Heinz is pulling out of pizza manufacturing and ditching its Main Street Bistro frozen ready meal range only a year after its launch because, it says, both areas “failed to meet expectations”.

The closure of the company’s Grimsby pizza plant - which is subject to a 90-day consultation period with workers - means the withdrawal of Heinz’s Pizza Pleasure range as well as a smaller own label business. Its other factories and frozen brands are unaffected.

Pizza Pleasure launched in September 2001 with a £10m support campaign, while Main Street Bistro’s marketing budget topped £7m in the six months following its March 2002 launch.

For further details see this week’s issue of The Grocer.

Topics