Farmer-owned dairy cooperative, Arla Foods, has launched 'Arla Professional' as the new brand name for its foodservice offering in the UK. It offers the best in dairy and will see the company's existing cheese foodservice brands fall under the Arla Professional banner - 'Lockerbie', produced at the Arla site in Scotland and the 'Bladen' brand, which focused on British provenance.
The UK is the first Arla market to introduce Arla Professional and the move to bring the Lockerbie and Bladen brands under the one banner is a significant step in the changing way the company reaches food and catering professionals. The launch will be supported by an integrated marketing campaign targeting professionals nationwide.
Tomas Pietrangeli, Managing Director of Arla UK, commented, 'Now is the right time in the UK to step up our efforts into a relatively untapped area that provides significant growth opportunities that we need to capture.
'We hope the launch of Arla Professional changes the way the foodservice industry sees Arla, presenting one clear brand whilst continuing the strong reputation of quality they associated with the Lockerbie and Bladen names.'
Arla Foodservice is driven by the Arla global business which has identified significant growth opportunities both in Europe and International zones. Its ambition is to deliver strong growth through the development of new products and formats targeting key foodservice channels.
Kai Gyllström, global head of Arla Foodservice, said, 'The UK is a pilot market for the Arla Professional brand and part of a bigger foodservice plan. The plan will capitalise on the strong positions we have in other markets to become even stronger in the markets with growth potential including the UK. Growing foodservice will provide a more significant contribution to utilising our significant milk pool and add further value to our owner's milk.'
Arla Foods UK is the largest dairy company in the country and is home to leading dairy brands Anchor, Cravendale, and Lactofree with a turnover of £2.46bn.
As well as being a leading supplier of fresh milk, number one in butter, spreads and cream, Arla is the UK's largest cheese manufacturer. It has also built the world's largest fresh milk facility located at Aylesbury and has plans for it to be the first zero carbon site of its kind.
The UK business has a team of approximately 3,500 colleagues located at its dairies, distribution centres and head office.