Soup company a hit on supermarket shelves

FROME soup and risotto brand Watmuff & Beckett is celebrating after doubling its store listing with supermarket Asda.

The ready-to-heat gourmet food products are now available in a total of 57 stores, just one year after they first appeared on the shelves.

The company was started five years ago by school friends Michael Beckett, a Michelin Star-trained chef, and Andrew Watmuff, a farmer’s son with a background in retail. It is now based at Court Farm in West Woodlands.

Andrew said, “We are excited that Asda have seen the potential within our products and look forward to this new period of growth within the retailer.

“Eating UK grown produce shouldn’t mean you have to cook everything from scratch at home. There is an increasing demand coming from consumers who want the simplicity of a ready meal but also want it to be healthy and from sustainably managed UK farms.

“We are really pleased our product continues to prove popular within the category and look forward to working together with Asda and the team to grow our sales and brand further.”

Watmuff & Beckett is the first company in the UK to have a Red Tractor approved soup on sale – a soup which only contains UK farm produce of a high standard.

The brand aims to capitalise on the continued growth of the fresh soup category, which is growing +15% y-o-y, and has a take home value of £124m.

Find out more about the brand and its range go to www.watmuffandbeckett.co.uk