Food and Drink Industry 17 – 23 Aug: Brookfield Drinks and Nestlé
- Brookfield Drinks has acquired alcoholic ginger beer brand Crabbie’s from Halewood Artisanal Spirits.
- Nestlé is expanding its UK cereal portfolio with Shreddies Peanut Butter and two new Shredded Wheat functional varieties.
The UK food and beverage sector is seeing investment at two very different ends of the consumer market, as Brookfield Drinks expands its position in flavoured alcoholic beverages while Nestlé responds to growing demand for health-focused and functional foods.
Beverages supplier Brookfield Drinks has acquired Crabbie’s Alcoholic Ginger Beer from Halewood Artisanal Spirits, bringing one of the best-known names in the alcoholic ginger beer category into its expanding portfolio.
At the same time, food manufacturing giant Nestlé is introducing three new cereal products to UK shelves under its established Shreddies and Shredded Wheat brands, with health, nutrition and healthy ageing taking centre stage.
Together, the developments illustrate how established brands are being repositioned around some of the strongest themes currently influencing food and drink manufacturing, from flavour-led experiences and brand heritage to functional nutrition and increasingly specific health benefits.
Brookfield Drinks Adds Crabbie’s to Growing Beverage Portfolio
Bedfordshire-based Brookfield Drinks will integrate Crabbie’s into a portfolio that already spans beer, cider and non-alcoholic beverages.
The company owns and distributes beer brands including Kestrel, La Goudale and Lionheart in the United Kingdom, alongside cider brands Diamond and White Star/Black Star. It also supplies NEO WTR mineral water to major retailers including Tesco and Sainsbury’s, as well as selected wholesalers.
The acquisition of Crabbie’s gives Brookfield a recognised brand in a fruit and flavoured beer segment it believes still has considerable room for growth.
Crabbie’s has a history stretching back more than two centuries, with its origins traced to Leith in 1801. Halewood Artisanal Spirits had owned the brand for more than 20 years, having acquired it from Glenmorangie in 2007 when Crabbie’s was primarily known for ginger wine.
The business subsequently relaunched Crabbie’s as an alcoholic ginger beer in 2009, helping establish the product in a category that would become increasingly associated with flavour-led and alternative drinking occasions.
Brookfield Drinks described Crabbie’s as the world’s most recognisable alcoholic ginger beer brand and said the acquisition would further strengthen its status as a key supplier within the fruit and flavoured beer market.
Heritage and Flavour Give Brookfield a Platform for Growth
The founder of Brookfield Drinks described Crabbie’s as a “must-stock” product within the fast-growing fruit and flavoured beer sector, highlighting its combination of brand recognition, international awareness and product heritage.
Central to that identity is a six-week ginger-steeping process used in the production of the drink, something Brookfield believes contributes to its crafted positioning at a time when consumers are increasingly looking for beverages with distinctive flavour profiles and a stronger sense of provenance.
The company sees further potential as consumers seek refreshing, craft-influenced drinking experiences that offer something beyond conventional beer choices.
Crabbie’s already has a substantial international footprint, with the brand sold in more than 30 markets around the world.
In the UK, the range includes Original, Raspberry, Rhubarb and Blood Orange varieties, alongside an alcohol-free version. It also benefits from extensive grocery distribution, with products stocked by major retailers including Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.
That combination of existing retail availability and international reach gives Brookfield an established platform from which to pursue further expansion rather than having to build consumer awareness from scratch.
The company has indicated that Crabbie’s will become a core part of its portfolio, with plans to support and grow the brand both domestically and internationally.
Halewood Sharpens Its Focus on Artisanal Spirits
For Halewood Artisanal Spirits, the disposal forms part of a wider strategic shift.
The company’s chief executive said the sale represents another step forward in Halewood’s strategy of concentrating on its spirits-focused artisanal brand portfolio.
Rather than signalling a retreat for Crabbie’s, Halewood believes Brookfield provides an appropriate new home for the alcoholic ginger beer business, with the capability and intention to continue investing in the brand.
The transaction therefore gives both businesses a clearer strategic focus. Halewood can concentrate resources on artisanal spirits, while Brookfield gains a recognised product with established retail distribution, production heritage and international potential.
Nestlé Targets Functional Nutrition with Three New Cereals
Elsewhere in UK food manufacturing, Nestlé is expanding two of its best-known breakfast cereal brands as it looks to capitalise on increasing consumer interest in healthier and more functional food products.
The manufacturer is launching Shreddies Peanut Butter alongside Shredded Wheat Happy Heart and Shredded Wheat Active.
All three products are being manufactured at Nestlé’s cereals facility in Staverton, Wiltshire.
Shreddies Peanut Butter is scheduled to become available from 12 August, while Shredded Wheat Happy Heart and Active will arrive from 24 August.
The launches combine familiar household cereal brands with nutritional claims designed to address specific consumer priorities rather than relying on generalised wellness messaging.
Shreddies Peanut Butter will be high in fibre and iron and contain five vitamins, combining a familiar flavour proposition with additional nutritional credentials.
The two Shredded Wheat varieties go further into the functional nutrition category, having been designed around particular areas of health.
Shredded Wheat Happy Heart Focuses on Cardiovascular Health
Shredded Wheat Happy Heart has been developed for consumers looking to support heart health.
The cereal is high in fibre and contains vitamin B1, while also being low in saturated fat and salt. Raspberry and nuts are used as toppings, giving the product additional flavour and texture alongside its functional positioning.
Shredded Wheat Active has meanwhile been developed around muscle and bone health.
Topped with pumpkin seeds and nuts, Active contains calcium and vitamin D. It is also high in fibre and low in salt.
The launch comes during a milestone year for Shredded Wheat, with the brand marking 100 years of manufacturing in the UK.
Nestlé is therefore combining the familiarity and heritage of a century-old breakfast brand with health claims intended to make it more relevant to changing consumer expectations.
Healthy Ageing Moves Further into the Mainstream
Nestlé’s move into more clearly defined functional cereals reflects a wider consumer trend.
Research partner Lumina Intelligence has identified healthy ageing as the second most important global health goal among consumers, behind sleep.
Other major priorities include achieving a healthier weight, improving immunity and supporting mood and mental health.
The research also suggests that 83% of consumers worldwide now purchase foods offering additional benefits, illustrating how functional ingredients have moved beyond niche health products and further into everyday food categories.
Vitamins rank as the most commonly purchased functional ingredient, followed by fibre and minerals. All three feature prominently in the nutritional positioning behind Nestlé’s new cereal products.
That is particularly significant for manufacturers of mainstream products such as breakfast cereals. Functional nutrition is increasingly becoming something consumers expect to encounter during an ordinary supermarket shop rather than exclusively through supplements or specialist health products.
Consumers Want Specific Benefits, Not Vague Health Claims
The growing interest in healthy ageing does, however, come with an important warning for manufacturers.
Levercliff’s senior consumer insights manager said awareness of healthy ageing has clearly been increasing in the UK, potentially influenced by greater government and media attention around healthy life expectancy and living well for longer.
Its latest consumer tracking research found that just over 70% of UK consumers are at least slightly interested in food and drink products supporting healthy ageing, including 36% who are moderately or very interested.
However, the research suggests that simply describing a product as supporting “healthy ageing” may be too broad to resonate effectively with shoppers.
Levercliff found that 41% of consumers have already made lifestyle changes intended to improve their health, while another 29% would like to do so.
The priorities behind those changes differ substantially depending on age.
Among consumers aged 18 to 34, fitness and muscle development are more prominent considerations. For those aged over 34, weight loss or maintaining a healthy weight becomes a stronger priority.
Products associated with physical energy tend to appeal more strongly to younger consumers, while sleep-related benefits resonate particularly with the 34 to 54 age group. Heart health is a more significant consideration among consumers aged over 55.
For food manufacturers and retailers, that makes clarity increasingly important.
Rather than relying on umbrella phrases such as healthy ageing, brands and own-label manufacturers may benefit from emphasising the precise functional benefit of a product on the front of the pack, before using wider packaging or marketing communications to explain how that benefit contributes to longer-term health and wellbeing.
Nestlé’s decision to develop distinct Happy Heart and Active variants appears closely aligned with that thinking.
What the Developments Mean for Food Manufacturing and Production
The Brookfield Drinks acquisition and Nestlé cereal launches demonstrate two important routes to growth for food and beverage manufacturers: acquiring established brands with proven consumer recognition, and reformulating or extending existing brands to address changing consumer priorities.
For beverage producers, Crabbie’s highlights the continued commercial potential of flavour-led categories. Growth in fruit beers, alcoholic ginger beer and craft-inspired drinks gives manufacturers an opportunity to diversify production beyond traditional beer and cider while reaching consumers seeking distinctive tastes and drinking experiences.
Brookfield will also be able to use its existing distribution infrastructure to increase the scale and reach of a brand that already has significant domestic and international awareness.
Nestlé’s developments point to another important manufacturing shift. Functional nutrition is becoming increasingly integrated into mainstream food production, requiring manufacturers to combine familiar products with ingredients capable of supporting clear, legally appropriate nutritional claims.
Vitamins, minerals, fibre, calcium and other functional components are therefore likely to play a growing role in product development, formulation and marketing.
The need for more specific health positioning could also influence how future products are designed. Instead of one product promising broad wellbeing benefits, manufacturers may increasingly develop separate ranges targeted at heart health, muscle health, bone health, energy, immunity, sleep or weight management.
For manufacturing facilities such as Nestlé’s Staverton plant, this creates opportunities for innovation within established production environments while helping mature brands remain relevant to new generations of consumers.
Established Brands Find New Routes to Relevance
The latest moves from Brookfield Drinks and Nestlé show that heritage alone is no guarantee of future growth, but it can provide an exceptionally powerful foundation when combined with the right product and investment strategy.
Crabbie’s can trace its history to 1801 and already enjoys extensive awareness across the UK and international markets. Under Brookfield Drinks, the brand now enters a new chapter focused on capitalising on the continued growth of alcoholic ginger beer, fruit beer and flavour-led drinking occasions.
Shredded Wheat, meanwhile, is celebrating 100 years of UK manufacturing while being repositioned around some of the most contemporary themes influencing food purchasing, including healthy ageing, heart health, muscle health and functional nutrition.
Shreddies is following a similar path by combining a new Peanut Butter flavour with additional fibre, iron and vitamin credentials.
Conclusion
Taken together, the two developments underline how food and beverage businesses are balancing heritage with changing consumer behaviour.
Brookfield Drinks is using acquisition to strengthen its position in an expanding flavoured alcoholic drinks category, gaining a brand with more than two centuries of history, widespread UK distribution and a presence in over 30 international markets.
Nestlé is taking a different route, using innovation within established cereal brands to respond to growing consumer demand for foods that deliver clearly defined nutritional benefits.
For the wider manufacturing sector, both stories point in the same direction. Consumers continue to value recognised names, but they increasingly expect those brands to evolve, whether that means delivering more adventurous flavours, stronger craft credentials or tangible health benefits.
The manufacturers and brand owners able to combine familiarity with genuine product development are therefore likely to be best placed to capture the next wave of growth across the UK’s rapidly changing food and beverage market.
News Credits:
Crabbie’s ginger beer snapped up by Brookfield Drinks
Nestlé unveils new cereal range as demand for ‘healthy ageing’ food soars
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