Country Range Group introduces new Catering Essentials brand

In recognition that education and care sector chefs are under continued cost pressures, the Country Range Group has launched a new Catering Essentials brand.

Available via the group’s 13 independent wholesale members, the Catering Essentials brand aims to provide a range of essential products at low prices. Products go through the same rigorous selection process and meet the food safety requirements that customers have come to expect from the group’s Country Range brand.

There are initially 15 products deemed crucial to kitchens in the cost sector, but more lines will be added this summer. The initial line-up includes store cupboard items such as tomato ketchup, mayonnaise and baked beans, freezer products such as frozen peas, mixed vegetables and beef burgers, and classic sweets like Chocolate Fudge Cake, Victoria Sponge Cake, Lemon Cake, Carrot Cake and Toffee Butterscotch Cake.

Dean Pendlebury, head of trading at the Country Range Group, said: “We recognise that where budgets are being squeezed, sometimes swapping into lower-priced versions of core products can make all the difference to the bottom line. Our job as a group is to ensure our customers have the ultimate choice, and this new Catering Essentials brand will further strengthen the multi-tiered offering, whatever the business or budget.”