The UK’s last independent sausage giant has taken an unusual step to ensure its survival: going meat-free.

To tempt in young, heath-conscious customers, Heck, the family-run maker of burgers, sausages and meatballs has taken a punt on a new range of products that replace meat with quinoa, kale, and chia seeds, ingredients that have all been said to be packed with nutrients in recent years.

“We were apprehensive launching this range as a meat business,” says Andrew Keeble, who founded the company with wife Debbie in 2012. “But when we look to the future, it’s clear that people are reducing the amount of meat in their diets.

"There are other options out there but they just don’t taste very good. The meat-reducer is feeling very unloved at the moment.”