Guinness has unveiled a duo of new licensed food products in a bid to make the most of its surge in popularity.
The Diageo-owned stout has teamed up with Finsbury Food Group to launch a new Guinness Gift Cake, and partnered with Higgidy on a Slow-Cooked Steak & Guinness Pie.
The innovations were aimed at creating “brand visibility” for Guinness outside the booze aisle, according to Declan Hassett, licensing manager at Diageo.
“The beer, wines and spirits aisle is one of the least walked in-store,” he said. “And so creating that visibility for a brand like Guinness in other parts of the store was a key aim.”
Launching in Sainsbury’s, Tesco and on Ocado later this month, the Higgidy Slow-Cooked Steak & Guinness Pie (rsp: £375/200g) is made from Red Tractor assured British Beef in a Guinness, onion and herb gravy. The filling is baked in an all-butter shortcrust pastry, topped with rosemary sprinkled lid.
Meanwhile, the Finsbury Food Group-made Guinness Gift Cake (rsp: £6/218g) is a chocolate cake with caramel filling and coca-dusted frosting. It has landed in Tesco and Asda stores.
Guinness was “a household name, synonymous with iconic advertising and a clear identity that inspires creativity,” said Kimberley Curtis, brand manager at Finsbury Food Group.
While the first-Guinness branded food product – a Guinness Marmite – hit shelves over 15 years ago, the brand’s renewed popularity had “given more impetus” to recent collaborations, Hassett admitted.
“The success of Guinness has definitely made it easier,” he said. “More brands want to work with us now, but hopefully we pay back to the brand by making it even more relevant and more interesting to consumers.”
While innovations like the Guinness Gift Cake helped showcase Guinness’ “chocolate, coffee notes”, future branded products could “push the boundaries” by moving into less conventional uses for the stout, Hassett hinted.
“Guinness is such an international beer, we know that works so well with different types of food,” he said. “So, we definitely want to step into a little bit more adventurous spaces.”
According to this year’s Britain’s Biggest Alcohol Brand report, Guinness was worth £240.4m, having grown its value by an impressive 155% in the past decade [NIQ 52 w/e 19 April 2025].
Recent sales data suggests this growth spurt could be subsiding, however, with volumes in year-on-year decline according to the latest six-month and three-month figures [NIQ 26 & 12 w/e 12 July 2025].
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