Tapping into consumer concern over seafood freshness, UK frozen fish giant Birds Eye has launched a new range of prawns that are “peeled to frozen in 2.5 hours.”
Less than 18 months after the firm called time on its natural seafood range Naked & Natural, Birds Eye hopes the newly launched Catch Fresh will chalk up GBP 15 million in annual sales in three years.
The launch follows research commissioned last July and September that saw “freshness” emerge as an important area in seafood for consumers. Matt Richards, senior brand manager for fish at Birds Eye, said the firm has “worked closely with suppliers to deliver an unrivalled focus on freshness, with all the prawns in the Catch Fresh range “peeled to frozen in 2.5 hours.”
Backed by a GBP 3 million media campaign to support the firm’s “biggest” new product launch of 2011, the three ranges are comprised of King Prawns, Emperor King Prawns and Crispy King Prawns. Catch Fresh hit the shelves of UK retailer Tesco last month and will be rolled out at other retail outlets in the coming weeks.
Retailing for GBP 3.99 for a 175-gram bag of Emperor Prawns, GBP 3.99 for the 190-gram bag of King Prawns and GBP 3.99 for a 250-gram bag of Crispy King Prawns, the range is sold in quattro-seal packaging.
Birds Eye will no doubt hope the Catch Fresh range will match the success of its Bake to Perfection range. Birds Eye said last year the range, which sees seafood packaged in a strip metalisized PET/PET laminate bag for oven cooking from frozen, had been a “phenomenal success,” delivering GBP 30 million since launching in 2009.
Richards added that the new Emperor King Prawn product — “which we're extremely excited about” — will be the focal point of the Catch Fresh TV campaign.
