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“is offering consumers quick and easy meal solutions they can feel good about.” For soup, she says this means ensuring adequate fibre, protein and enough vegetables to meet the recommended daily amount. “It also means meeting specific dietary requirements,” she said, “like organic and free range, gluten free, vegan and vegetarian. “The rise of vegan and plant-based is a major health trend that’s not going away,” Ms McDonald said, adding that this is why “50 per cent of Pitango’s range in Australia is already vegan and vegetarian”, and the brand is working on some “exciting, high protein vegan offers” that are expected to launch later in 2020. Ms McDonald says the Pitango brand has always been about “real honest food, full of natural ingredients”. In 2020, Pitango expanded on this with its new ‘true food’ tagline. “This speaks to the high protein, fibre, veg content and nutrients in our fresh food. ‘True food’ also speaks to the dietary needs we meet across our range,” she said. To complement the new tagline, Pitango will be launching a new pack design this winter, to “bring ‘true food’ to life” and to “highlight the goodness found in every pack”. “We also know that bright and vibrant colour is something that helps our customers easily recognise our product on shelf, therefore we’ve kept our iconic stripes but moved towards a more refined and simplistic design,” she said. “We also selected a hand-style typography for our new logo, to pay homage to our humble beginnings.” It’s Italian for soup According to John Valmorbida, Managing Director at Valcorp, who founded La Zuppa, “soup is one of life’s greatest comfort foods” but the time it takes to make soup can be a barrier for many people. “We know not everyone has the time to make them from scratch, so we provide a convenient meal option that is healthy and all natural,” he said. “Sharing our passion means providing Australians with high quality soups, made using fresh, wholesome ingredients that are full of flavour and completely free from nasty, artificial ingredients or flavour enhancers.” Like other soup brands within the category, La Zuppa soups are made with the consumer in mind – that is, to meet the dietary and health trends customers are looking for. “All La Zuppa soups are dairy free and many are vegan,” Mr Valmorbida said. “Soups are generally inherently packed full of vegetables, and it’s an easy way to enjoy more vegetables and grains. Because of this, many of our soups are naturally vegan. Many vegans have enjoyed La Zuppa for years.” While health trends often direct NPD in many categories, a health issue that has altered preferences and the way many consumers shop has been the COVID-19 pandemic. “Demand for our soups during COVID-19 has been strong,” Mr Valmorbida said. “Being a convenient pantry line, we saw huge increases in sales in March. We believe that many people would have tried La Zuppa for the first time due to these unusual times, but we also know that when people try and see just how like home-made \[La Zuppa\] is, they come back. So, we’re looking forward to seeing these customers come back to the category again over winter.” From Amy, with love Independent family-owned organic food company Amy’s Kitchen was founded in 1987, starting out as a way to make “great-tasting organic meals cooked with love and ready in minutes”. “We always cook our food with love – we’ve been doing it for more than 30 years,” Amy’s Kitchen International Marketing Controller Gabrielle Barrett said. “For us, this means carefully sourcing high quality, organic ingredients and spending countless hours in our kitchens so that you can enjoy authentic, great-tasting food in minutes.” The key to success at Amy’s Kitchen, she says, is going back to basics: sourcing the freshest ingredients, “just like you find at your local farmers market”. The products use no “additives, preservatives or GMOs”. “If you can’t pronounce it, you won’t find it in any Amy’s meal,” Ms Barrett said. “We cook each meal in our kitchens the same way you would in your own kitchen, only with bigger pots and pans. “All Amy’s foods are vegetarian and free of eggs and shellfish. We listen closely to our consumers to ensure we’re meeting their dietary needs – whether gluten free, dairy free or low sodium. It takes a lot of work to provide something delicious for everyone, but there’s no substitute for stirring the pots ourselves. Always tasted by our chefs, all our products have one ingredient in common: they’re made with love.” According to Ms Barrett, coming into winter, consumers are looking for hearty meal options that are “healthy and satisfying, wholesome and homemade”. This, she says, is what Amy’s Kitchen offers. “Take our Mac and Cheese sauce, for example,” she said. “Instead of mixing together powdered cheese, powered milk, starch and salt, we make ours from scratch.” Driven by consumer desires, NPD at Amy’s Kitchen is largely directed by the fan mail the company receives. “Since we started, we’ve read every letter from Amy’s fans and we’ve listened,” Ms Barrett said. “Many people have written to us about their special diets and the challenges they face finding easy ways to eat well. At Amy’s we believe that everyone deserves to eat great-tasting food ... so we’ve created unique meals to serve those needs.” Focusing on consumer desires is also key for making this category a success within retail, Ms Barrett says. “Focus on products that can \[help\] consumers achieve their goals,” she said. “Lots of Amy’s products are versatile, not only as a delicious meal ready in minutes, but also a great ingredient – take our organic chunky soup: a great base for a pasta bake, or even a casserole.” The future objective for Amy’s Kitchen is simple, according to Ms Barrett: “to ensure we continue to make a difference in people’s lives, creating wonderful, delicious food that makes people’s lives better”. WINTER WARMERS JUN, 2020 RETAIL WORLD 41