Yorkshire free from food business Kirsty's set to take to the airwaves, including an appearance from Kirsty Henshaw herself

The advert, which hits TV screens in Yorkshire from today even features owner and founder Kirsty Henshaw, who moved her business to Harrogate last year with a new £2m factory having been built in the town.The 30 second advert marks a considerable investment for the business with more than £500,000 worth of airtime scheduled over the next three months.

The advert was shot in the Kirsty’s factory as well as a number of other locations in Yorkshire by The Mill Group, a creative content agency specialising in compelling, emotional and relevant brand-driven story telling.

The campaign, which is set to run for three months, is a significant step for Kirsty’s in its quest to be the UK’s no.1 free-from brand in chilled and frozen food.

Ms Henshaw wants to push the brand further during 2020, increasing awareness by 7 per cent and encouraging more than 100,000 new consumers to trial the brand’s range of meals and desserts.

The advert is not the Ms Henshaw's television debut, having achieved some notoriety with her famed appearance on Dragon's Den in 2010. Ms Henshaw, said: “When I first started this business, I’d always dreamt of making a TV advert to show off my products. Now it’s become a reality and I can’t wait for it to air.

“The last time I appeared on TV was ten years ago, when I was successful in the Dragons’ Den. Having a cameo role in this advert and being back in front of the cameras certainly took me back to those early days and reminded me of how far both me and the brand have come since then, we have grown together over the last decade and I couldn’t be prouder of where Kirsty’s is today.

“Last year, one in every 30 households bought a Kirsty’s product which is incredible. In 2020, we not only want customers to continue to trust our products, but we also want to encourage them to trial products from more than one of our ever-expanding categories.”

During 2021, customers can expect to see several new products developed by Kirsty’s on the shelves. This was made possible after Kirsty’s recently invested £2M in a new factory that will help the brand focus on new product development and achieve their target of doubling the size of the business within three years.

Ms Henshaw continued: “Our completely allergen-free site has opened up a whole new world of possibilities for the business. It has enabled us to focus on creating new free-from meals that we know our customers will love such as the new vegan friendly Lentil Lasagne.

“We’re extremely excited to be introducing this product and our new vegan and gluten free Golden Billionaire Slice to our already established range and we can’t wait to see the feedback from our customers.”

A recent study conducted by Kirsty’s revealed that more than 27% of the UK suffer from food allergies or intolerances to certain ingredients.

She concluded: “Our research shows that more than 18 million consumers in the UK have allergies or intolerances and almost one in four (23%) of households in the UK have someone who is lactose, dairy, wheat or gluten free.

“These stats are what drive me forward. Knowing that we are providing options for consumers and putting food on the table that customers can enjoy without the worry of allergies and intolerances makes me extremely proud and it also makes me want to get back in my product development kitchen to continue to develop new recipes.”

Claire Ledder, operations director at The Mill Group, said: “It was a real privilege to work with Kirsty’s and the team on their first ever TV ad. Our joint passion for caring about putting customers at the heart of any decision meant we had an honest and professional partnership where we were all aiming for the same end goal – to promote a brand whose values can make a real difference to customers’ lives.”