Shoppers ditching traditional condiments such as brown sauce as HP’s sales drop
SHOPPERS are ditching traditional condiments such as brown sauce for more exotic options.
Sales of the sweet umber dressing are down 12.4 per cent with experts suggesting millennials are shunning the full English for alternatives that don’t suit the topping, such as smashed avocado.
Other traditional sauces — such as mustard and tomato ketchup — are also falling in popularity with many people now going for hotter and spicier options like peri-peri sauce.
Pam Digva, of Nottingham-based sauce producer Sauce Shop, said: “Brown sauce doesn’t go with a lot of the sorts of food people tend to eat these days.
“That said, I do think there’s always space on the plate for ketchup.”
Private chef Sohini Banerjee, who has developed a range of chutneys, spoke up for brown sauce.
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She said: “It’s got a bit of tamarind, a bit of sugar. Often I will reach for it if I’m looking to add a bit of sweetness or saltiness to a meal, such as a pasta sauce. If a dish needs an umami kick, I’m willing to use a brown sauce or ketchup.”
Brown sauce has been a British favourite for decades with top brand HP Sauce — now owned by Heinz — founded 127 years ago.
Fan David Simpson, 28, of Dartford, Kent, who likes it on cheese on toast or a bacon sarnie, said: “I’ll not stop buying it. If anything, I’ll get more. I’m not going to be getting in these ‘exotic options’.”