Although national chains and upmarket retailers such as Pret A Manger and Marks & Spencer seem to champion a new added-value salad every week, from the supply side of things it can be difficult for smaller firms to finance such trend-based NPD.
Matt Boyns, commercial manager of Shropshire salad grower PDM Produce, explains: “The challenge on added value is that the value isn’t huge. “It’s not like we can command 100 per cent more for the product. It costs exponentially more to pack a small line than a commodity line, and moving things round in the factory has a significant cost. There’s not enough of a reward on NPD to do too much of it.”
That said, PDM has one added-value line in Aldi at the moment – its mixed bag of curly kale, red pak choi, red chard and spinach is under the discounter’s ‘Specially Selected’ range.
The idea was to capitalise on the ongoing trend for kale, says Boyns, by mixing it with a selection of sweeter leaves. “Kale has a huge following at the moment – curly kale is seeing 40 per cent value and volume growth year on year, so we were trying to capture that sentiment. The challenge for curly kale is that it has quite a brassica flavour – you have to really want to eat it.”
Tapping into the health-conscious consumer has been the driving force behind much recent fresh produce NPD, and another innovative salad supplier is making the most of salad as a sandwich or light meal substitute.
Vitacress subsidiary Steve’s Leaves has launched two new salad bowls – the Perfect Ploughman’s, complete with crackers, cheese and pickles, and the Terrific Thai Salad with dried mango, coconut and dressings, which it says will “appeal to consumers with an ‘on-the-go’ lifestyle”.
Emily Dow, Steve’s Leaves brand manager at Vitacress says: “Today’s consumers are interested in exploring new flavours and exciting products. It is for this reason that Steve’s Leaves is always working on discovering innovative baby salad leaves.”
Other recent additions to the Steve’s Leaves portfolio include peppery baby watercress, which is cut earlier than normal watercress, as well as pea shoots, and fennel tops. “This month we are expanding our range with the launch of four new products to the Steve’s Leaves family,” adds Dow. “These will feature two brand new leaves: the uniquely mild Confetti Coriander and the gloriously colourful Red Frilly Mustard. Our salad bags are packaged in smaller bags, which makes them the ideal size for one or two meals, ensuring less waste in homes.”
Boyns believes added-value salads are a good way of “differentiating the product” and getting people to buy into the wider salad category. One of the worst hit categories by supermarket price wars, ongoing deflation in wholehead lettuce continues to cause headaches, he says, so any growth in added value or bagged salads is welcome relief.
“Wholehead salads are seeing continued deflation, which is somewhat annoying. The category is down slightly on spend and is seeing some limited growth in volumes. It’s all part of the price war,” he says.
“We are seeing some relatively modest value growth in bagged salads, coming from increased purchase frequency. There has actually been some reduced penetration and some people trading out of bagged salads in response to the wholehead deflation, but the people who remain are buying more.”
As the economy continues to show green shoots of optimism, NPD and added-value salads must surely be a way of capturing consumer interest and boosting the category – and as more and more suppliers get involved, it’s certainly an area to watch for the future.
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