● Cooking sauces’ decline is coming from shoppers buying less often; volume purchased each trip is also down, an indicator of shoppers becoming less engaged in the category.

● Part of this decline is driven by the growth of ready meals (+3.4%) in chilled convenience and the additions of sauces to more meat products.

●Branded cooking sauces account for 64% of the category, down from 65% in 2015. The small amount of growth from own label can be attributed to price, down by an average 6p, and innovations such as Lidl’s American-style sticky BBQ sauce pouches.

● The biggest trend in the category is pouches, with Blue Dragon, Homepride and The Spice Tailor all introducing NPD. The Loyd Grossman pouch range is now worth £5.2m.

● Shoppers are becoming more aware of health and looking for less processed options, which is why we have seen the introduction of sauce kits and pots to add flavour.