Battle of the brands: family firm confronts ABP Food

Debbie & Andrew’s sausages was sold to ABP Foods’ company WA Turner in January 2013.

In a company statement, ABP Foods said: “WA Turner, supplier of quality sausages across several of the leading UK multiples in both supermarket own-label and branded formats recently acquired the Debbie & Andrew’s brand from Vion UK.”​

Andrew Keeble told FoodManufacture.co.uk: “We’re going up against our old brand – now owned by ABP Foods, which is a major player. I’m not convinced that such a niche brand can sit in a multimillion-pound organisation.”​

Keeble is trying to stop ABP Foods using photographs of his family to promote the brand on its website, which he claims is breaking the terms of the agreement.

‘A halo effect’​

He said: “Debbie & Andrew’s is a very nice brand and it’s giving them a halo effect. But they’re peddling a myth to the public.”​

ABP Foods said: “​Since purchasing the brand we are in the process of reviewing all the web content.”​

The Keebles founded Debbie & Andrew’s sausages in 2000 and built up the premium sausage business before selling it to JJ Tranfield in 2005. Andrew and his wife, Debbie, continued to run the company.

“At the time, Tranfield was the largest producer by volume in the UK and did a lot of business with Asda,”​ said Keeble. “Tranfield ceo Colin Wright was very forward-thinking and it was a very entrepreneurial business.”​

But Vion acquired Tranfield in 2007 and the Keebles found they had a new Dutch owner.

They remained directors of the business under Vion but eventually resigned in March 2012 – just months before Vion announced it was exiting the UK​.

‘Rough and expensive time in the UK’​

Keeble said: “We parted company well with Vion.They had good intentions but they’re a farming business and underestimated how the UK operated. They’ve had a rough and expensive time in the UK.”​

When Vion put the Debbie & Andrew’s Sausage brand up for sale​, the Keebles tried to buy it back. But Vion preferred to sell it to ABP Foods.

“I was really quite upset; it was a personal brand and we’d put a lot of time and effort into it,” said ​Keeble.

Now the Keebles are fighting back with the launch of a younger, trendier sausage brand called Heck.

They’ve invested £300,000 in machinery, £200,000 on branding and research and have got their entire family on board.

To design the brand and packaging, they employed the same agency that designed the highly successful Saucy Fish Co brand, Elmwood. On April 8, the product will appear on the shelves of 550 Tesco stores across the UK.

“It’s really exciting, it’s great – I’m bricking it!”​ said Keeble. “Tesco saw the amount of effort and money we’d spent on it. Apart from Kerry Foods, none of the other big players – Tulip and ABP – would have spent the money we’ve spent. The research we’ve put in means we can punch heavier than our weight.”​

Timeline: the life of the Debbie & Andrew’s brand​

2000​ The Keebles established Debbie & Andrew’s sausages.

2005​ The brand is sold to JJ Tranfield, but the Keebles continue to run the company.

2007​ JJ Tranfield is sold to Vion. Debbie and Andrew remain directors and lead the brand’s integration into the Vion group.

March 2012​ Andrew and Debbie resign from the business.

November 2012​ Vion announces its exit from the UK food business.

January 2013​ Vion sells Debbie & Andrew’s to ABP Foods.

April 2013​ The Keebles launch their Heck brand of sausages in Tesco.