Whether you’re a working parent rushing back from the office or a busy student cramming for your next test, Eskort has solved the age-old question of ‘What’s for dinner?’ with a brand-new range of ready-to-eat meals and innovative pork products made to suit local pockets.
Eskort moves into the ready-made-meal market
Local meat producer Eskort is bursting onto the ready-made meals scene with a new line of convenient, pocket-friendly pork dishes including beloved favourites such as pepper pork pie and lasagna.
Challenging established ready-to-eat brands, each of its four new meals can feed a family within 30 minutes for around R100, helping time-stressed South Africans save on takeaways.
In addition to its new range of ready-made meals, the manufacturer is also introducing a range of innovative meal options for households to shake up dinner while saving rands.
Pork Disruptors challenging chicken
The new meal options include Original, BBQ, and Cape Chutney-flavoured mini frikkadels; succulent smoked or BBQ-marinated pulled pork; crumbed pork schnitzels and strips as an enticing alternative to chicken; and, in a first for the South African market, pork fingers to disrupt more traditional competitors such as fish fingers and smackaroos.
Eskort Group Marketing Manager Marcelle Pienaar states that South Africa’s ready-to-eat and convenience food market is poised for phenomenal growth, especially as busy parents resume the daily commute to the office and households spend less time at home cooking.
“Convenience has become a central theme in the modern diet, especially in our increasingly time-scarce world where many people don’t have the time or inclination to prepare meals from scratch,” she says.
“Considering the explosion of fast food and takeaways seen over the past few years, it’s clear that there is high demand for nutritious food that is right here, right now, and right for families.
Offering Affordability
“With financial constraints forcing consumers to tighten their belts, we also see more South Africans turning to pork as an affordable meat option to beef or lamb. As a result, we are striving to broaden our product category to offer more variety and convenient meal options to households in this tough economic climate.”
A 2022 report by Data Bridge Market Research notes the rapid growth of urban, working populations in the post-pandemic world will fuel a new boom in the global ready meals market, driving estimated growth of nearly 9.5% by 2028. In South Africa alone, the local urban population is expected to reach 73% of the population by 2030, with an accompanying shift towards more fast-paced lifestyles.
Pienaar explains that each of their ready-made meals is specifically designed to appeal to families, students and singles, offering a nutritious, affordable meal option that needs just 30 minutes in the oven. Available at all Eskort retail stores, this range features a lasagna made with pork mince; a butter-style pork curry; macaroni and cheese with diced bacon; and a pepper pork pie containing a lip-smacking pork goulash.
“Each of our meals is sized to comfortably feed a family of four while offering households a more affordable alternative to fast foods with the same ease and convenience – just heat and serve,” she says.
“Likewise, our pork fingers, pork strips and schnitzels require minimum preparation and can be ready within 20 minutes, avoiding any argument over who’s making dinner.
“As costs of living rise, these are all great options for families to quickly put nutritious and filling food on the table without breaking the bank.”
Find out more about Eskort’s great range of products here: https://eskort.com/product-range/
