Gluten-free food supplier Juvela has launched a new bakery brand called Oaf while investing £1.5m in a new allergen-free production site in South Wales.
Described as a ‘fun, character-led challenger entity’ with a playful persona illustrating how ‘stupidly simple’, and ‘ridiculously good’ gluten free bread can be, the new brand is aimed at attracting a broader healthy foodie shopper in the free-from aisle, said the company.
A four-strong range of Oaf products landed in Tesco last week. This includes a White Softie (everyday white loaf – rsp: £3 | 400g), a White Sour D’oh (sourdough loaf – £3.75 | 300g), a Seedie Sour D’oh (seeded sourdough loaf – £3.75 | 300g), and a two-pack of Pizza Base Slices (£2.75 | 220g), which consumers can top themselves and eat as a convenient snack.
Oaf is to operate as the company’s strategic retail-facing range, whilst the Juvela brand will continue to occupy its position as a coeliac prescription-led offer. Juvela rolled out new Italian-inspired and Indian-inspired flavoured flatbreads at Tesco, Ocado, and most recently Sainsbury’s.
Supporting expansion is its new manufacturing site, which is certified free from all 14 major allergens and located adjacent to its existing dedicated gluten-free factility in Pontypool, the same Welsh town that Finsbury Food Group operates a gluten-free bakery in.
Juvela noted that, unlike other gluten free brands which tend to use rice flour, its products are made using a specially formulated wheat starch with the gluten removed. This means they are completely safe for a gluten free diet whilst making the taste and texture as close to conventional bread as it gets.
Until now this unique process has mainly been used in prescription-coeliac bread offers, but Oaf’s mainstream personality-driven brand proposition will open this innovation up to a broader healthy foodie, who may be omitting gluten for lifestyle choices, as well as coeliac consumers, it said.
Read our report: Why free-from bakery is outpacing the market
Young healthy ’lifestylers’ are also driving the rise in sourdough, highlighted by Juvela as one of the fastest-growing sub-categories in Speciality Bread, up +56% year on year [UK Bakery Market Overview to March 2024].
“Gluten free consumers – especially the younger, health-conscious segment – aren’t connecting with brands on the shelf, perceiving them as second best to conventional bread,” commented Matthew Cain, head of sales at Juvela and Oaf. “This presents a massive opportunity to engage this audience with a vibrant, characterful brand that resonates with them, whilst showing how tasty and simple gluten free bread can be through our product innovation.
“By combining Juvela’s historical quality, craft and expertise with Oaf’s vibrant brand personality, we’re on a mission to inject new energy, relevance, taste and enjoyment to the retail free-from space, starting with a line of high-quality bakery goods, in the fastest growing areas of the category,” he added.
Juvela has a 30-year history in producing gluten-free foods including bread, flour mixes, breakfast cereals & oats, and pasta. It was previously owned by Swiss consumer foods group Hero, which sold 100% of its shares to London-based enterprise company S-Ventures in 2022.
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