Bigger dough balls, veggie pizza and pastries, and springtime quiches are among the calls answered in the latest batch of savoury bakery launches.
The innovations showcase versatility, brand collaborations, breakfast indulgences, and even a traditional Greek street food favourite.
Following on from our recent round-up of new sweet bakery treats, here’s some informative bites on the savoury NPD:
Dough balls, Country Range
Country Range has extended its dough ball range with the introduction of a larger 340g option, described as the perfect blank canvas for culinary creativity. The foodservice supplier noted that dough balls were one of the most popular products in its expanding portfolio, with Italian remaining one of the UK’s most loved and influential cuisines.
Dough balls can be used in a myriad of ways across the public catering and hospitality sectors and are the ideal versatile ingredient for fast-paced kitchens, it added. Among the classic Italian menu items that can be made from the balls are pizza, pizzette, panzerotti, and calzone – they’re also useful when stuffed or for starters, sweets, single serve snacks, creative dips, and other globally inspired dishes.
The 340g dough balls are sold frozen in packs of 30. “Dough balls are such a fantastic ingredient for caterers of all sizes as they are great for portion control and only need to be thawed before use for pizza perfection and so much more,” commented Rachel Porter, marketing manager at the Country Range Group.
Veggie Feast Pizza, Gregg’s
A new pizza is on the block for the bakery chain as part of its recently unveiled spring menu. Sitting on a focaccia-style base, the Veggie Feast Pizza is topped with pizza sauce, a blend of cheeses, sliced tomatoes, sweetcorn, mixed peppers, and sliced red onion.
It’s available daily from 11am via Click and Collect on the Greggs app or for delivery via Just Eat or Uber Eats. Meanwhile, walk-in customers have to wait until 4pm to get their hands on the new pizza at Greggs’ 2,600+ stores nationwide. An individual slice contains 573 calories and is priced from £2.40, while a four-slice box costs £7.95 and a six-slice pizza box is £9.95.
“Tasty and technicolour – it’s hard to not savour every bite,” expresses Greggs on the NPD. Pizza has performed strongly for the company, with evening trade being its fastest growing daypart in recent months. It enjoyed record-setting £2bn turnover in 2024, but has since reported a downturn in sales growth at the start of this year. Nevertheless, Greggs remained confident of managing inflationary headwinds and delivering “another year of progress in 2025”.
Heinz Beanz & Cheese Slice, Ginsters
The savoury pastry brand has partnered with Heinz Beanz to create a new limited-edition slice, said to feature the perfect ratio of baked beans, cheese, and pastry. Its available now at Morrisons, and from next week at Tesco, Asda, and Sainsbury’s supermarkets (rsp: £1.95 | 170g). A Beanz only version (136g) is to be rolled out into value retailers from June.
It comes off the back of Ginsters’ sales figures reporting that its Limited Edition Slices range has recruited 425k shoppers into the brand to date, and delivered £233k of incremental spend since launching in 2022. Moreover, the pasties and slices category has grown volumes by 6.8% year-on-year [Kantar Worldpanel data, 52 w/e 25 January 2025].
In addition, the newly launched product sees the first brand partnership for Ginsters’ slices. It will look to leverage the brand strength of Heinz Beanz which maintains a commanding presence in UK retail, bought by 40.5% of households [Kantar data, 52 w/e 21 January 2025].
Samworth Brothers-owned Ginsters is also looking to tap into UK consumer impulsiveness with Greenshoots research from May 2024 reporting more than half (54%) of savoury pastry purchase decisions were made in store, which is even higher than confectionary (49%).
Sharing and individual quiches, Higgidy
Another Samworth Brothers-owned brand is Higgidy, which is marking the arrival of warmer weather and relaxed springtime lunch occasions with two new quiche varieties.
The 6” Tuscan-Inspired Red Pepper & Marinated Tomato Quiche with Roasted Aubergine comprises a seeded shortcrust pastry packed with red peppers, marinated tomatoes, roasted aubergine purée and basil in a free-range egg filling, topped with roasted red peppers, Cheddar cheese, and pumpkin seeds. It will be available at Tesco stores (rsp: £4.60) from 7 April, Sainsbury’s from 9 April, and Waitrose and Ocado from 23 April.
For those seeking a single-serve option, the new Mature Cheddar & Crispy Chilli Oil Little Quiche with Spring Onions has seeded spelt shortcrust pastry bringing together mature Cheddar, red peppers, spring onions, and a free-range egg filling topped with Red Leicester cheese, chilli oil, and crispy onions. Ocado will sell these quiches (rsp: £3) first from 23 April, before they are rolled out at Waitrose, Tesco, and Booths sites from 30 April.
Shoreham-by-Sea-based Higgidy has also updated its popular Tomato & Feta Quiche to create the Whipped Greek Feta & Roasted Tomato Quiche with Spinach, combining spinach, feta, ricotta, tomato paste and free-range egg filling, plus a topping of roasted cherry tomatoes and crumbled Greek feta. The company previous came out with a Smoky Chorizo & Slow Roasted Red Pepper Quiche for the winter season.
Spinach & Herb Pancakes, M&S
The reigning Bakery Retailer of the Year has extended Pancake Day celebrations into the spring season with its new Spinach & Herb Buttermilk Pancakes. Herbs used in the fluffy pancakes are parsley and chives, as well as a seasoning of white pepper.
Claimed to be a first-to-market, they are sold in stores in four-packs (rsp: £1.90 | 280g), the same as M&S’ Red Velvet Pancakes. A serving suggestion for the new savoury line is with a soft poached egg and crispy bacon – a breakfast that awakens the eyes and well as the tongue.
Spinach & Feta Filo Rolls, Odysea
Mediterranean food brand Odysea has heralded its first move into the food-to-go category with the launch of its new Spinach & Feta Filo Rolls into Sainsbury’s.
Based on authentic Greek Spanakopita – a traditional and still popular street food snack – they are made with layers of filo pastry encasing a balanced ratio of feta and spinach, along with 100% extra virgin olive oil. Odysea distributes the rolls frozen to the supermarkets, where they are baked in-store and then sold in the food-to-go aisle (rsp: £1.60).
“This is one more pioneering launch from Odysea, and it’s been one of my favourite projects yet,” noted Odysea founder Panos Manuelides, who started out trading Greek olives from a stall on London’s Portobello Road in 1991. “We have been trying for years to introduce Greek Pastries to the UK high street. A big thank you to the Odysea team, to our producers in Greece and to Sainsbury’s for running with this project.”
Gluten-free pizza and pinsa bases, Rich’s
Global bakery supplier Rich’s has unveiled a new range of parbaked gluten-free pizza bases as well as authentic Italian-style pinsa bases for the foodservice sector.
The gluten-free bases come in 10-inch and 12-inch sizes of the thin-crust plain version, which is crafted from a blend of rice flour, tapioca, and potato flour. There also a 10-inch cauliflower base option, made from 30% cauliflower, milled chia, and brown rice. The bases are described as light with a crispy exterior and a delightfully chewy centre. Sold frozen, they are designed for convenience, with minimal handling and no thawing or proving needed.
The new pinsa bases, meanwhile, are produced in Italy with a long-fermented mix of extra virgin olive oil, finely-ground wheat flour, and sourdough. Once baked (from frozen), the crust is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, noted the company. The bases come in 9-inch and 12-inch rounds with other sizes and shapes available.
Rich Products (known as Rich’s) was founded in 1945 in Buffalo, New York by food processing pioneer Robert E. Rich Sr. Having expanded production operations to over 100 locations worldwide, the family-owned business is now approaching a turnover of $6bn (£4.6bn). It is marking its 80th anniversary this week with a celebration at its BRC-accredited production site in Andover, Hampshire. ”For eight decades, we’ve focused on innovation, delivering high-quality sweet bakery including cookies, muffins and buns, dairy cream alternatives, and now pizza bases that meet customer needs and delight consumers,” said Dez Paterson, commercial director at Rich Products UK.
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