Following the huge success of the Albert Bartlett Rooster brand on the UK market Albert Bartlett will launch the famous potatoes on the US market. They will be in selected Walmart stores in the Autumn.Albert Bartlett, based in Airdrie, Scotland is one of the biggest potato suppliers in the UK. From the custom built facility they supply most of the top retailers with the well known Albert Bartlett brands such as Rooster, Apache and Purple Majesty and Scotty Brand potatoes.
Custom built facility at Airdrie
At the start of the year John Hicks and William Jackson left for the States to develop the Albert Bartlett Rooster brand with partner Mountain King in Colorado, a well established US grower/packer.
The famous Rooster potatoes
Tim Hammond, International Development Director at the company, said they have been looking at the North American market for around 4 years now, "The US market is dominated by Russet Burbank potatoes, but in recent years European varieties have become more evident. We will initially launch our Albert Bartlett Rooster brand potatoes with our partner Mountain King, but we could be looking for more sub-partners if the brand takes off, in the beginning we will concentrate on producing a good quality, consistent potato."
Albert Bartlett recently launched the Rooster brand into the wider EU. Albert Heijn in The Netherlands and Globus in The Czech Republic already have them on the shelves, and they will be in Czech's Tesco stores very soon. They will be launched in French supermarkets in the Autumn. All of Albert Bartlett's potatoes are locally grown with partners in the various countries. At the moment only the Rooster brand is available outwith the UK but there are plans to extend this to other brands.
Tim is happy with the company's progress and explains that selecting the right partners is the key to success, "We have good varieties and can add to the category, each country has different needs such as pack presentation and usage, it is important to understand the differences. We want consumers to associate the Albert Bartlett brand with top quality, good value potatoes."
Albert Bartlett opened a new facility on Jersey and are now in their third year, this was a substantial investment for the company, but according to Tim, this was the only way to offer a truly fresh product. "It is a great product, mainly for the UK market but we have sent limited volumes to France, which we hope to increase."The philosophy at Albert Bartlett is to focus on what the consumer wants and work
back from there and above all offer a good quality, consistent product which the consumer can trust. Contact:
Tim Hammond
Albert Bartlett
Tel: 0044 1236 762 831
[email protected]
www.albertbartlett.com