As Australians look forward to gathering with their friends and family over the festive season, Coles has unveiled its Christmas range for 2021, created to help customers enjoy an extraordinary experience that is both easy to prepare and offers great value.
According to Coles customer insights, October is when Australians start planning their Christmas entertaining, with the number of online searches for Christmas desserts and Christmas recipes on Taste.com.au surging to more than three times the level seen in September (Monthly Coles Taste Report – September 2020).
Coles has made the planning and preparation easy, with over 150 new and improved products set to arrive in store and online in coming weeks. The range encompasses the complete Christmas experience from heat-and-eat gourmet entrées, savoury side dishes and salads, locally-sourced and show-stopping centrepieces for gatherings of any size, and tempting desserts.
The teams at Liquorland, First Choice Liquor Market and Vintage Cellars have created Christmas drinks pairings that will make matching food and drink simpler than ever.
Meanwhile Coles is making Christmas more sustainable this year with more responsibly sourced products right across the range of food, drinks, gifts and decorations.
Coles will have its first-ever range of 100% plastic-free and recyclable festive crackers. Made from FSC paper, the Coles Festive Crackers are stylish and offer a rustic, designer tone to the Christmas table set up. Hidden inside, the festive crackers include a classic joke, paper hat and puzzles to play around the Christmas table.
Coles’ decorative range includes new wind-up children’s wooden musical toys and wooden ornaments to dress up the Christmas tree and provide Aussie parents with more sustainable gifting options.
All Coles Christmas hams are sow stall free and 100% Aussie with no added hormones, Hunter Valley turkeys and Coles chickens are RSPCA approved and Coles will be the first supermarket to range an Australian Assured Duck in Australia.
Coles Liquor drinks range offers more locally sourced and sustainable refreshments this year, including The Bio Project wines, made in conjunction with Shingleback from McLaren Vale in South Australia, who are committed to undertaking native revegetation within their vineyards. The plants they use provide benefits to the vineyard by specifically attracting beneficial insects and native birds, improving water quality and restoring some of McLaren Vale’s biodiversity.
And to make life in the kitchen even easier, Coles is rewarding customers with new kitchen utensils to collect from 27 October, featuring four new stainless-steel MasterChef Knives, scissors and a handy electric mini chopper, as well as a return of the four most popular knives from last year’s collection.
Coles welcomes its first-ever Turducken, providing an Aussie twist on a popular US holiday dish and a perfect choice for those who want it all – succulent turkey, duck and chicken all in one. It’s created with RSPCA approved Hunter Valley turkey with a native Davidson Plum, five spice and pistachio stuffing, topped with a layer of Coles Assured Duck and wrapped in a partly deboned RSPCA approved chicken.
Coles Group CEO Steven Cain says customers deserve a special Christmas celebration this year more than ever, and so Coles has come to the party with its most delicious and easy range of festive food yet.
“Coles has always been committed to great value for all Australians, and the past few years have given us a renewed appreciation of what we have here in Australia – the people, the food and the communities. We’ve been working hard with our team of suppliers, product developers, farmers, development chefs, our supply chain and team members to deliver easy meal solutions that provide great value and offer exceptional quality,” Mr Cain said.
“After another challenging year for so many Australians, we want to make this entertaining season as easy and affordable as possible so they can spend more time sharing and less time preparing with our new and extended range of great quality, easy-to-cook meal solutions.
“And to show that Coles customers can have our famous Crackling Ham and carve it too, our latest loyalty program offers customers even more value at the checkout by rewarding them with an enhanced range of stainless steel MasterChef knives to make Christmas cooking even easier!”
Coles Ambassador Courtney Roulston and award-winning Australian chef Luke Mangan showcased the new Christmas range to media today, ahead of the products’ arrival in stores nationally.
“It’s a Christmas like you’ve never seen before at Coles – taking the traditional Christmas fare to the next level with chef-inspired canapes, centrepiece mains and desserts which are easy to prepare so you’ll be spending less time in the kitchen and more time with family and friends,” says Ms Roulston.
“The Crackling Ham Rib Rack Roast is set to be a real crowd pleaser this Christmas. Simply season the rind generously with sea salt and slide into the oven, customers will love this beautifully rich, golden roast with succulent tender ham and crispy crackling. Serving it on the bone not only provides a better flavour, it also makes the ham a perfect table centrepiece and easy for customers to carve and portion – which means no fighting over the crackling.”
Coles Bakery has also expanded its dessert range to include more sweet treats suitable for vegans including new Coles Meringue Kisses, Coles Finest Mirror Glaze Chocolate & Salted Caramel desserts, matured Christmas pudding and a gluten-free fruit cake.
To help Aussies prepare and spread the cost of Christmas, Coles launched its core range of puddings, fruit mince pies and bakery treats from September, with more chilled, pantry and bakery products arriving in stores nationally this week, followed by 100% Aussie hams and seafood in November, and Hunter Valley turkeys and Turducken in mid-December.
