Oscar Mayer has teamed up with elite women’s rugby union players to launch a trio of chilled ready meals into Asda.
The Players World Kitchen range, which combines “bold flavours with nutritious ingredients”, was developed in collaboration with leading rugby players Carys Cox, Poppy Cleall and Maud Muir.
The athletes will receive 5% of all sales from the range as part of a royalty model aimed at addressing “financial inequality in women’s sport”. Despite the growth in popularity of women’s sport, many female athletes still earn only a fraction of their male counterparts and often balance elite competition with work, study or family life.
Inspired by the players’ favourite home-cooked meals, the range comprises: Cox’s Chicken, Chorizo & Prawn Paella, Cleall’s Slow-Cooked Beef Ragu Pasta, and Muir’s Greek-style Chicken & Lamb with Vegetable Pilaf. The meals will be available in Asda from mid-May (rsp: £4.25/400g).
“The business already had a strong reputation for launching ground-breaking branded chilled meals, but the creation and launch of our own Players World Kitchen brand is a real game-changer for us,” said Ian Toal, CEO of Oscar Mayer.
“Not only did we want to have greater creative control of our future launch opportunities with our own brand, we were keen to lock into the world of sport and create dishes that reflected the taste and nutritional preferences of our sporting heroes.”
Ex-England and current Saracens player Cleall added: “I loved the whole process, especially getting into the kitchen at Oscar Mayer HQ and bringing a dish to life that reflects what I’d cook at home. It’s exciting to see it go into the shops, but what really matters is that it supports women in sport and helps drive the game forward.”
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