In our new ranges for 2018, Cotswold Fayre has been keen to ensure that we allow our retail customers to keep on top of the latest food trends, such as gluten-free, free-from, organic and vegan.  Nowhere are these trends more prevalent than in the snacking arena.  One of our new brands are the gluten-free snacks brand – Well & Truly.

 

According to the recent SNACMA 2017 Report, the UK savoury snack industry is currently worth £2,857 million and growing at the rate of 1%. The better-for-you segment in healthy snacking continues to be a key trend with 10.5% growth.

 

With 93% of the UK's adults snacking and on average consuming between 2-3 packets of snacks a week this is a hot sector. This lends itself to the recent Mintel Snack Report 2017 which states that there is demand for products that help consumers with portion control, either through smaller snacks or smaller-sized packs, thus offering permissibility and helping them to pace themselves when snacking. This is key to keeping consumers in the market.

 

Well & Truly's convenience snack range plays on this trend and offers consumers 23g packs which are also lower in fat, gluten-free, suitable for vegetarians and can also be part of a vegan diet.

 

Savoury snacks now contribute less than 1% of an average adult’s total saturated fat intake, according to the National Diet & Nutrition Survey (NDNS). By using alternative vegetable oils which are lower in saturated fat, such as corn, linseed, sunflower, rapeseed and olive, the industry has managed to reduce the saturated fat content of its products by more than 70% since 2003, and in doing so has removed an estimated 60,000 tonnes of saturated fat from the UK diet.

 

Well & Truly's snacks are 30 to 40% less fat (than the average traditional crisp) made with corn and linseed oil and since launching have removed more than 6 grams of fat from the snacking supply chain.

 

An important part of Cotswold Fayre’s good growth at present is within the chilled sector, so as part of our commitment to be a wholesaler of vegan products, we have expanded the range and introduced Golfera as one of these new brands.

 

Golfera is currently managed by the family’s third generation. They have a vast experience producing premium-quality meat products following traditional recipes and have now embarked in extending their already well-known offering to the vegan community. The range of vegan products include: organic wheat, beetroot & elderberry slices, organic wheat, chickpeas, lemon & turmeric slices and organic soy with peppers slices, all high in protein and fibre.

 

The slices are ideal for light lunches, making sandwiches and adding to salads. The vegan range also includes 100% vegetable-based burgers such as the vegan organic burger mediterraneo and the vegan organic burger latino that have not been previously fried, are preservative-free, allergen-free and very easy to prepare.

 

Within our chilled range, a new dessert range is proving to be very popular. Freaks of Nature according to their strap line make “wickedly indulgent puds – purely from plants”.  Their products are gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free and soya-free, yet taste absolutely delicious.  They are not sugar-free of course, being puddings, but only natural sweetness is used in all their products:  Cocoa Loco, Mango Fandango, Choc & Awe and Strawberry Blonde – the last two products are cheesecakes.

 

The key to a successful free-from product is to appeal to the greater percentage of the population that are not on free-from diets and Freaks of Nature have achieved this with these absolutely delicious desserts.