HEINZ DELIVERS AS IT LAUNCHES ALL NEW VIRTUAL BREAKFAST RESTAURANT, ‘HEINZ BREKKIE’

First-of-its-kind launch for Breakfast underscores Kraft Heinz’s broader commitment to bring insight-driven innovation to consumers faster than ever before.

Heinz is making its first breakfast foray into the UK’s virtual restaurant market with the launch of ‘Heinz Brekkie’.

The company has teamed up with operating partner Lean Kitchen Network, to create and launch the virtual restaurant via Uber Eats in London.

‘Heinz Brekkie’ aims to appeal to a younger audience for the brand, in particular the 18-34YOs who have adopted food delivery as a habit here to stay after lockdowns. Breakfast is one of the fastest-growing sectors for delivery in the U.K. yet remains underserved vs. other dayparts.

Claire Traynor, Head of Foodservice for Northern Europe at Kraft Heinz, said: “The virtual restaurant model has disrupted the Foodservice market; rapidly accelerated during Covid, it continues to thrive. We know that UK consumers want a tasty, fulfilling breakfast and with home-working continuing across the country, this is the perfect time for us to take our iconic Heinz brand into the breakfast Delivery space and reach a younger audience, while also supporting those operators with underutilised kitchens.”

‘Heinz Brekkie’ is initially available for delivery through two dark kitchens in London’s Clapham and Deptford, with plans to continue expansion into underutilised kitchens across the U.K, including in venues such as hotels, pubs, and supermarkets.

The ‘Heinz Brekkie’ menu features dishes for meat-eaters, vegetarians and vegans, offering breakfast buns, breakfast bowls, hash brown dippers, bagels and sides. Options include ‘The Hot One’ breakfast bun, ‘The Full Vegan’ and loaded ‘Truffle Hash Brown Dippers’. All feature iconic Heinz products, such as Heinz Tomato Ketchup and Heinz Beanz, which have become breakfast-time mainstays across the nation.

Dynamic partnership to disrupt market

Lean Kitchen Network, a pioneering food activation and operations business, has helped create ‘Heinz Brekkie’. Its impactful campaigns have included the Love Island Pied Off Shop, and a pink themed menu celebrating the anniversary of the ‘Mean Girls’ film.

Faraz Nagree, Lean Kitchen Network’s founder, said: “Think about the number of pubs that serve breakfast but aren’t particularly busy. Supermarket cafes where you’ve got a fully staffed kitchen but maybe only three or four customers in the venue but are surrounded by areas of high-density population who will be looking to enjoy something in the comfort of their own homes. The opportunities are huge.“In addition, the current strain on staff and strain on food costs means that many businesses have removed corporate catering from their offices. We feel a model such as this could also be a really great solution from a corporate level as a work breakfast solution.”

A new way for brands to speak to their customers

The new virtual ‘Heinz Brekkie’ is the latest example of Kraft Heinz’s global Agile@Scale transformation. A critical part of this strategy is to use agile consumer listening and insight-based innovation to offer consumers, partners and retailers the products, flavours, formulations and brand experiences they want most.

“Virtual brands such as Heinz Brekkie help us to get even closer to U.K. consumers,” says Traynor. “Eventually, we will be able to use this model to test new flavours, pilot innovation and get real-time feedback quickly, so we can be more agile in terms of delivering the very best products and experiences for our consumers and customers.”

Heinz Brekkie is one of the many ways Kraft Heinz is approaching its foodservice business differently in the UK, making it a key growth engine for the company. In 2021, it launched Heinz Professional Mayonnaise to strengthen its back of house offering. It also pioneered Table 57, a community for industry chefs to shape the innovation pipeline, and is now exploring ways to bring the flavours & trends of Foodservice to retailers.