FROZEN PIZZA VEGANA

Source: Crosta & Mollica

The pizza will roll into Ocado on 2 May

Upmarket Italian brand Crosta & Mollica has added a duo of frozen plant-based pizza SKUs to its line-up.

Vegana Pizza features the brand’s “signature sourdough base” covered with a tomato and caramelised balsamic onion sauce.

It is topped with red onions, grilled mushrooms, broccoli and a “creamy” chickpea sauce – inspired by ‘Farinata’, a Ligurian chickpea pancake – with rosemary, sea salt and olive oil.

The pizza will roll into Ocado on 2 May (rsp: £4.75). A “pizzetta-style”, offering two smaller-sized pizzas per pack, will roll into Waitrose on 19 June (rsp: £4.75/two-pack).

In line with the “majority” of the supplier’s pizza range, the innovation is HFSS-compliant.

“The essential nature of true Italian cooking is about using simple, natural ingredients and this has always been our approach, so we’ve had no need for lots of reformulations or new sub-brands,” said Crosta & Mollica founder James Orr.

Vegana Pizza was “the latest example of this approach”, he added.

The supplier, however, has spent recent months making concerted efforts to expand its offering beyond its pizza heartlands.

Over recent months, it has bolstered its frozen desserts line-up with a Mascarpone Cream & Marsala Tiramisu and a range of Tartufi truffles.

Previous innovations from the brand include the likes of spreads, frozen pastries, flatbreads and savoury biscuits.