Open The Pea Champagne!

The Yes Peas! campaign have been celebrating the newly-released TNS data showing
that frozen peas have bucked the trend over the last year and have shown a
magnificent 4% increase in consumption.

While fresh and canned fell 4% and 9% respectively, frozen peas surged ahead by
4% in the same period. Sales have increased 11% for the whole pea industry, of
which frozen peas represent the lion’s share, bringing the overall value of the
UK market to 216m.

“This really great news,” says Tim Mudge, Commercial Manager at PVGA, which
coordinates the Yes Peas! campaign on behalf of the frozen pea industry. “We
have been focused on getting our key messages across – versatility, nutrition
and convenience – and it seems to be paying dividends.

“And we are particularly pleased because the demographic breakdown of the
figures shows increase in consumption in the age group 17-34 and also children,
whom we have been working hard to target.

“We’ve been running the campaign for six years now, and feel it is really
maturing. We’ve just brought out our second recipe book, with another clutch of
great recipes from our celebrity chef Rachel Green, called Yes More Peas!,
building on the success of the first book, of which more than 170,000 copies
have been distributed. The first 50,000 Yes More Peas! will go out with the BBC
Good Food magazine in October.” The new book was launched at the second
Peasenhall Pea Festival in Suffolk two weeks ago, an event which the Yes Peas!
campaign was pleased to sponsor for the second year running.

“We are especially pleased too, that Rachel Green , an integral part of the Yes
Peas! campaign, has just been honoured with the CLA Award for Outstanding
Contribution to the British Food Industry at the CLA Game Fair at Belvoir Castle
last weekend.” added Mudge.