Facing COVID-19: The sausage company using social media to boost sales

A Yorkshire sausage brand has announced a £2.5m increase in sales in the past year.

Heck saw an 11.7 per cent increase in sales last year, which it said is due to product innovation and an increase in supermarket distribution.

The business saw sales grow by £2.5m to £23.6m for the 12 months to 31 July 2019.

However, pre-tax profits fell by 22.7 per cent from £828,260 to £640,401, and gross margins fell from 27 per cent to 24 per cent as Heck invested in R&D, automation and freezing capacity.

Since the UK lockdown, the company has turned to social media to keep morale up, gaining 250k views on video platform TikTok.

The continued growth of the business also meant Heck’s administrative costs had risen from £4m to £4.4m last year.

Co-founder Andrew Keeble, commented: “That investment in freezing capacity in particular means we’re in really good shape.

“We’re in all the retailers and are operating across all three categories.

“We see a huge opportunity in frozen food because we can deliver on many levels, creating a premium sausage category designed for people who want to reduce their environmental impact and also cut down on food waste and packaging.

“We predict our frozen range will be around 30% of our business in 2020.”