Country Choice has revealed an all new identity for its bake-in-pack “Savour It” concept.
Savour It, which includes a comprehensive range of hot, ready-assembled toasties, wraps, and paninis, allows convenience retailers to elevate their hot food to go offer by providing consumers with delicious handheld snacks without the wait.
“Consumer preferences and trends evolve over time and giving the Savour It concept a new identity means that it will continue to stay aligned with contemporary tastes and preferences,” said Phil Carratt, Head of Marketing and Strategy. “We have worked hard to make Savour It one of the most recognisable and successful hot food concepts for convenience retailers. In what is a very competitive and crowded market giving the brand a new identity will ensure that it continues to stand out, attract new consumers and retain existing ones. We have achieved this by incorporating new, eye-catching graphics on the packaging and extending the use of these to point of sale material, equipment solutions and other promotional items such as posters, car park banners, flag options, bollard covers, and window vinyls, all of which enable a retailer to make the Savour It brand more visible to consumers. The product packaging also includes a window that allows consumers to see the products they are purchasing, enhancing their confidence in the quality and freshness of the food and making it easier for them to make quick decisions while shopping.
“The product range is far more extensive than when we first launched the concept, with the addition of wraps, paninis and toasties. The new branding allows us to capture this whilst ensuring consistency across all touchpoints, from the logo and packaging to marketing materials and social media.”
The toasties are made using premium white bloomer bread and feature quality ingredients, including a rich béchamel sauce, whilst the wraps are made with bar-marked tortilla wraps, paired with generous international fillings. The paninis, also bar-marked, are big on flavour and filled with classic all-day fillings. All three options are quick and easy to prepare and cut out the need for time-consuming preparation. Simply bake the products from frozen in approximately 25 minutes and display them in a suitable hot unit for up to four hours. The wraps and paninis can be held for up to two hours.
The toasties range includes: Four Cheese & Onion – a blend of vintage Cheddar, mozzarella cheese, cheddar, Red Leicester cheese, béchamel, and red onion; Ham & Cheese – Wiltshire ham, mild Cheddar cheese, and béchamel sauce; Tuna Melt – tuna, spring onion, mozzarella cheese, and béchamel sauce, and BBQ Chicken – BBQ chicken, mozzarella cheese, mustard, béchamel sauce, and pink pickled onion.
The tantalising panini range includes Ham & Cheese – Wiltshire ham and Cheddar cheese with a mustard béchamel sauce; Sausage Panini – succulent pork sausages with sage, marjoram, basil, oregano, and thyme; Four Cheese & Red Onion – mature Cheddar, regato, Red Leicester, and mozzarella cheese with crispy onions and mayo; and a Bacon Panini with smoke flavoured back bacon rashers.
Finally comes the range of bar-marked tortilla wraps with tasty fillings from around the world including a Meatball Melt – pork meatballs in a herby tomato sauce with mozzarella and mature Cheddar cheese and Chicken Fajita – chicken breast pieces, Cheddar cheese, and red peppers with a spicy fajita sauce.
The new Savour It proposition comes with a choice of branded hot display units including floor-standing and on-counter options, suitable for any size of store. Retailers can either use their existing in-store bakery oven or rent or purchase a compact oven from Country Choice that comes complete with a stand, trays, oven gloves, and tongs.
As with all of its products and concepts, Country Choice provides full training and support for the Savour It concept, free of charge, so that retailers can be confident in baking and displaying the range. In fact, everything the retailer needs to promote the great looking new Savour It concept.
Christmas may be in our rear-view mirrors but that only means that Easter is getting ever closer, which is why Gnaw Chocolate has introduced a range of reassuringly chunky flat eggs in an array of intriguing formats: Rocky Road, Totally Nuts, Chocolate Curls and Eggs-travaganza offerings.
Consumers might be under the misapprehension that Gnaw’s refusal to subscribe to hollow, “airy” eggs could be down to attention-seeking gimmickry but in truth you couldn’t be more wrong.
When a chocolatier insists on only using Columbian chocolate to assemble 40 per cent cocoa milk chocolate, it’s important to create a thickness that not only ensures a suitably satisfying snap but provides the all-important density that can accommodate the tasty inclusions.
More important of all, a flat egg requires less packaging than a rotund “image over substance” hollow egg, which is very important when Gnaw takes pride in its stance as an artisanal chocolate producer with strong sustainable values:
Leaning heavily on clean, solar energy provided by the panels on their manufacturing unit
Refusing to dabble in planet unfriendly palm oil
Using 100 per cent compostable/recyclable chocolate wrappers using planet-friendly vegetable inks
In 2025 relaunching their iconic chocolate buttons in leading-edge pouches with a zero micro plastic footprint
All four Gnaw eggs have a £10 RRP and vary in weight (148g – 115g depending on topping) and are available throughout the independent channel (via wholesalers such as Cress, Diverse & Cotswold Fayre).
JTI (Japan Tobacco International) has announced a price repositioning of its Mayfair Gold ready-made cigarettes from an RRP of £13.30 to £12.50 for a pack of 20.
Since its launch in October 2023, Mayfair Gold has achieved remarkable success, securing the top spot as the UK’s fastest-growing new brand in 2024. This has generated an impressive retail sales value of £94.4M. This new price adjustment positions Mayfair Gold as JTI’s most affordable ready-made cigarette offering, giving retailers the opportunity to stock a trusted, premium Virginia blend tobacco brand at a competitive price.
The RRP reduction is especially timely as the Ultra Value segment continues to lead in market share growth, now comprising 17.9 per cent of the total tobacco market. By offering Mayfair Gold at RRP of £12.50, retailers can capitalise on this upward trend, meeting consumer demand while enhancing their sales potential.
“We’re incredibly pleased with the performance of Mayfair Gold since its launch, and this price repositioning further strengthens its appeal," said Marketing Director Mark McGuinness. "With a reduction on the RRP of 80p per pack, we are making the brand even more accessible to shoppers, while providing retailers with an excellent opportunity to increase sales.”
He continued, “As costs continue to rise and consumer budgets tighten, we remain dedicated to offering retailers top-quality products at the most competitive prices, ensuring they can maximise their profit opportunities.”
This price repositioning follows the successful introduction of Mayfair Gold Rolling Tobacco into the Ultra Value category in September 2024, underscoring JTI’s ongoing commitment to innovation and meeting consumer preferences.
Leading sparkling flavoured water brand Rubicon Spring is set to shake up the functional water game in 2025 with the launch of its new Rubicon Spring Vits still range, hitting shelves in March.
Crafted with refreshing spring water, real fruit juice, and natural flavours, the product is available in three variants: Black Cherry Pomegranate, Mango Passion, and Strawberry Watermelon, all delivering a burst of essential vitamins to boost energy and immunity.
“78 per cent of shoppers are still choosing drinks for enjoyment, but aiming to drink more water. Taste remains the top driver but 69 per cent are interested in added benefits such as energy and immunity,” Lisa McKenna, head of brand for Rubicon, said.
“We know consumers want to make smarter soft drink choices without compromising on taste so offering a great tasting product with added health benefits will bring more consumers into the functional water category.
“There is a perfect gap in the market for a trusted and established brand like Rubicon Spring to boost this category and help retailers tap into its full potential. Rubicon Spring has more than three times the brand awareness of the leading functional water brand and the new Spring Vits range contains 100 per cent of the consumer’s recommended daily vitamin intake of a multivitamin blend, which is unlike any other brand on the market, as well as being full of the tasty fruit flavours that Rubicon is known for.”
From 11 March, Rubicon Spring sparkling flavoured water is set to disrupt the functional water category with its brand-new Rubicon Spring Vits still range.
Available in plain and £1.29 PMP options, Rubicon Spring Vits is launching in three flavours: Black Cherry Pomegranate, Mango Passion and Strawberry Watermelon. Packed with essential vitamins to support energy and immunity and made with spring water, fruit juice and natural flavours, each format is just 15 calories and fully HFSS compliant.
“78 per cent of shoppers are still choosing drinks for enjoyment, but aiming to drink more water," said Lisa McKenna, Head of Brand for Rubicon. "Taste remains the top driver but 69 per cent are interested in added benefits such as energy and immunity.
“We know consumers want to make smarter soft drink choices without compromising on taste so offering a great tasting product with added health benefits will bring more consumers into the functional water category.
“There is a perfect gap in the market for a trusted and established brand like Rubicon Spring to boost this category and help retailers tap into its full potential. Rubicon Spring has more than three times the brand awareness of the leading functional water brand and the new Spring Vits range contains 100 per cent of the consumer’s recommended daily vitamin intake of a multivitamin blend, which is unlike any other brand on the market, as well as being full of the tasty fruit flavours that Rubicon is known for.”
The launch will be backed by £2 million brand investment to drive trial and awareness including national out of home advertising, social media and sampling.
In consumer testing, 78 per cent of shoppers said they would buy, so retailers can maximise their sales by using Rubicon's vibrant, attention-grabbing PoS materials to create in-store theatre, ensuring that shoppers can’t miss them on shelf. Stock in the chiller next to your other flavoured water brands as this is where shoppers will look for them.
Scandinavian Tobacco Group UK has announced the launch of Signature Action Mix cigarillos, which are available to retailers now.
Signature Action Mix cigarillos contain two capsules combining the flavours of Berry and Mint in ten-packs with an RRP of just £5.85 which is lower than competitor brands, but still with an attractive margin for retailers. The new Action Mix cigarillos will be a key focus for STG UK’s growing sales force, who will be targeting over 10,000 convenience stores in the coming months to talk to them about the launch, as well as offering them branded merchandise. There will also be promotions in the wholesale channel of both Action and Action Mix, as well as a significant trade comms campaign to support the launch, too.
The Cigarillo category only started five years ago in the UK and is now worth nearly £150m in annual sales, accounting for over 56 per cent of all cigar volume. STG UK launched the original Signature Action brand in the same year, with sales now really taking off, growing by over 50 per cent year on year.
“We know many adult smokers continue to look for features they used to enjoy with cigarettes such as flavour, click filters and smaller pack sizes, so these new Signature Action Mix cigarillos should really hit the spot," said STG’s UK Head of Marketing, Prianka Jhingan. "The continued positive performance of the cigarillos category is showing no sign of slowing, so we’d urge retailers to get behind this exciting launch and enjoy those profitable sales.”