Innovation helps Santa Maria secure £30.4M sales
The Milton Keynes-based business has launched 30 new products in the past 12 months which now account for 25% of its current Mexican range.
The move is set to increase visibility on shelf as the Mexican category hits £160M in value sales, Santa Maria’s marketing manager Bhavika Thakrar claimed.
The category was now growing faster than ambient Indian and ambient Chinese within the world food arena, according to data from Kantar Worldpanel.
Santa Maria’s new launches in 2014 took its total number of stock keeping units up to 69.
New products
The new products include a paprika and chilli chipotle, chilli paste, enchilada seasoning mix, cacao and ancho chilli seasoning and sauce, Mexican meatball seasoning and sauce, guacamole dip mix, pineapple salsa and an onion and garlic dip.
“Our taste developers travel the world to explore great tasting ingredients and work with the world’s leading chefs,” Thakrar said.
“This puts us in the perfect position to develop quality products that deliver the best taste, guaranteed.”
The firm would continue to innovate throughout the coming year, she added.
Santa Maria is so confident in its new range of products it is offering a ‘money back’ guarantee on products if consumers don’t feel it tastes better than the competition.
“We are confident that consumers will love the taste of our products as much as we do and will think they’re better than the competition,” said Thakrar.
“That’s why we’re launching a taste guarantee offering them their money back. The move will help increase dwell time at the fixture by driving re-appraisal.”
Innovation conference
Meanwhile, innovation in food and drink will be the focus of a one-day conference on June 26, staged by FoodManufacture.co.uk’s publisher William Reed Business Media.
New Frontiers in Food and Drink will be staged in partnership with our sister titles: British Baker, Meat Trades Journal and The Grocer at etc.venues, St Pauls, London.
The day offers a programme of presentations, roundtable discussions, taste testing and breakout sessions designed to enhance, embrace and encourage new ideas
Speakers include the University of Oxford’s Charles Spence, Leatherhead Food Research’s Roberta Re and food futurologist Morgaine Gaye.
For more information, including how to book, visit the event website.
