Cuckoo calls for foodservice push

By Rod Addy

- Last updated on GMT

Bircher muesli comes in five variants
Bircher muesli comes in five variants
Cuckoo aims to quadruple sales of its Bircher muesli brand to £500,000 by the end of 2015 by targeting expansion in foodservice outlets as well as boosting retail growth.

The firm has been trading for a year. It sealed limited supply deals with Waitrose, Booths and First Great Western Trains this summer and hopes to build on these.

“We have established a turnover for this year of £120,000,”​ Lucy Wright, co-founder of Cuckoo, told FoodManufacture.co.uk. “By the end of 2015 we want to reach £500,000.”

Potential

The First Great Western contract in particular took it in a direction offering a lot of potential, said Wright. “It represents foodservice. We are in conversations with some of the UK’s leading foodservice companies.”

Cuckoo also supplied AMT Coffee outlets and she said it aimed to grow that part of the business as well.

“Our main focus before was retail – we wanted to get the brand out there and grow awareness of it.”​ Cuckoo currently supplies 17 Waitrose stores and nine Booths stores with its Bircher muesli, which is produced in Wales. Three more Waitrose stores were coming on board in February, said Wright.

There are five variants in the range: apple & cinnamon spice, mango & coconut, elderflower & cranberry, choco sour cherry, and apricot & Madagascan vanilla. All products are made with jumbo oats and yogurt in single-serve 190g pots, containing 29% of an adult’s daily recommended intake of beta-glucan.

‘Talking to large retailers’

In addition to plans to boost Bircher’s penetration of the foodservice sector, Wright added: “We would look to grow within the retailers we are in now. We are talking to a number of large retailers to grow the brand and be available nationwide.”

Wright did not rule out extending the brand to cover other types of products. “In the future I would like to see our muesli and three or four other ranges all focused on on-the-go ​[consumption], but for now we are focused on establishing the core range.”

Cuckoo launched the Bircher brand in Selfridges in December 2013 and was founded by Wright and friend Anna Mackenzie, who both live in Battersea, London.

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