US confectionery giant Hershey’s has set its sights on the UK biscuit category with the latest NPD for its Reese’s brand.
The new biscuits, called Reese’s Rounds, represent Hershey’s first entry into the category. Sold in packs of eight, they will hit shelves later this month (rsp: £1.50).
The product - which comprises a biscuit base, peanut butter and chocolate - mark the first time a real peanut butter biscuit has launched in the UK, according to Lightbody Ventures, the manufacturer and licence holder of the new range. Other biscuits use flavouring or peanut chips, it claimed.
“The manufacturing challenges around producing any biscuit in the UK with real peanut butter has meant there has been a large gap in the market,” said John Steele, commercial controller at Lightbody, which also manages the fresh bakery licence for Hershey’s in the US.
Reese’s Rounds have been created to capitalise on strong sales of peanut butter and the trend for products containing it.
Reese’s, which is worth $3bn globally, branched out into the UK spreads category with Reese’s Creamy Peanut Spread earlier this year. Reese’s Rounds were being launched at a time when more than half a million households had added peanut butter to their regular purchases, said Steele. “It is the second biggest spread in the UK, with 17.9 million tonnes sold in the take home market in 2015.”
Sales of biscuits in the UK are going stale, with value sales down 0.3% on volumes down 0.8% [Kantar Worldpanel 52 w/e 17 July 2016].
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