THIS enters frozen aisles
THIS is launching one of its most popular products, THIS Isn’t Chicken Pieces, into its frozen food range which was introduced mid-last year.
THIS Isn’t Chicken Pieces (250g, RRP £3) are, from 26th March, available in Sainsbury’s stores nationwide with further retail listings to be announced soon.
The product uses the same award-winning combination of ingredients as its chilled version, using soya and pea protein. The chilled version of THIS Isn’t Chicken Pieces have, since its launch, been one of the brand’s most consistent best-sellers. At 23g of protein per 100g, THIS Isn’t Chicken Pieces are highest in protein out of the top 5 best-selling plant-based chicken brands in the UK.
Creating a frozen version of this product in a convenient bag format, alongside existing sausages, nuggets, and tenders, aims to answer the demand for a wider variety of convenient and high-quality plant-based options in the freezer.
As a brand THIS over-indexes with younger pre-family consumers. And while the frozen category has traditionally been led by families and slightly older audiences, recent data suggests increasingly more pre-family generations are buying in frozen with over a quarter of 16-24 year olds buying more frozen equivalents of their regular fresh purchases. A third of which are trying newer frozen foods such as meat substitutes, so this has been a very natural extension of the brand.
Andy Shovel, co-founder of THIS says; “The overall growth of frozen meat-free has been pretty level the last few years. But when you look at how Gen Z-ers are taking to it and how our brand resonates with them it felt like a no-brainer to expand our frozen range. Plant-based products like ours can help provide a long-term boom for frozen food.”
Marketing activity will aim to drive trial and awareness of the brand’s existing frozen range, whilst also driving new incremental consumers to the freezer.
The further roll-out into frozen follows the launch of THIS Isn’t Streaky Bacon in Veganuary, which has quickly become the fastest selling plant-based bacon (IRI, 3 w/e 22nd January 2023).
Six months ago, THIS also announced that it became the first UK-based plant-based meat brand to have earned the B Corporation™ certification.
