Dive Summary:

• Nestlé Prepared Foods Company announced Tuesday that it would make over its Hot Pockets products with "premium cuts of meat, new buttery seasoned crusts, and real cheese" in hopes of upgrading the products' ingredients, flavor and aroma.
• Along with new packaging, Hot Pockets will also have a new celebrity spokesman, Jeff Mauro, a chef and host of the Food Network series "Sandwich King" and "$24 in 24."
• "In blind taste tests, three out of five consumers significantly preferred the new and improved Hot Pockets Pepperoni Pizza sandwiches over our prior recipes," said Hot Pockets brand director Daniel Jhung in a press release. "In fact, we are so confident fans will love the new and improved Hot Pockets sandwiches that we are offering a money-back guarantee."

(Image credit: Business Wire)

From the press release:

... The improved flavor varieties of HOT POCKETS sandwiches include premium meats such as 100% Angus Beef, Hickory Ham, Signature Pepperoni, and White Meat Chicken. New HOT POCKETS sandwiches are wrapped in delicious new crusts with baked-in flavor. The pizza varieties feature a new garlic buttery seasoned crust, and the deli sandwich varieties have a new crispy buttery seasoned crust. While much is new, Nestlé did not mess with success in remaking HOT POCKETS sandwiches: the new recipes still give consumers the convenient meal and snack they love with improved flavor and even better quality ingredients.

"HOT POCKETS is excited to grow with its fan base, and really, the dialogue with our fans has spurred these major changes," said brand director Daniel Jhung. "Our fans, namely millennial consumers, have high food IQs and high expectations, and because they expect more, we gave it to them. In blind taste tests, three out of five consumers significantly preferred the new and improved HOT POCKETS Pepperoni Pizza sandwiches over our prior recipes. In fact, we are so confident fans will love the new and improved HOT POCKETS sandwiches that we are offering a money-back guarantee."

The new HOT POCKETS brand sandwiches also have a new spokesperson--celebrity chef Jeff Mauro, host of the Food Network series "Sandwich King" and "$24 in 24." Mauro previously was crowned the winner of "The Next Food Network Star" competition during its seventh season. Together with Chef Lucien Vendôme of the Nestlé Culinary Center in Solon, Ohio, Mauro opened the doors of the Nestlé Kitchen in Chatsworth, Calif. for the first time to show the public all of the quality care and ingredients that go into making HOT POCKETS sandwiches.

"As the 'Sandwich King', I know what elements go into making the perfect sandwich," Mauro said. "I've always enjoyed HOT POCKETS sandwiches, but the new and improved varieties are incredibly good. Offering a sandwich trifecta -- with new premium cuts of meat, new buttery seasoned crusts and real cheese, it's the perfect combination of quality ingredients and delicious flavor. The new HOT POCKETS sandwiches taste great, and I look forward to reintroducing them to fans everywhere."

Noted Chef Vendôme: "HOT POCKETS sandwiches are made in the same way as I would make a great tasting hot sandwich in my own kitchen, just on a larger scale. We don't make frozen food here -- we make great tasting hot sandwiches with quality ingredients, bake them fresh daily, then freeze them. And we promise you will love the new HOT POCKETS sandwiches -- your satisfaction is guaranteed." ...