Surya secures exclusive licensing deal with Shazans

Surya secures exclusive licensing deal with Shazans

UK food giant Surya Foods has signed an exclusive licensing deal with premium halal brand Shazans which will now see the world food giant’s frozen catalogue expand by over 50 products.

It is part of Surya Food’s strategic plan to lead the world food frozen category and follows the company’s acquisition of halal frozen specialists Humza Foods in 2016.

The latest deal will make Surya Foods the biggest frozen world food supplier in the UK (£20m) after adding Shazans’ £6.5 million turnover.

Surya has invested £8 million in a dedicated state of the art Halal production facility in Romania, allowing industry leading technical compliance, product quality and new innovative product development capabilities.

The investment has enabled Humza to triple its frozen skus during the last 18 months and build annual sales in excess of £13 million. Surya's premium Humza frozen range features samosas, spring rolls, kebabs, grills, burgers, parathas, chapattis and frozen vegetables popular in halal cooking.

Speaking about the partnership Surya Foods Managing Director Harry Dulai said:“We are delighted to be helping the Shazans brand achieve even wider distribution for its popular and premium frozen lines across the UK and beyond.

“We have ensured Humza has quickly become a major player in the halal sector with listings across hundreds of independent stores and over 1,000 national retail stores, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons.

“The emerging 'halal convenience food' category is a market in rapid growth and we are keen to expand our offering to this sector quickly in line with demand.

“Muslim shoppers are now being offered more and more convenient meal solutions out of the freezer and, as such, they are becoming an increasingly significant audience to the frozen category and this agreement allows us to accelerate this.”

Shazans is the UK’s No.1 halal brand across fresh pre-pack meats, in-store halal butcheries and frozen with listings in selected Marks & Spencer, Asda, Sainsburys, Tesco, Iceland and Morrison’s & Bestway stores. Its premium halal range includes cook in the bag chickens, select meats, parathas, vegetables, kebabs, burgers, breaded chicken and samosas.

The deal will see Surya Foods take over production and sales of all of Shazans’ frozen lines. Chilled lines will continue to be produced at Shazans’ factory in Eye, Suffolk, which operates a fully integrated fresh poultry supply chain.

Speaking about the UK halal market generally Surya Foods Managing Director Harry Dulai said: "The UK Muslim market is keen to source premium quality, halal convenience food, which bring ease of preparation and peace of mind regarding the provenance of the meat used. The enormous success of the Humza brand, triple figure growth in the last year alone, is evidence that consumers are relishing the opportunity to buy quality, frozen, halal food.”

He added: "Half of the UK’s Muslim population is under the age of 30 and young markets love and demand convenience in line with busy modern lives. This agreement is just the tip of the iceberg of our ambitions and we will continue to expand our offering of convenient frozen products to give consumers greater choice.”