Southern Co-op is in talks to stock Soup in a Bun after the TV show-winning innovation was delisted by Tesco.
Soup in a Bun - a bread roll that is heated up, scooped out and filled with soup - emerged victorious last April in the Channel Five TV reality show, Breaking into Tesco. But poor sales prompted the multiple to pull the plug last October.
Creator Nick Smallwood has since taken the product to Southern, who confirmed it was talking to the entrepreneur about a deal, although it said it was too early to say if the product would be the same.
In the meantime, Smallwood blamed the weak performance of Soup in a Bun on a series of "blunders" by Tesco.
"I was led to believe Soup in a Bun would be packaged in a biodegradable box," he said. "But they used cheap-looking transparent bags that piled up messily on shelf. "
Smallwood also said the type of bread used in the product was "heavier" than he had specified, and claimed Tesco had stocked Soup in a Bun in the wrong outlets.
"It was designed for the impulse market. But Tesco stocked it in big stores where its price point was too high.
"It's all a huge PR blunder by Tesco," Smallwood added.
A Tesco spokesman rejected Smallwood's claims. "Unfortunately our customers did not take to it," he said. "It went into over 150 of our large stores so it was available to a high number of shoppers.
"The packaging change was influenced by our target of a 25% packaging reduction by 2010," he added.
Soup in a Bun - a bread roll that is heated up, scooped out and filled with soup - emerged victorious last April in the Channel Five TV reality show, Breaking into Tesco. But poor sales prompted the multiple to pull the plug last October.
Creator Nick Smallwood has since taken the product to Southern, who confirmed it was talking to the entrepreneur about a deal, although it said it was too early to say if the product would be the same.
In the meantime, Smallwood blamed the weak performance of Soup in a Bun on a series of "blunders" by Tesco.
"I was led to believe Soup in a Bun would be packaged in a biodegradable box," he said. "But they used cheap-looking transparent bags that piled up messily on shelf. "
Smallwood also said the type of bread used in the product was "heavier" than he had specified, and claimed Tesco had stocked Soup in a Bun in the wrong outlets.
"It was designed for the impulse market. But Tesco stocked it in big stores where its price point was too high.
"It's all a huge PR blunder by Tesco," Smallwood added.
A Tesco spokesman rejected Smallwood's claims. "Unfortunately our customers did not take to it," he said. "It went into over 150 of our large stores so it was available to a high number of shoppers.
"The packaging change was influenced by our target of a 25% packaging reduction by 2010," he added.
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