Wilson's makes buying potatoes easier

Wilson's Country, Northern Ireland's market leading potato processor, has launched two innovative convenience products under a new YouSayPotato brand.

The new 'Grab and Go' products are designed to make it easier for home cooks to use potatoes and thereby compete with alternatives such as pasta for quick and tasty meals. A quirky pouch design, which includes a handle, has been developed to appeal in particular younger consumers. The stand up packs are easier to store than the traditional bags.

YouSayPotato offers easy cook baby potatoes in handy 500g packs with four ready to cook potatoes. The new convenience packs have recently been listed by Tesco Northern Ireland, and the Northern Irish processor expects to be supplying to other major retailers throughout the UK soon.

Angus Wilson, chairman of Wilson's Country, which is based at Craigavon in county Armagh, says: "The new products are designed to make it easier to cook potatoes by providing them in handy sizes. They are the outcome of market research and discussions with focus groups over the past two years.

"These discussions confirmed our own belief that some housewives are reluctant to buy potatoes because these are usually available in large bags which can lead to waste.

"The new four packs reduce waste and make potatoes a convenient as well as a nutritious meal option. Where fresh produce like potatoes is concerned consumers are driven by the desire to buy on the basis of quality, taste and value-for-money. Increasingly shoppers are reducing the amounts of produce they buy, so as to cut back on waste. This is a factor that we have to build into our plans for the future.

"The new convenient packs increase the versatility of our potatoes. We'll also be using different varieties over the year because potatoes are essentially a seasonal product. By using different varieties we'll be able to offer consumers a consistent potato that is neither too fluffy nor too waxy.

"The new packs are a further example of our recognition that we need to be looking continually for ways to make it easy for consumers to use potatoes. We don't take for granted that potatoes will be chosen every evening. While there are strong indications that our love affair with the potato hasn't ended, our focus groups and market research have shown that consumers want different tastes, easy cooking convenience and greater choice.

"We responded to these market trends by developing a new and exciting range of potatoes that widens choice for consumers," he adds.

Wilson's Country is now the biggest potato packer on the island of Ireland. Customers include Tesco, Dunne's and SuperValu. Around 25 per cent of current sales are to the Republic of Ireland.