Beerenberg’s got more on the plate
IN a telling sign of its ambition and capacity to grow, Adelaide Hills jams and condiments maker Beerenberg has launched a new product range that it says will increase annual sales by 15 per cent.
IN a telling sign of its ambition and capacity to grow, Adelaide Hills jams and condiments maker Beerenberg has launched a new product range that it says will increase annual sales by 15 per cent.
The new range of 30-minute meal bases is a “big step-up for the group which has spent close to two years working on its recipes and new branding,” Beerenberg managing director Anthony Paech told The Advertiser.
“We see good demand for it because we are shaking up a stale, pouch-driven category with our bottled home-style jars,” he said.
“We expect we’ll be selling at least a million jars annually of this by 2020.”
The group, which now employs 85 full-time equivalent staff at its newly built home next to its strawberry farm, recently conducted taste tests and sold a few of the jars at the Royal Adelaide Show.
Currently sold in a few independent stores and at is Hills outlet, the group said the products would be on independent supermarket shelves by the end of this month.
“There is whole program of development behind this, so it will be rolled out nationally and internationally as well,” Mr Paech said.
In a first for its products, the packaging for its four meal bases features recipes and a photograph of the finished meal.
In June this year, Beerenberg completed a $14 million plus construction of a new factory, offices and warehouse on land the Paech family has farmed since 1839.
“We’ve got ambition and we have the capacity to grow, so there is more to do,” he said.
Beerenberg marketing director Sally Paech said the meal bases were aimed at families with older kids (10+ years) looking for something new, guilt-free, quick, wholesome and delicious.
“The meal base category has been the same for years with familiar dishes such as apricot chicken and beef stroganoff.
“While these will always have a place in the kitchen, I know being a mum of a 10 and 12 year old myself that families are always wanting something new, a bit more interesting, that everyone will eat.
“Our delicious new products fill this gap,” Ms Paech said.
Last year, the group launched a range of slow cooker sauces in Australia and US.
The Paech family arrived from Prussia in 1839 and settled on the land that mainly operated as a dairy farm until the first strawberries were grown in 1967. Anthony and Sally’s father, Grant, also made the first jars of jam in 1971.