Pic on a Pack set to drive sales for prepared potatoes

Branston and Tesco are offering consumers of prepared potatoes the opportunity to have their moment of fame with their new ‘Pic on a Pack' initiative. Launching in Tesco stores this week, the ‘Pic on a Pack' initiative will offer customers the chance to have their photo featured on packs of freshly prepared Parmentier potatoes nationwide.

Customers are invited to upload snaps of themselves, family or friends enjoying the Parmentier potatoes at http://www.piconapack.com. The best pictures will be selected for the online gallery and to go on the packs.

Mark Willcox, development director at Branston said: "This is a fantastic initiative that enables customers to have a bit of fun and see their pictures on packs in store. We're hoping it will really raise awareness of Tesco's great prepared potato range. The packs are now in Tesco stores nationwide and we have already had a great response from customers sending in their photos."

Branston has been supplying ready prepared potatoes to Tesco since 2005 in response to an increasing demand from consumers who want to enjoy freshly prepared potatoes but don't have the time to prepare them themselves. Branston specialises in creating prepared potato ranges that are as fresh and wholesome as if consumers had created them in their own homes.

Unali Patel, Prepared Vegetable Buyer at Tesco said: "Prepared potatoes are growing year on year by around 2% as more and more people seek convenience in their hectic lives. Although the category is currently dominated by young and older families, we're hoping by giving our customers the opportunity for a bit of fun, and the chance to have their photos printed on our Parmentier Potato packs we can increase our prepared potato sales even further. Our prepared potato lines are created with the intention of saving our customers time whilst still being able to enjoy recipes that are as fresh and wholesome as if they've cooked them themselves. This is a great opportunity to draw in customers of all ages, but especially the younger generation."

The ‘first of its kind' competition has been made possible with the introduction of new cutting edge digital print technology by Ultimate Packaging, based in Grimsby. This new process provides a fast turnaround for individual packaging in any quantities, allowing each pack to be different.

Branston now produces over 250,000 prepared potato packs a week in its award-winning factory, which opened in Lincoln in 2009.