Branston (brand)
Branston is a well known United Kingdom brand of savoury foods. They are most well known for their original Branston Pickle, a jarred pickled relish first made in 1922 in the Branston suburb of Burton upon Trent by Crosse & Blackwell.
In 2004 the brand was bought by Premier Foods and production was moved to Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk. Since its introduction, it has gone on to be the brand leader, selling over 28 million jars a year in the UK.[1]
The original pickle
Branston Pickle is made from a variety of diced vegetables, including swede (rutabaga), onions, cauliflower and gherkins pickled in a sauce made from vinegar, tomato, apple and dates with spices such as mustard, coriander, garlic, cinnamon, pepper, cloves, nutmeg and cayenne pepper.
Branston Pickle is sweet and spicy with a chutney-like consistency, containing small chunks of vegetables in a thick brown sticky sauce. It is commonly served as part of a ploughman's lunch, a common menu item in British pubs. It is also frequently combined with cheddar cheese in sandwiches, and most sandwich shops in the UK offer "cheese and pickle" as an option. It is available in the standard 'chunky' version, though there is also a 'sandwich' variety, where the vegetable chunks are smaller and easier to spread. In recent times, Premier Foods have also brought out a 'squeezy' variety in a plastic bottle. This version just consists of the sauce and does not contain any vegetable pieces. There was also a spicy type made for a short time, but this did not prove as popular and is now hard to find.
Generic varieties
As with any product that becomes popular, other manufacturers have developed their own brand of a Branston type pickle. Many supermarkets now have generic own brand versions. In order to prevent problems with the registered trade name, the term "sweet pickle" has been adopted by most manufacturers.
The Pickle Crisis of 2004
At 3am on 27 October 2004 a massive fire almost destroyed the entire Bury St Edmunds factory and cut the stocks of Branston Pickle in half [2], thus reducing the supply of the product and in some instances increasing the price, rather conveniently for the manufacturers. The factory is now back in production and has recently launched Branston Tomato Ketchup and Brown Sauce along with a range of relishes and Baked Beans.
Brand Extension
At one stage Walkers Crisps (known as "chips" in the USA) produced a variety called "Cheese and Branston Pickle"[3]
In October 2005, Premier Foods Plc launched Branston Baked Beans. The marketing and promotion of this product was aimed squarely at challenging Heinz's dominance of the UK baked bean market. This marketing included an advert, featuring a Branston Bean Tin explaining how Branston Beans are very "saucy." Promotional activities included a 'Great British Bean Poll' where members of the public across the country were invited to blind taste both 'the brand leader' (assumed to be Heinz) and Branston. 76% of participants picked Branston over the brand leader. Heinz was subsequently obliged to re-evaluate its advertising strategy in the face of this aggressive activity, although in public Heinz spokespeople dismissed the challenge as a 'non-starter'.
External links
Notes
- ^ Premier Food web site(accesed 21 february 2007)
- ^ "Blaze forces pickle plant closure". BBC News. 2004-10-27. Retrieved 2007-01-30.
- ^ Cheese and Branston flavour Walkers Crisps(accessed 21 February 2007)