Birds Eye Artic Roll Credit Crunch comeback

Birds Eye's 'Artic Roll' is making a comeback in a supermarket battle of the brands as the credit crunch continues to bite Brits shopping budgets.

Frozen food giant Birds Eye is to re-launch its vesion of the frozen-dessert that it axed a decade ago - after Lyon's Maid launched its own Artic Roll last month.

Both the Birds Eye and Lyons Maid products will sell for about #1 each, making it popular with thrifty families.

Birds Eye ceased manufacturing Arctic Roll in 1997 after sales of the product slumped by 50 per cent.

But the firm's European Chief Executive Martin Glenn is behind plans to revive the ice cream and sponge dessert that saw its heyday in the 1970s.

Retail analysts Mintel say the frozen-dessert market, valued at #217.6m, recorded the most dynamic growth of any frozen-food sector in 2007 - growing by seven per cent.

The most notable recent retro-food relaunch has been that of Cadbury's Wispa.

Popular in the 80s, the chocolate bar was discontinued in 2003, but revived for a limited-
edition run in 2007 following a Facebook campaign.

It proved so successful that Cadbury permanently reinstated the line this year.