By Martin Vedris

SYDNEY: Sales of deep fryers have been slowly dwindling for years as people are more and more focused on low fat cooking. But some innovation from Groupe SEB, in the form of low fat frying, has resurrected the category.

Groupe SEB Australia has reported strong sales of its Actifry product since its launch in late 2008.

“For the first time in three years the deep fryer category has shown strong growth, with the category up 22 per cent in value in 2008, to $16 million. This growth has been driven by the successful launch of Actifry,” said Groupe SEB marketing manager, Filiz Bensan.

“Consumers have responded to Actifry very positively and we are grateful to the support shown by our retail partners to help us achieve such a positive result.

“Tefal has made a considerable investment into developing new cooking technologies which offer a healthy cooking solution to consumers. Consumers are much more health conscious and paying care to not only to how they prepare their food, but how it is cooked.

“Actifry ensures consumers can prepare all their favourite meals using less oil as well as preserving essential nutrients and flavoursome meals.”

The Tefal Actifry uses a unique patented technology, which enables consumers to cook dishes with almost no oil or fat. Actifry comes with a dosing spoon to measure the correct amount of oil that is required for a meal.

“All you need to do is place the food inside the non-stick pan, pour the oil over the food and press start. The hot air flow then circulates inside Actifry and the central paddle will ensure that the oil is uniformly spread and that your food is cooked evenly,” said Bensan.

This year Groupe SEB plans to continue supporting Actifry through a combination of activities covering food shows and events, in-store demonstration programs and PR.

“We are very pleased with the results of Actifry here in Australia,” said Bensan. “Since its launch last year in Europe, Actifry has driven value growth in the deep fryer category and is number one in value. It has been a great achievement to be able to translate those results to our market here. We are most appreciative of the support our retail partners have shown and we will continue to work closely with them to ensure that the momentum we have developed is carried through.”