Oct 28, 2024
Heck! make a sizzle with Smoky Chicken Sausage Rashers
British sausage maker HECK! introduced its first rasher-styled sausages earlier this year and has been shortlisted as a finalist in The Grocer New Product 2024 awards.
The Yorkshire-based company aims to win over sausage-lovers’ with rasher alternatives that take only five minutes to cook. The sausage strips, which are made without nitrites, and are gluten-free are ‘look and cook like bacon’.
This UK-first innovation delivers the flavour and texture of traditional sausages in a convenient, quick-cooking bacon rasher form. With plenty of benefits: ready in just 5 minutes, these protein-packed rashers offer busy people a time-saving alternative and more health-conscious eaters will notice the absence of added nitrites and the gluten-free formulation.
Jamie Keeble, HECK! co-founder, says: ‘Sausages are our passion and we’re always looking for new and novel ways to enjoy them, so we thought creating them in rasher form would be a handy way for people to get their sausage fix in a fraction of the time’.
Food culture has undergone some seismic shifts in recent years and the humble sausage has not been immune to these disruptions. The growth in plant-based product alternatives and the focus on quality and more artisanal production have had a major impact on meat consumption and attitudes.
HECK!’s success is evidence of the latter phenomena, a small, challenger, family-owned brand that’s grown into a key player in the category. It started and finished with a focus on authenticity, quality and passion. Heck! has done a great job in introducing new flavour combinations and genuinely innovative ways of enjoying their core product – the quality meat produced on their farm. As it says on the website… ‘Although small, we’re big on premium quality & flavour.’
So, why not sausage strips. All the flavour of a HECK! sausage in a convenient format for multiple uses and occasions. Brands without innovation are always at risk of standing still and leaving their future prosperity to chance. HECK!, unlike many smaller firms, clearly realised this early on. It’s journey is proof positive of WHAT BRANDS DO. Build a healthy core and then deliver a range of premium product alternatives focused on people’s needs. All under a salient brand banner. It creates a virtuous circle that fuels growth, builds relevance, attracts new buyers, strengthens the brand… and fuels growth.
