Unico has married convenience and value in the newest offering under its upscale One And Only banner.
The new product, a series of four meal kits, gives consumers everything they need in one box to prepare a gourmet pasta meal for four.
Pasta, sauce, herb toppings and Parmesan cheese are all pre-measured to make it simple for a meal to go from box to table in 15 minutes.
The pasta meals are shipping to stores now and are expected to retail at about $4.99.
The four varieties available are Tomato Basil Radiatore (a small ribbed pasta); Garlic Tomato Pasta Dinner that includes a flavored pasta; Penne Arrabiata, a hot and spicy dish with penne pasta flavored with chilies; and Creamy Pesto Linguine with pesto flavoring and coloring in the linguine.
John Flanagan, vice-president of marketing for Unico, says the meal kits, like the other products in Unico’s One And Only line, come from the company’s efforts to make premium Italian foods more accessible to the general consumer.
Balsamic vinegars, sun-dried tomatoes and Italian salsa have already been launched under this banner and Unico already has plans to expand the pasta kit lineup with new flavors as well as some other value-added features.
‘Our meal kits now include a free recipe booklet explaining how to use unique products such as sun-dried tomatoes and also $6.50 worth of coupons for other One And Only products,’ Flanagan says.
‘In the future, there’s no reason why we can’t look at including individual-serving cappuccino pouches or bread sticks and other versions of the recipe booklet,’ he says.
Flanagan says Unico is filling a real consumer need with the new products.
He says the consumer hot buttons discovered through Grocery Products Manufacturers Council research were the interest in nutrition, value and the principal issue for the primary grocery shopper, a female in her mid-40s, was time and convenience.
‘This product plays to the mindset of the consumer today,’ Flanagan says. ‘Four meals for $4.99 is exceptional value.
‘On the retail level, this product is unique,’ he says. ‘There’s no duplication, so it won’t cannibalize other business.
‘It might also give the retailer a chance to get back dollars spent on order-out and take-out meals.’
Unico’s advertising of its new products will begin at store level with couponing and in-store demonstrations.
Selected consumer print advertising and public relations activities will follow as will targeted direct mail.
All efforts will be handled by Promanad Communications of Mississauga, Ont.
Flanagan calls the packaging of the pasta dinners a combination of packaging and point-of purchase advertising.
The packages, designed by Portofino Studios of Toronto, have taken the flavor themes and actively targeted the people it was created for.
In addition to a mouth-watering product shot, the front panel of the Tomato Basil flavored meal geared to more traditional pasta lovers says, ‘If you have a crush on tomatoes. This is for you.’
Unico did not stumble on the idea for the pasta dinners by accident.
It developed larger versions of the product under its Unico Magnifico brand for the North American club store channel with each box containing 10 meals.
The response was excellent to its launch early this year in u.s. chains such as Sam’s Club and the Magnifico kits are now coming into Canada.
Unico’s experience with the meal kits has also resulted in another spinoff.
One And Only line specialty flavored pastas, pasta impregnated with flavoring and herbs, will be launched early in 1996.
Flanagan says that not only has the introduction of the pasta meals created a new category, the flavored pasta products will be a big departure for that segment.
‘When you go to a supermarket shelf and look at what’s there, you see a definite lack of innovation from a marketing perspective,’ he says.
‘Sure, there are different cuts and shapes, but, essentially, no one is really breaking through the mould.
‘That’s what we’re trying to do.’
