Mutti, Italy’s number one tomato brand, is putting its growing pasta sauce portfolio centre stage as part of its £6 million 2026 marketing investment in the UK. The Mutti Pasta Sauce Tour, a nationwide sampling campaign, will launch on 8 May, headlined by celebrity chef and Mutti ambassador Gennaro Contaldo at the London launch on 9 and 10 May.
The activity comes as Mutti’s Italian Pasta Sauce range passes £6.8 million in UK retail sales value, having driven more than 25% of category value and 33% of category volume growth in the 52 weeks to March 2026 (18/4/2026, NIQ). The brand’s pace of growth positions Mutti as one of the standout contributors to category value growth within pasta sauces, outperforming the wider segment as shoppers trade up for authentic Italian provenance.
Building on Mutti’s first television campaign for its pasta sauce range in April, the sampling tour gives the brand its first opportunity to put the sauces directly into shoppers’ hands at scale. It runs alongside an ongoing influencer programme targeting home-cooking audiences seeking restaurant-quality food at home, a priority for four in ten shoppers (NIQ, 2025), with further TV and in-store activity planned through 2026.
The Mutti Pasta Sauce Tour, May 2026
From 8 May, Mutti’s bespoke touring kitchen, a brand-new, fully-fitted branded van, will visit seven major UK cities, serving over 25,000 hot pasta portions tossed in Mutti Pasta Sauce with Basil and handing out nearly 100,000 sample jars for shoppers to take home. The tour opens at Battersea Power Station in London, where Gennaro Contaldo, the chef credited with teaching Jamie Oliver to cook Italian, will demo live and make fresh pasta by hand on 9 and 10 May.
The full tour schedule includes stops at London (8–10 May), Birmingham (13–14 May), Leeds (16–17 May), Manchester (19–20 May), Liverpool (22–24 May), Edinburgh (27–28 May) and Cardiff (30–31 May), with all events open 10am to 6pm daily and free to attend. For more details, visit: muttiexperience.co.uk.
Mutti Pasta Sauce with Basil, a Great Taste Award winner in 2025 and the sauce at the heart of the tour, is available now across all major UK grocery retailers.
Speaking on the launch, Graham Phelan, marketing manager at Mutti UK, said: “This tour is all about bringing the authentic taste of Italy to communities right across the UK. Our pasta sauces are made with the best Italian tomatoes and more than 125 years of craftsmanship. This tour is our chance to share that passion face-to-face with shoppers and show them how Mutti can elevate everyday cooking, turning a quick midweek meal into restaurant-quality food at home. Alongside our ongoing TV, influencer and in-store activity, the tour is a key part of how we’re continuing to invest behind the brand, and it’s an exciting moment for us, especially given how quickly Mutti has become the fastest-growing name in the category.”
