Kellogg is looking to rival Kraft Foods’ Belvita brand in the UK with the launch of a range of breakfast biscuits.
The US cereal giant will introduce Nutri-Grain breakfast biscuits later this month in a bid to tap into what it claims are the 2.6bn “missed breakfasts” in the UK.
The product, which will be sold in cereal and milk, fruit and nut and honey flavours in UK multiples, will take on Kraft’s Belvita breakfast biscuits, which were launched two years ago.
Sanjeev Khanna, head of Kellogg’s speciality business in the UK, insisted there was an “opportunity” for the company’s own breakfast biscuits.
Khanna said breakfast biscuits had “huge potential” but had so far not won over many UK consumers. “So far, the penetration isn’t great,” he said, adding just 16% of households had tried the products already in the market. However, he insisted: “We’re very bullish about this offering,” he added.
Kellogg plans to spend GBP3m on a marketing campaign for the Nutri-Grain breakfast biscuits as it looks to attract more consumers to the category.
“The current product in the marketplace is designed to appeal to women,” a Kellogg UK spokesperson added. “If you have a product that has the Kellogg name on it, it will bring more people into the segment.”
The company, which saw sales and profits from its European business fall in Europe in the first quarter of 2012, is also adding to its Rice Crispies Square snacks range in the UK.
Kellogg has developed a honeycomb Rice Crispies Square line to add to a range that has become a “really significant brand” for the company, the spokesperson added. According to data from Kellogg, sales of Rice Crispies Squares are worth GBP39m.
