Accessibility
The availability and affordability of our products in supermarkets, cinemas, petrol stations, restaurants and many other outlets are key to promoting healthier options.
Porridge is a great source of wholegrain and other nutrients. By making it more convenient and providing new ways to enjoy oats, particularly through our Oats So Simple products, our Quaker brand has enjoyed significant growth over the last three years. We have already met our commitment to deliver 1.7bn servings of wholegrain per annum by 2012, delivering 1.9bn in 2010. We are looking at how to increase the availability of oats outside of breakfast through other products in the coming years as well as continuing to grow our core breakfast range.
The Quaker team, part of the 'Make more of your morning' campaign, early 2011
We have committed to widening the availability of fruit juices and other healthier products in out of home establishments, and have made good progress to date. During 2009 and 2010, we made Tropicana available in an additional 3,500 quick serve restaurants and other outlets.
Despite this, the amount of fruit and vegetable servings we delivered in 2010 was 1.56bn, down on the 1.68bn we delivered in 2008. Although we have grown our share of the fruit juice category, in part by adapting our product profile to meet changing demands, overall sales of the category have fallen since 2008 due to the challenging economic conditions.
Since 2009, we have focused less on our Tropicana smoothies, and more on our Naked smoothie range, which delivers 2 of your 5 fruit and vegetable portions a day per bottle and which is now showing encouraging growth. Our Tropicana Creations range, which is a 100% fruit juice mix of oranges and other fruits is also performing strongly. We are confident that we will meet our target of providing 1.8bn servings of fruit and vegetables by 2012.
We are also driving healthier choices for on-the-go snack purchases. We have already met our target of increasing the proportion of petrol forecourts where smaller packs of Walkers (our standard 34.5g bag) are available alongside Big Eat bags (50g) by 30%, by 2012. The number has increased from 1,700 forecourts in 2008 to 2,316 by 2010, an increase of 36%.
In order to help parents with healthier lunch boxes for their children, we launched our Planet Lunch range made with 100% natural ingredients and includes servings of fruit, wholegrain and fibre. Launched as a trial in Sainsburys, sales are up by over 50% in the first half of 2011, and the brand will be expanded into outlets beyond Sainsbury from September 2011.
Creating healthier choices for children – case study
In September 2009 Quaker launched Paw Ridge, a new brand of porridge designed through its packaging and flavours to appeal to parents while being considerably lower in sugar than most other breakfast cereals. The product didn't perform as well as expected, but still determined to find a solution that meets our aim to get more children eating porridge for breakfast, the concept was revisited under the successful Oat So Simple (OSS) brand.
We relaunched a children's oat product in May 2011 with flavours that have been developed to appeal to children and with 25% less sugar than our adult OSS flavours. The sugar levels are still considerably lower than most other cereals for children at between 4% and 6% of a child's GDA, equivalent to around one teaspoon of sugar. We aim over time to reduce the levels of sugar further. Sales of Planet Lunch were up by 50% in the first half of 2011
Please give us your comments on the 2011 Health Update and our plans for the future.
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