Festive packaging launched by Noble Foods

The festive packaging for the UK’s number one egg brand – the happy egg co. – will feature, in the run-up to Christmas, a limited-edition pack design featuring wrapping paper on the signature yellow egg boxes.

The happy egg co has sold 196 million eggs over the past year and will display the Christmas packaging on 8-pack lines, including 4 on-shelf and 4 packs for dedicated POS sales.

Insight from the Institute of Groceries shows that the key to unlocking trade within food is for brands to offer a certain “wow factor” bought into by consumers who want to make their Christmas special.

Growth of the festive season

Brian Bircham, senior brand manager at Noble Foods, said Christmas was a key time for the category, seeing value growth of 13% compared to pre-pandemic levels. “Retailers are stocking up on festive lines across the board – and happy eggs are no exception. The versatility of eggs gives them a starring role during the festive period, with increased family meal occasions involving a wide variety of egg-based recipes. The sense of joy associated with our brand, together with a Christmas twist, is the perfect way to trade consumers up during this period.”

Skyrocketing energy and feed costs

The launch comes at a time when the cost of feeding hens has gone up by at least 50%, according to free-range egg farmers, while fuel costs have risen by 30%. And despite eggs going up around 45p across supermarkets and other retailers, the extra money is not passed down to farmers.

James Mottershead, NFU poultry board chair, said the egg sector was under immense pressure: “Some poultry producers have been facing skyrocketing energy and feed costs for months now, as well as increases in other input costs including fuel, labour and packaging, which are all adding to the overall costs of production on farms.”

Mottershead added that the union was looking at all avenues to ensure farmers had the confidence they needed to continue supplying British eggs to meet consumer demand.

Compounded by avian influenza

Noble Foods said in a statement to Poultry World: “Egg producers and packers are losing money due to the unprecedented level of inflation in the sector, driven by global events. Additionally, the sector is experiencing a record number of avian flu cases, which have made producers extremely nervous about restocking their flocks.

“These issues of cost pressure and risk management require the entire supply chain to work together to find solutions to underlying challenges and ensure availability returns to normal levels.”

Andrew Opie, British Retail Consortium director of food and sustainability, told the media that avian flu had disrupted the supply of some egg ranges and that “some stores” had introduced temporary limits on egg sales per customer.

“Supermarkets source the vast majority of their food from the UK and know they need to pay a sustainable price to egg farmers but are constrained by how much additional cost they can pass on to consumers during a cost-of-living crisis.”