British Pepper & Spice Market Understanding

Background

With a trading history dating back more than 300 years to the great fire of London in 1666, British Pepper and Spice is the leading manufacturer of herbs and spices in the UK. Since 2004, the business has been owned by SHS Group.

The Challenge

Following the COVID-19 lockdown, there was a sense within the industry that consumers had incorporated additional dishes into their home cooking repertoire, and as such, were likely to be in the market for an increased number of cooking ingredients in the future. Potential for BPS to capitalise on this was large, however equally, if the spike in demand was to be short term, additional long term investment could prove both wasteful and costly. Our job was to predict likely future home-cooking habits.

Our Approach

We ran a dual qual / quant research programme, incorporating longitudinal cooking diaries, as well as image sharing. Quantitatively, we evaluated not just what consumers had been doing more recently in the kitchen, but also what they were hoping to do in the future. A key element was understanding what they actively enjoy doing and hope to explore further. The combined approach gave both rich and statistically robust insight on which to base future business decisions.

The Outcome

We were able to give BPS both clarity and confidence to make significant investment in their business infrastructure, in order to capitalise on the shift in market dynamic.