Florette has re-engineered its Heavenly Veg product, after the steaming concept proved all too much for consumers to take in.
The company found that most consumers appear to associate ‘steaming’ with the microwave, and a sizeable proportion were hard-pushed to rustle up a saucepan. “The first launch of Heavenly Veg was very interesting and it taught us a lot about the market,” said Florette managing director Mark Newton. “Consumers said ‘it tastes fantastic’, and they understood the nutritional benefits of steaming. But then when you say, ‘get a pan out, put it in the pan’ they said, ‘hang on…that sounds like too much hassle.
“Although the product could have been microwaved, it was specifically designed for pan-steaming. So we’ve spent the last eight months developing it. It retains all the properties that made the original so good, but will be coming back onto the market in a microwaveable pack.
“It originally took six minutes to steam in the pan. It now takes 5-6 minutes in the microwave. How busy can you be that that you’re willing to sacrifice those nutrients? But we’ve decided to step off our hobbyhorse and responded to what consumers have told us. I think we were maybe a couple of years ahead of ourselves.”
The concept remains the same, and Florette claims its point of difference is its in-pack sauce sachets. Heavenly Veg will relaunch in UK stores in May.