Iceland Foods’ campaign to offer premium products at cut-rate prices is in full swing as the UK-based frozen food specialty retail chain is selling a lot more than whole cooked lobster for £6 per 350 grams and gaucho rump steaks with herb butter at £4 per 227 grams. These are just two SKUs in a lengthening list of rather posh offerings created and curated by Chefs Neil Nugent and David Lennox, who were hired last year to enhance product development efforts.
Among other attractively priced items in the “Luxury Range” are: rack of lamb, 440 grams for £7.04; uncooked Canadian lobster tails, £10 per 220 grams; surf & turf king prawns and British beef fillet steak, £10 for a 400-gram pack; Chateaubriand, £10; duck breast, two for £7; Arctic sliced octopus, £5; whole poussins with bacon, two for £5; New York cheesecake, £3; exotic mousse, £2.50.
While the relatively affordable menu is decidedly upscale, Iceland Foods CEO Malcolm Walker insists the chain is not going upmarket.
“Customers know our products are cheap, but we want them to realize we don’t skimp on quality,” he told the Sunday Mirror in an article published on October 2. “There is huge snobbery about frozen food being low quality in this country. It isn’t.”
The chief executive officer continued: “One of the most successful supermarkets in France is Picard, which sells only frozen foods made with great ingredients. If the French aren’t stuck up about frozen food, why should we be? We sell inexpensive food but if you want octopus, monkfish or scallops, we have it too.”
