NPD Trend Tracker: From secret sauce to musical Christmas hampers

This week, we have a range of autumnal treats, including an autumn menu from bagel chain B Bagel and warming new meals from ready meal brand Charlie Bingham’s. There’s also new releases from Biotful Gut Health and gluten-free brand Genius, as well as a collaboration between Heinz and GDK on a ‘secret sauce’ burger. Finally, Christmas is coming, with Cartwright and Butler’s festive range kicking the early celebrations off. 

B Bagel releases autumn menu ​UK café chain B Bagel has announced that it is releasing a new menu for autumn. For the menu, it is collaborating with celebrity chef and social media star Natalia Rudin.

The menu will include Rudin’s bagel recipes: Harissa Squash & Tofu, Chai Spice, and Corn Chowder. It will be available for a limited time throughout September and October. The chain will also bring in some autumnal hot drinks, such as Pumpkin Spice Latte.

“B Bagel is so excited about the rollout of these limited menu items. Working with Natalia has been amazing because she shares that same vision of bringing the tastiest vegan options to London this Autumn,” said B Bagel Founder Yoav Baumgarten.

“Collaborating with B Bagel has been a total dream! It has been so fun thinking outside the box and bringing unusual but delicious bagel fillings to the menu for the month of September. Autumn is on it’s way and we are highlighting its flavours!” said Natalia Rudin.

The menu is available at five London locations.

Heinz and GDK release new ‘Secret Sauce’ burger​Kebab chain German Doner Kebab (GDK) has collaborated with multinational Kraft Heinz to release a new ‘Secret Sauce’ burger, which is now available in more than 140 of GDK’s locations.

The new burger will feature a consumer’s choice of doner meat along with a double serving of Heinz’s Secret Sauce, the flavour of which is currently unknown and open to speculation by the public.

The brands have released the product in collaboration with social media stars Harry Pinero and Yung Filly.

“Partnering with Harry Pinero, Yung Filly and Heinz to create the Secret Sauce has been a journey of innovation, high energy and great taste. Their enthusiasm and creativity perfectly align with GDK’s mission to revolutionise the kebab experience. This partnership is the latest in a series of successful innovations, including our famous, and UK first, pink kebabs, showcasing our commitment to staying revolutionary, relevant and relatable to our target demographic,” said Dr Thorsk Westphal, global CMO of GDK.

Image Source: GDK/Heinz“At Heinz, we are always looking for new and exciting ways to innovate with partners and so we are delighted to be partnering with GDK, Harry Pinero and Yung Filly on the creation of Secret Sauce. We have been hard at work perfecting this recipe that we’re certain people will love it as much as we do! Exclusively available at GDK, the Secret Sauce burger is guaranteed to take your experience to the next level,” said Thiago Rapp, director of taste elevation at Heinz.

Cartwright and Butler announces Christmas range​UK food brand Cartwright and Butler has announced a new Christmas range.

The selection includes winter spiced orange and cranberry shortbread rounds, oaty stollen bites, a Christmas teatime selection tin, two types of Christmas pudding, English teabags in a Christmas tin, and even a musical tin containing Christmas pudding-flavoured biscuits.  

Image Source: Cartwright & ButlerThe range also includes a selection of advent calendars, hampers and mince pies.

The range will be available from retailers such as John Lewis, Ocado, Amazon, Fenwicks, Next and Selfridges.

Biotiful gut health launches two new drinks​UK kefir brand Biotiful Gut Health has relaunched its organic drinks range as a response to consumer interest in organic products.

The range includes two new drinks: Blossom Honey flavour kefir and Vanilla Chai flavour kefir, alongside the original. Both new flavours, the brand suggests, are on trend.

The drinks, according to the brand, are high in protein, and abundant in vitamins and minerals as well as calcium. They are also, the brand suggests, made with only clean ingredients.

Image Source: Biotiful Gut Health“Here at Biotiful, our focus is on offering consumers only the best tasting clean and natural products, so Organic sits perfectly within our Drinks range. There’s a reason why 60% of people with gut health issues buy organic – and we’re delighted to be offering them even more choice with our two new delicious Organic drinks: Blossom Honey and Vanilla Chai,” said Biotiful CEO and founder Natasha Bowes.

They are now available in Ocado, Whole Foods Market, and Booths (and will soon be available in Sainsbury’s) at an RRP of £2.75 for a 500ml bottle.

Genius releases triple chocolate ‘fudgy’ brownie ​UK gluten-free brand Genius has released a triple chocolate ‘fudgy’ brownie. Containing a mix of white and milk chocolate chunks, the product is aimed at health-conscious consumers and those who experience negative health affects from eating gluten, such as suffers from coeliac disease. The brownie, according to the brand, contains less than 200 calories.

Image Source: Genius“This is a game changer, not just for people like me who live with coeliac disease, but for the many millions of Brits who suffer from symptoms from bloating to brain fog when they eat gluten,” said Lauren Harber, head of marketing at Genius Foods.

“Our Triple Chocolate Fudgy Brownies are deliciously gluten free, meaning you don’t need to worry about bloating or worse getting in the way of your day.  Our brownies really are the ultimate indulgent dark chocolate brownies bursting with white and milk chocolate chunks.

“We want our customers to live a life symptom free, while being able to enjoy delicious food. This is yet another step towards making sure that’s a reality. ”

The product is available to buy now from supermarket retailer Sainsbury’s.

Charlie Bingham’s releases two new meals ​UK ready meal brand Charlie Bingham’s has announced two new meals for the Autumn.

The brand is releasing a Slow Cooked Beef Ragu with Rigatoni (RRP £9.95), along with a Chicken Tikka Biryani (RRP £9.50) Both serve two people.

They are available now from supermarket retailer Waitrose.

Image Source: Charlie Bingham’s