Arnott’s backflips on Pizza Shapes

HERE’S the best news of the day. Arnott’s has resurrected its original Pizza Shapes flavour following a huge backlash.

ARNOTT’S is resurrecting the original Pizza Shapes flavour which it dumped earlier this year, sparking huge customer backlash — but insists the whole thing was not a marketing stunt.

The biscuit maker told news.com.au it was bringing the flavour “back by popular demand”.

“Aussies have clearly shown us the love they have for Original Pizza Shapes and we’re happy to announce the product will be returning to shelves over the coming weeks,” the company said in a statement.

Arnott’s angered customers when it overhauled its Shapes recipes in April to improve the lunch box snack’s health star rating, with many describing the new flavours as “disgusting”.

Top-selling flavours Original BBQ, Chicken Crimpy and Savoury remained available alongside the new range, but Original Pizza was dumped in favour of the new version.

“Why did you change Pizza Shapes?” asked one parent at the time. “My kids won’t eat them now. That was a lunch box staple in our household. Haven’t you heard the saying if it ain’t broke don’t fix it? Why would you change it?”

The revived Pizza flavour joins the three other original varieties alongside the six new flavours: Pizza, BBQ, Cheddar, Cheese and Bacon, Nacho Cheese and Roast Chicken.

Nicky Thomson, global communications manager for Arnott’s, told news.com.au sales across the new range had been “mixed”.

“While we have seen small declines on some flavours, by and large, most Aussies are happily buying the new Shapes range,” she said.

Sales of Original BBQ have declined by 34 per cent, but sales of both the old and new varieties combined have increased by 24 per cent. “We hope there is similar appetite for both new and Original Pizza,” Ms Thomson said.

Ms Thomson said the changes in April were made “with the best intentions” and in response to feedback that “Shapes-lovers wanted more flavour”.

“As you can imagine, to achieve the new recipes, whereby the flavour is baked into the biscuit and sprinkled on both sides, millions of dollars have been invested in new equipment at our bakeries, R&D, sensory and flavour development work as well as an extensive marketing campaign — it would be a very elaborate stunt,” she said.

“We’ve been a household name for 150 years, we wouldn’t compromise the relationship we have with Australian families for a gimmick.”

Arnott’s, which sells 74 million boxes of Shapes a year, will seek to secure equal supermarket shelf space for the old and new flavours. Ms Thomson said abandoning the new flavours wasn’t out of the question.

“It’s up to the retailer, but absolutely. What we have on shelf is dictated by what people buy,” she said — but denied the flavour overhaul was a “mistake”.

“No, I wouldn’t say that it was a huge mistake. We’re actually selling more BBQ in its entirety now with both variants available, so we see it as a sales opportunity.

“But there’s no denying some consumers are not happy with the changes we’ve made.”

Last year, Arnott’s copped a $51,000 fine from the ACCC for misleading consumers about the amount of saturated fat in its Shapes Light & Crispy varieties.

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