Britain's ethnic mix is changing. Since the EU expanded to include countries such as Poland, Latvia, Estonia and Hungary, the UK economy has been boosted by thousands of workers flocking to our shores to find better-paid work.
With the change in ethnicity has come new food products. Polish restaurants are springing up in the capital and in recognised Polish communities, while the multiples have been quick to embrace a range of new flavours, including Polish, Caribbean, Latin American and South African.
While the old favourites of Indian and Chinese still dominate the ethnic fixture, they've been joined by other cuisines, many of which look to cater for the influx of foreign workers and UK consumers' increasing desire for experimentation. Thai and Japanese, for example, are starting to emerge following a slow burn since the turn of the century.
Sharwood's director of culinary brands, Sue Knight, says: "Consumers are becoming more adventurous with the dishes and foods they prepare. One of the key drivers behind this is the increase in popular daytime cookery shows and reality restaurant programmes. These have helped inspire food enthusiasts and has encouraged them to incorporate more exotic flavours in their cooking."
Despite the growth of emerging cuisines, they are still small-fry compared to the Asian food market, particularly Indian and Chinese. The total Asian food market is worth over £303m and has grown by 6.2% in value year on year [IRI, August 2007]. Meanwhile, the total ethnic food market is continuing to show steady growth and its volume has increased by 5.6% from last year.
Indian cuisine has proved one of the most popular foods for consumers to recreate in their kitchen. There is a growing trend towards the use of Indian cooking sauces, which are the key drivers within the ethnic food market and have an estimated market value of £73m. Indian food has a 50% value share of the total market, making Indian cuisine worth over £161m - a growth of 7% on last year's figure [IRI, August 2007].
Indian accompaniments such as chutneys, breads and poppadoms are also in annual growth of more than 9%. There are huge opportunities for retailers and manufacturers to capitalise on the eating-in occasion by stocking their aisles with a range of products that offer consumers the full meal solution.
The frozen sector is also showing good growth, with sales of frozen ethnic snacks up 18.4% in the past two years.
Much of this growth, says Geoff Burgess, managing director at Daloon Foods, can be attributed to the explosion of party food ranges. "Many frozen ethnic snacks, such as mini spring rolls, mini samosas and onion bhajis have become firm all-year-round favourites," he says.
Patak's is also hoping to spice up the frozen market with a range of meal solutions and accompaniments. As always with Indian, authenticity plays a key role. "There is always a desire for an authentic brand," says Jonathan Bye, general manager food & breads and group director commercial at Patak's. "We believe our brand, and others like Loyd Grossman, offer the closest thing to a restaurant experience and it's this authenticity that sets the brands apart."
He adds that there is a trend towards premiumisation. "People want to move upmarket," he says. "Consumers are starting to broaden their repertoires, which is what we are trying to encourage with our NPD and media support."
Patak's has products that are regionally-based but they haven't performed as well as expected. "The feedback we're getting is that consumers are as keen to get the very best tikka masalas or kormas as they are to diversify into different flavours," explains Bye. "There is definitely consumer demand for the very best version of their favourite flavour. This is something we will be looking closely at in 2008."
Sharwood's launched improved rogan josh, balti, jalfrezi, madras, dopiaza and bhuna curry sauces this winter. The redeveloped recipes contain more tomato pieces, onion and spices - which, says the company, lends a more premium and authentic feel to the sauce.
"We always create our products using authentic recipes," says Knight. "Many of our products, such as the Thai curry pastes and sauces, are made in the country of origin and we always try to source our ingredients from that country."
Meanwhile, the increasing demand for inspiring ingredients that are quick and easy to use has also led to an increase in the Chinese stir-fry sector. Stir-fry sauces enable consumers to get involved in the cooking experience while still offering them convenience and an authentic, instant flavour hit.
Stir-fry sauces boast the biggest growth over all other products - gaining an 18% year-on-year value growth of £24m [IRI, August 2007]. Sharwood's, for example, is refreshing some of its most popular stir-fry variants to ensure its portfolio meets consumers' flavour needs.
Sharwood's and Blue Dragon have also worked hard to develop new usage occasions for their brands by launching snacks, dips and accompaniments. According to Mintel, accompaniments grew by 80% from 2004 to 2006, with chilled ethnic starters being the most significant sector.
Kikkoman is the fastest-growing soy sauce brand, up 20.7% in volume year on year [AC Nielsen, September 2007]. "The market has maintained value through strong volume performance," says Kikkoman UK sales and marketing manager Ben Briody. "This is a result of new users being brought into the market through price promotions and more shelf standout. It is excellent timing as we are now gearing up for Chinese New Year, which is one of the most important times of the year for us."
Kikkoman is also expecting to see another uplift in sales when the Olympic Games kick off in Beijing. "The games are creating interest in everything from Chinese food to travel and we are planning to be in the best possible position to capitalise on this," says Briody. n
CATEGORY INSIGHT:? New kids on the block
Consumer interest and the growing Polish population has boosted Caribbean and eastern European food
There is a phrase in Jamaica: 'one, one coco, full basket'. Roughly translated this means if you take a lot of small steps, eventually you'll reach your goal. It's a pretty apt description of the growth of the Caribbean market in the UK. Slowly but surely, Caribbean products have been making their way onto the shelves of the multiples - and 2008 looks like being their best year yet.
Around 70% of the Caribbean market is within the independent stores, but sales of Caribbean products are growing in the multiples at around 25% a year. Stores such as Tesco, particularly within the M25 and London, are offering consumers a one-stop shop for their Caribbean requirements.
Grace Kennedy UK is one of the driving forces in the Caribbean category. The company's acquisition of Enco Products Limited earlier this year has added Caribbean heritage and product authenticity to its UK market leadership, resulting in a 37% share of the multiple retail market. The company is taking the lead in working with retailers in all sectors of the trade to maximise the growth opportunity. "There is still an element of the unknown about Caribbean dishes and part of our job is to educate consumers on how easy it is to make snacks and meals with Caribbean food" says Andy Nicholls, Grace Foods' category manager.
There has also been an emergence of Polish brands in the ethnic aisle. The popularity of eastern European food has increased dramatically recently. Research conducted by the Federation of Poles in Great Britain puts the UK Polish population at 750,000. Put into perspective, the population of Poland is 36.6m, so approximately 2% of this total is now living in Britain.
After researching Polish supermarkets and canvassing the opinions of UK based Poles, RH Amar began working with three well known Polish brands: Provitus, Mispol and Agros Nova (the parent company of the Fortuna, Frutti Carrotti and Lowicz brands), to offer the Polish community a wide range of Polish products in the UK. The brands offer authentic Polish products such as lecho, a vegetable sauce; bigos, a cabbage stew; and kotlety, meatballs stuffed with vegetables.
what the suppliers are saying
The interest in all things Japanese - including Japanese food and the style of cooking - will continue. As more people travel to Japan on holidays or eat out at Japanese restaurants, they appreciate the healthy nature of Japanese cuisine. In Japanese households, soy sauce is the indispensable table condiment, with average consumption at 8.4 litres a year. While the UK is some way off those levels, we're definitely getting the taste for soy sauce, with the market almost doubling in value in the past five years.
Ben Briody
Kikkoman UK sales & marketing manager
what the suppliers are saying
Retailers seem to be constrained in terms of having what I'd call a full fixture relay. They do a lot of range reviews, but it's very much one product in, one product out. Often the NPD goes in the space where the product's been delisted, which is not necessarily what we would say is the best way to do it because impact is diluted. Retailers may only have one major range review every year and if your NPD doesn't tie in with that, you can fail to maximise new launches because of poor shelf presence. Retailers need to do things more frequently and be prepared to put in place the resources and use manufacturers' expertise to execute NPD properly in store.
Jonathan Bye
Patak's general manager food & breads and group director - commercial
CATEGORY INSIGHT:?Mexican and Latin American
South American food is being tipped as the next big thing, with multiples already giving it more shelf space
When Nigella Lawson proclaimed one her cookery show that she 'couldn't stop cooking to the sound of the salsa beat' it was the kind of seal of approval that consumers will pick up on.
With celebrity chefs, restaurateurs and supermarket buyers all predicting that South American food is the next big trend, it's not surprising that more space is being given over to it.
"Some big retailers have given Mexican more space, which has helped its growth," says James Bennett, Discovery Foods' head of marketing. "But, compared to its potential, we believe it's underspaced versus Oriental."
Bennett believes clearer segmentation is needed to make the ethnic fixture easier to shop, while more information at point of purchase would help consumers make informed decisions.
The latest TNS retail data shows Mexican to be the fastest-growing ethnic food in the UK. The Mexican supermarket grocery fixture is growing at 14.4% year-on-year, while Indian and Oriental remain at around 5% [TNS].
Andy Foweather, sales director for General Mills, the company that manufactures Old El Paso, predicts the Mexican food category is on course to generate annual retail sales of almost £132m within two years, up from £109m now [IRI, August 2007].
"As consumers grow in confidence with Mexican, products such as enchiladas, tacos and burritos become increasingly important. Covering all key meal centres is a must," says Foweather. "Shoppers are getting more adventurous - and want to try different Mexican meals. Retailers can tap into this trend by stocking a wide range of Mexican products," he adds.
Bennett agrees. "Our research suggests consumers are looking for 'healthier and tastier' convenience meals," he says. "There is a shift away from ready meals to easily-prepared meals. Mexican fits the bill because it is based on healthy fresh ingredients, such as chicken, and vegetables like peppers and onions."
He also believes that Mexican is seen as an informal 'sharing' meal, which again fits the current trend of bringing family and friends back around the table together.
Has the number of customer complaints about the price of goods increased recently?
