Poor sales of Dolmio have dragged down the performance of the entire ambient pasta cooking sauces market.

Volume sales of the market-leading Mars brand crashed 14.1% in 12 months [SymphonyIRI 52 w/e 4 August 2012] in an overall category down 5% - but when Dolmio sales are stripped out, volume sales for the rest of the category actually show 1.7% growth.

Mars said it had initiated a strategic plan to revive Dolmio. “This is the beginning of what we anticipate will become a prolonged period of growth not only for our brand but also the overall category,” said brand manager Alex Murphy.