Italian Brand Mutti Becomes UK’s Top Premium Tinned Tomato Brand

Premium versions of everyday staples such as beans, cooking oils and tonic water have long tempted consumers to pay more for perceived quality. Now tinned tomatoes — a cornerstone of home cooking — have joined the premium trend.

Mutti, an Italian brand selling tinned tomatoes at roughly £1.60 per tin — compared with about 50p for supermarket own-label — is on track to surpass Napolina, which retails at around £1, as the United Kingdom’s largest non-supermarket brand of tinned tomatoes, passata and paste.

According to market data, Mutti claimed the top spot for the first time in the 12 weeks ending February, capturing nearly 11% of the market. A £6 million marketing campaign, including television adverts, is expected to help Mutti maintain that position for the remainder of the year. Supermarket own labels still control more than 60% of the market.

Mutti, a family-owned company, entered the UK market in 2020. Last year, sales in the UK and Ireland rose 19% to €26.2 million (approximately £22.4 million). The brand now operates a promotional van touring cities including Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Cardiff. Its product line has expanded to include ready-made sauces and ketchup.

Founded in 1899 and headquartered in the Province of Parma, the company processed a record 725,000 tons of tomatoes last year. Francesco Mutti, great-grandson of one of the founders, attributes the brand’s growing popularity to its emphasis on flavor.

“We think and believe that it can really play a significant role in a cuisine,” Mutti said during a trip to London to launch the van tour. “It’s not champagne but it has dignity, and is full of flavour.”

Mutti sources its tomatoes from 1,000 farming families across Italy. The fruit is processed over approximately 70 days, from mid-July through late September.

Dhiresh Hirani, Mutti’s UK managing director, said the brand has benefited from word-of-mouth recommendations and has cultivated a “cult of tomato lovers.” He also credited the brand’s success to a broader trend toward cooking from scratch, which accelerated during the COVID-19 lockdowns when many households learned new culinary techniques at home.

Despite the premium price, Hirani noted that the cost-of-living crisis has boosted sales. Many households, he said, are saving money by dining at home instead of restaurants and are seeking out higher-quality ingredients.

“That’s what did allow us to build our distribution,” Hirani said. Under his leadership, Mutti expanded from Sainsbury’s and Waitrose into all major UK supermarkets by 2024.

Like many food brands, Mutti faces pressure from rising fuel and energy costs, which have been driven by the conflict in the Middle East and extreme weather linked to the climate crisis.

Francesco Mutti warned that if energy prices do not decline by July, margins will be squeezed. If packaging suppliers, whose costs are also tied to oil and energy, raise their prices, the added expense could be passed on to supermarkets and consumers.

The company has installed “plenty of solar panels” on its buildings to reduce electricity costs, but it cannot cover all the energy needed to process the tomatoes.

Mutti expressed hope that energy prices will decrease before the critical July processing window. “We cannot anticipate, we cannot postpone. We can do nothing. We can just pay the energy in that moment and transform the tomatoes when they are perfectly ripe,” he said.