Best-in, Bestway Wholesale’s own label, is launching a range of canned goods in February 2016.

The new range will include three soups, two quick serve meals and three puddings.

Best-in category manager Nick Brown said. “Canned goods is a really important area for independent retailers but a few of the major manufacturers have withdrawn products from this category. For example, Heinz has stopped producing its steamed pudding range while Westler’s has moved away from it’s traditional canned heritage to plastic trays. This has left a gaping hole for some retailers who told us that there was still demand among their customers for such products. Best-in is only too happy to oblige and fill this gap “

Available in tomato, vegetable and chicken flavours, the new soup range (rrp 59p per 400g can) is designed to provide a value alternative to market leading brands. Soup sales peak early each year and the Best-in launch is well timed to meet cash conscious shoppers’ needs. They offer a profit on return (POR) of 43% when purchased at the launch price of £1.99 for 6x400g cans.

Mr Brown added: “Own label is having a resurgence as shoppers are no longer stigmatising products as ‘cheap and nasty’ with many outperforming their branded equivalents in taste tests. In truth, we have been looking to introduce a soup range under the Best-in banner for quite a while but we had to get the recipes right. Own label in soups will be benchmarked with Heinz no matter the price and I can now say that Best-in soups now measure up in terns of taste delivery to the bigger brands.”

The two new quick serve meals – Beans and Burger Bites and All Day Breakfast – join the already successful Best-in Sausages and Beans variant aimed at students and busy mums who want a substantial and affordable solution to a hearty snack or children’s meal. Flashed with a £1 price roundel and packed in cases of six, these offer 38.8% POR when bought at the launch offer price of £3.79 for 6x400g tins.

The new tinned puddings can either be cooked on the hob or microwaved for added convenience. The 290g two-serving cans of Chocolate Sponge Pudding, Syrup Sponge Pudding and Spotted Dick are price-marked at £1.29, delivering 36.5% POR on a wholesale offer price of £6.49 for an outer of 8 x 290g packs.

All the new products are available from Bestway and Batleys depots, online at www.bestway.co.uk and www.batleys.co.uk from the beginning of February.