Heck gears up for 2021 with new launches and a major investment

The Bedale-based firm, which has gone from zero to a £30m turnover in seven years, has plans to expand its range, including a vegan mince and a range of vegan burgers, which will be a direct competitor to the 'fake' meat brands in the market.

Heck also has plans to build a farm on site to grow basil for its Chicken and Vegan Italia range. Heck will become the first branded food company to create a “closed loop” system for basil, saving on food miles. The move will also enable the team to grow other varieties of herbs and vegetables in a perfectly controlled climate setting.

Heck will grow micro-nutrients on the farm, to improve the nutritional value of its sausages and burgers, which is an industry first.

Heck co-founder, Jamie Keeble, said: “2020 has been a rollercoaster. The first lockdown was completely terrifying - stockpiling then the market going dead. But we made sure our people and community were safe and also looked after our customers by listening to what they needed and wanted.

“It also made us stronger as a team, and we have seen some amazing stories coming out of the time together and at home.”

Heck invested heavily in the factory during lockdown, buying manufacturing equipment to make sure it had maximum social distancing.

“It completely changed the way we worked at HQ and at home,” he said.

“Everyone has been brilliant - one of our team, Jack Tate, has just completed a charity walk from Kirklington to Cornwall to raise money for brain injury research. The idea came to him in the first lockdown. He’s never been a walker!”

Mr Tate’s walk inspired the Heck team to work with TV presenter, Julia Bradbury, on a new walking programme which will air on January 6 on ITV at 7pm.

Heck has launched a six figure collaboration with the programme and Mr Tate and the Heck team will star in the TV sponsorship of the ad breaks during the new programme.

Mr Keeble said: “We worked with Julia on our prostate cancer campaign as my grandfather sadly died from the disease, and Julia’s own father was affected.

“We are surrounded by fantastic countryside, so it seemed a brilliant fit to work with her.

“We really bring the outdoors in and we even have a secret railway walk on our 800 acre farm around the factory, where we go for fresh air on our lunch breaks with the dogs.”

In other developments, Heck is launching a special pack of sausages for the charity, End Youth Homelessness.

Packs of Heck 97 per cent pork sausages, the company’s best-seller, are being rebranded between December 24 and January 5 and all the profits will go to End Youth Homelessness

The packs will be sold nationally in over 10,000 supermarkets, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s, Asda and Waitrose..

The charity works on a national scale to give vulnerable young people a future, help them to secure a home and take advantage of education and employment opportunities so that they can go on to live happy, independent lives.

Mr Keeble said: “Youth homelessness is particularly high in this area and the North East.

“We are also offering a young person the chance to come and work for us at Heck. We want to be able to put something back to help all the people that have supported us during the start-up years.”

Mr Keeble attributed Heck’s success to its ability to do things differently.

“We are always bringing something new to the market - bright packaging, chicken sausages, clean vegan and even a ‘posh’ frozen sausage with no plastic packaging.

“Every time anyone says ’no’, we say ‘What the heck’ and go for it anyway. We were told it wouldn’t be possible for our own people to be in a TV sponsorship, but everyone wants to see behind the scenes and meet the faces behind the sausages.”

Heck is now the market leader in premium sausages and employs 130 people.

The firm said that exports present a big opportunity and the company is now sending vegan bangers as far away as Australia.

The company also has plans to extend the Heck branding into other areas such as oat milk.