Turkey Twizzlers have made their first appearance in chilled aisles as Bernard Matthews bids to compete with the sausage market for convenience and family occasions.
The infamous Twizzler, which was relaunched across the mults in August 2020 after 15 years, has been in Tesco’s chillers at more than 500 stores since last Friday (22 January). It is also set to roll into Morrisons stores from this weekend.
Available in two flavours – Cumberland Sausage and plain Seasoned Sausage – the family-orientated turkey NPD comes in an oven-ready foil tray format containing eight Twizzlers (rsp: £3).
Bernard Matthews said this packaging gave its fresh Turkey Twizzlers a “more premium” look and that the number of Twizzlers in each pack provided a point of difference to sausages, which generally came in six-pack sizes.
“We’re opening it up to a broader range of people who don’t necessarily buy frozen but would buy fresh and would buy into sausages,” said Bernard Matthews marketing director David Leigh.
“The product flavour profiles match sausages [and] the product has a lot of connotations with sausage. We thought sausages exist in fresh and frozen, so why can’t the Twizzler?”
Leigh explained the product was broadly similar in content to its frozen cousins and that the two flavours had been chosen for the chilled NPD because the “majority of purchases” in sausages funnelled through the Cumberland and plain flavour types.
However, he added there were no plans to bring the sausage flavours into the frozen range, with Bernard Matthews instead planning to introduce different frozen flavours later in 2021.
It comes after Bernard Matthews reincarnated the frozen Turkey Twizzler to great fanfare last summer after an absence of 15 years. The product was The Grocer’s top frozen launch in last month’s Top Products survey.
The product has been billed as significantly healthier than its predecessor as it contains around double the turkey content and fewer calories.
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