Heck is expanding its product lineup with a new sub-brand, targeting younger shoppers, called What The Heck!
The new range consists of a trio of Sausage Bombs – essentially a large sausage meatball with a saucy centre; and Sausage Rashers – a flat shaped sausage that can be cooked in five minutes, in a similar vein to bacon.
The Bombs went on sale in two-packs in Tesco this week in Thai Red Spring chicken, Flamin’ Sriracha Pork and Hey Pesto! Chicken Italia flavoured variants (rsp: £3/260g each). The Thai Chicken and Pork variants will also go on sale in Sainsbury’s during April.
The North Yorkshire-based brand’s NPD also carries recipe suggestions on pack, in addition to cooking instructions, including for air friers.
Heck co-founder Jamie Keeble described the Sausage Bombs as an “an explosion of flavour” that took sausages into a variety of new usage occasions.
The Rashers, meanwhile, emphasised convenience, and were described as a low fat “game changer”, by Keeble. Pork and chicken variants go on sale in Sainsbury’s in April (rsp: £3/300g).
Keeble said the new What the Heck! platform had been created to encourage long-term product development and “real innovation”, something the sausage category was distinctly lacking in.
“Both creations speak to the edgy and intrepid nature of What The Heck! stands for, laying the foundation for future experimental launches and collaborations,” he added, while pointing to the strong support from Heck’s retail partners for its bid to inject innovation into the category, with the Tesco launch of the Bombs this week gaining significant shelf space.
The NPD will be supported by a social media, influencer and PR campaign.
The unveiling of the new sub-brand follows an extensive packaging refresh within the core Heck brand earlier this year, driven by a £1m investment in the business – now celebrating its tenth anniversary – as it attempts to return to growth. Keeble said sales had been “fantastic” since the turn of the year.
Heck had previously faced a challenging past two years, exacerbated by the Covid pandemic, which led it to scale back its offering in 2023.
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