rsp £3.49.
Pearman predicted the ranges would appeal to recession-hit consumers who couldn't afford to eat fish in restaurants.
The ranges were also expected to help rejuvenate the £85m natural, uncoated fish category, which is growing at 4% year-on-year compared with 6% for the entire frozen fish market, according to Birds Eye.
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