Tegel focuses on convenience

By SIMON HENDERY

Why did the chicken cross the road? Probably not to pick up a trade-marked precooked Tegel Quick Roast (ready to eat after 15 minutes in the microwave).

Neither was it likely our mysteriously intentioned fowl was after a pack of Ready-to-Roast chicken sausages.

But while he may not have been stepping out to grab dinner at all, more shoppers are indeed crossing at least the supermarket aisle for chicken-based convenience meals.

And it isn't a paltry market. Our appetite for chicken grew more than 12 per cent last year, reaching a record 35.7kg per person a year.

Poultry accounted for 36 per cent of total meat consumption.

Tegel managing director Bruce Scott said while the bulk of the company's business remained on the "commodity-orientated" side, it recognised future growth lay in its ability to offer a range of value-added products that were convenient and quick to prepare.

Tegel, which employs more than 1200 staff and is part of the Heinz-Wattie food empire, said it had spent $6 million over the past two years upgrading its processing plants to enable the production of new product lines.

Scott said Tegel, which has about a 60 per cent share of the local poultry market, believed it could double its turnover from value-added products from 10 to 20 per cent of total sales.

"What drives poultry growth generally is convenience, taste and variety. If you take our initiatives in terms of new products, that is stimulating the convenience and variety."

A year ago the company targeted the breakfast table with the launch of chicken "bacon" - 95 per cent fat-free smoked chicken rashers with the smell and taste of bacon.

This week it launched its latest products, Quick Roast precooked microwaveable whole chickens and drumsticks.

Scott said the products would appeal to a large pool of consumers who did not know how to cook roast chicken.

"We take the roasting and cooking bit out of the equation and then you're into a totally different ball game," he said.

"We think that will be a major shift in how people will look at buying and eating chicken."

Like many companies, Tegel has passed under the genetic modification spotlight. As a result, two years ago it switched to sourcing chicken feed from non-GE crops.

Scott said the company aligned itself with what it saw as a desire by consumers to have a GM-free supply chain.