Gressingham invests heavily in the duck sector

Gressingham Foods has announced it is going to invest heavily in the market in an ambitious attempt to entice an additional half a million consumers to the duckmeat sector.

Nielsen data revealed that total household penetration for duck currently stands at 7%, but the company plans to increase this to 10% by 2014.

As part of a new strategy the supplier will be rebranding and developing new products, as well as undertaking the largest marketing campaign ever seen for duck in the UK, it says, designed at getting more people cooking with duckmeat.

Gressingham said it is going to give consumers confidence to cook duck, through a range of simple recipes demonstrated in easy steps, after research revealed perceived difficultly in cooking duck was the biggest barrier for duck consumption.

William Buchanan, joint managing director at the company, said the rising price of lamb and beef gave duck a natural opportunity to increase its value.

“We are passionate about duck and have ambitious plans to champion the category and drive sustained value growth by repositioning duck as a regular treat – duck is remarkably simple to cook and we want more people to have a go,” he added.

The rebranding can be seen on shelves from mid April.