Expanded production facilities
In May 2017, HECK will open a new state of the art production unit on the site of the old family farm, featuring state of the art machinery that can produce 700 sausages per minute. This will be followed in September 2017 by ‘Sausage World’, an exciting new food and drink experience that will give consumers an insight into HECK’s production. The public will be able to see inside the factory, eat and buy HECK products at the on site cafe and shop, and make their own sausages in the new product development kitchen.
More products in more stores nationwide
Earlier this year, the range was made available online to Ocado (as a result of demand from customers requesting to see Heck products on their website) and from mid-April, packs of Chicken Italia will be available in 241 Tesco Express convenient stores. Demand from customers also meant that HECK sausages were introduced to over 80 new Iceland stores in March.
New products
This Spring, HECK launched a new product ‘Spring Chicken’, made from British chicken, spring onion, chili and ginger. This is now available to buy in 300 Asda stores across the UK.
By popular demand, HECK introduced a range of festive meatballs to Morrisons’ shoppers, which were sold nationwide during December 2016 and will be available again in the festive months of 2017.
HECK also appeals to the vegan and vegetiarian market. Following the success of its “Super Greens Balls”, HECK has also launched Thai Bites into Waitrose stores nationwide. Both products have been approved by the Vegetarian and Vegan Societies.
HECK on TV
On 7 March, 2017, HECK welcomed BBC Breakfast Live to the farm to talk about the impact of the Budget. Whilst producing 60,000 sausages in the course of the day, Managing Director Andrew Keeble talked about the importance of innovation – “the lifeblood of any business.”
Commendation for Food Enterprise
In June 2016, HECK invited their local MP, Rishi Sunak, to visit their production facilities in Yorkshire following the introduction of a new UK-wide campaign promoting entrepreneurship, food and farming in schools.
Rishi Sunak MP said, “What’s great about HECK is that they are putting something back into the community, by providing job and educational opportunities for young people and proving that you don’t always need a University degree to get ahead in life and create a highly successful and sustainable business. We should be supporting businesses like this on a local and national scale to highlight North Yorkshire as a county of enterprise and success”.
And the award goes to…
HECK has been nominated for “Best British Food Brand” at the Great British Food Awards 2017; won a Healthy Food magazine Healthy Food Guide Award for its lower fat chicken range; and was named the 4th fastest growing private company in the UK by the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100.