English soup and risotto brand Watmuff & Beckett has doubled its listing with supermarket chain Asda for its ready-to-heat gourmet soups and risottos.
The company’s newly branded products have been rolled out in a total of 57 of the retailer’s stores, just one year after they first appeared on shelves.
The expansion coincides with the launch of two new summer lines, a cauliflower cheese and ham soup plus summer vegetable and basil pesto risotto. Both are gluten- and wheat-free, and aim to build on the Watmuff & Beckett brand principles of using UK-farmed produce.
The company was started five years ago by schoolfriends Michael Beckett, a Michelin Star-trained chef, and Andrew Watmuff, who brought with him experience in retail. Both were motivated by a desire to create a chilled food brand that placed an importance on using British-farmed produce.
Watmuff said: “We are excited that Asda has seen the potential within our products and look forward to this new period of growth within the retailer.
“Eating UK-grown produce shouldn’t mean you have to cook everything from scratch at home; there is an increasing demand coming from consumers who want the simplicity of a ready meal but also want it to be healthy and from sustainably managed UK farms.
“We are really pleased our product continues to prove popular within the category and look forward to working together with Asda and the team to grow our sales and brand further.”
The Watmuff & Beckett range now stocked in Asda’s southern stores includes three different soups – pea and fresh mint; sweet potato, carrot and ginger; and cauliflower cheese and ham – as well as three risottos, consisting of chorizo and butternut squash; wild mushroom, lemon and thyme; and summer vegetable and basil pesto.
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