UK convenience food manufacturer, Symington's, will license Unilever's wet sauces portfolio - spanning the Chicken Tonight, Raguletto and Five Brothers brands - in Australia and New Zealand.
The three brands will continue to be produced at Unilever’s factory in Tatura, Victoria. The license represents Symington’s first major international venture.
According to the company, the deal will enable it to build on its successful UK track record of using new product innovations and marketing initiatives to reinvigorate the brands.
Symington’s licensed and subsequently acquired Chicken Tonight and Ragu from Unilever UK in August 2011. It said the brands have since grown on average 15 per cent year on year and helped rejuvenate the ambient sauces category.
“Symington’s is delighted to have this opportunity to invest in and reintroduce Australian consumers to these well-known brands,” said Symington’s director of business development, Henrik Pade.
“There are many similarities between the Australian and UK markets, and we will be drawing on our successful experience nurturing brands and developing the wet sauces category in the UK to surprise and delight our retail customers and the consumers in Australia,” he said.
In the UK, Symington’s produces a wide range of products under its own brands, under licence – including Ragu, Chicken Tonight, Campbell’s, Ainsley Harriott, and Aunt Bessie’s – and for private label customers.
The company will establish an office in Melbourne to oversee the Australian wet sauces portfolio and grow its convenience foods business, both branded and private label, in Australia.
