Kirsty’s and Kids’ Kitchen has appointed Cheshire based PR and marketing specialists, The Source Partnership, to help drive sales and boost market share in the sector.
The six figure budget will include both online and offline marketing support and aims to capitalise on the increase in sales of free-from food and drink that have seen value increase by 26.9% to £96.5m and volumes rise by 21.9%* in the last year.
Kirsty Henshaw, founder and managing director of the business comments; "We've seen strong growth in both the business and sector in recent months and feel that the time's now right to push the brand further and gain greater traction amongst our customers and retailers."
Louis Hill, Partner at The Source Partnership comments, "Almost 60% of the population has bought from the free from category in the last year so we've been challenged to increase demand and frequency of purchase. The campaigns will focus on the fact that free from foods provide a worry-free option, taste fantastic and can be enjoyed by anyone at any time."
The considered marketing campaign will include greater social media interaction, brand and awareness building exercises, as well as developing a new website that acts as a source of information on lifestyle, allergies, intolerances and healthy eating.
Kirsty's currently provides seven award-winning dishes each packed with flavour as well as being gluten, wheat and dairy free, low in saturated fat and containing at least 1 of your 5 a day. Every meal in the range also contains less than 400 calories, receiving official recognition as one of the healthiest ready meals in the 5:2 Diet Book and winning numerous awards, including the Free From Food Innovation Award in 2015.
More recently, the brand has responded to demand for a kids range, introducing Kids' Kitchen in 2015. The naturally healthy, child-friendly and stress-free range of 'free from' chilled ready meals is aimed at kids aged 2 to 9 and offers a selection of 7 tasty dishes, with an RRSP of £1.95 for a 250g pack. Like the Kirsty's range, every meal is gluten, wheat and dairy free, with no added sugar and low in fat and salt, changing the face of convenience food for kids.
Kirsty's is partnered with Pro-Pak Foods Ltd to produce the range, taking a proactive approach to sourcing the finest ingredients and using a range of artisan processes to achieve authentic styles and taste. The 'lock in' freshness techniques used mean that meals can stay fresh for up to 35 days preserving the quality, taste and flavour as well as vitamins and minerals. The technique eliminates the need for preservatives, artificial ingredients and reduces waste to around 1%.
Kirsty's range of allergen free, chilled ready meals was launched in 2012 by founder, Kirsty Henshaw, while the Kids' Kitchen range was launched in 2015. The trusted brands can now be found in over 1400 supermarkets throughout the UK, with an RSV of £6m, meeting demand for readily available, healthy meals for a busy lifestyle.
