Zwanenberg’s buyout of Westlers boosts product quality and branding

Zwanenberg Food Group’s acquisition of meat manufacturer Westlers has helped the business revamp its product quality and marketing, according to the firm’s marketing controller.

Following the deal in late 2013, Westlers had boosted the meat content of its hot dogs and refocused its marketing to latch on to a growing trend for the product, Westlers marketing controller Robert Burns told FoodManufacture.co.uk in this exclusive video.

“We’ve become a lot more focused on our core hot dog offering and right from the outset we decided to look at our product and analyse it and see where we could make improvements,” he said.

‘Vast experience’

The firm has boosted the pork content of its frankfurters from 87% to 90% by drawing on the “vast experience” of Zwanenberg.

Watch this video to find out exactly what changes the products has gone through and what benefits Burns predicted they could bring the business.

He also revealed what he thought was driving a renaissance in the popularity of hot dogs among the food-to-go market.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Ashmore, commercial director at The Big Kitchen – which operates the Westlers brand for parent organisation Zwanenberg – said the rise in popularity for hot dogs was creating opportunities for the firm.

Zwanenberg has three manufacturing divisions in the UK, employing 200 people.