World food and drink: Global grub

Shoppers are no longer satisfied only with traditional food and drink and are increasingly on the lookout for ways to create dishes inspired by cuisines from around the globe. The pandemic has also helped boost this trend; the closure of restaurants and the “stay at home” order gave consumers more impetus to re-create their favourite dishes at home.

Debbie King, sales and marketing director at JK Foods, distributor of East Asian products, says: “World cuisines are firmly embedded in the UK’s food culture, but we are now seeing the significant – and lasting – impact of the Covid-19 pandemic playing out through some quite major changes in shopper behaviours.

Eastern inspiration
“Even though restrictions are now lifting, we fully expect this trend to continue as consumers continue their quest for taste adventure, with authenticity and product provenance absolutely key to delivering the flavours and experiences consumers now demand.” Once considered exotic or unusual, East Asian foods have become more popular, she says, due to the rapid growth of the casual dining sector and the popularity of restaurant chains such as Wagamama.

Data from market researcher IRI indicates East Asian foods are growing by 30% year on year within the world foods category, significantly outperforming other cuisines. Louise Stone, category lead for chilled meals at Kerry Foods, says that while more-familiar Chinese dishes, such as sweet and sour, remain in the top 10 meals, cuisines such as Japanese, Korean and Thai have seen the fastest growth.

To tap into this trend, King says retailers should stock the four main product types used across Japanese, Chinese, Thai and Korean cooking – soy sauce, noodles, sauces and key ingredients such as bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, coconut milk, luncheon meat and garlic paste. Bing-yu Lee, general manager for Kikkoman, says the soy sauce market is worth about £4.1m and Kikkoman is the number one brand in terms of both volume and value.

Scratch cooking
“While we have enjoyed soy sauce and teriyaki for some years, they have been given an unexpected boost with the growing popularity of Japanese cuisine.,” he says. “This has also been driven by our desire for healthy options combined with rich umami flavours.” Maria Dawson, commercial director at Clearspring, says the brand’s Japanese seasonings and sauces range saw 24% growth in 2020, with larger 500ml sizes “flying off the shelves”. The brand added an Organic Yuzu Ponzu to its portfolio last year, which Dawson says meets this growing demand for Japanese products and flavours while also appealing to the growing number of shoppers looking for plant-based foods.

Significant growth
Alongside Eastern dishes, the Mexican food category has seen significant growth of 25% over the past year. Jose Alves, senior brand manager for Old El Paso, says meal kits with components such as tortillas are driving this growth. “While kits have traditionally been the stronghold of the category, with 39% of our brand growth coming from these alone, we know approximately 21.5% of all category shoppers are exclusive to components.” He says the world foods category is highly innovative and Old El Paso’s new Tortilla Pockets are driving 66% of value growth across new world food product launches in convenience.

George Philips, commercial director at international foods wholesaler Wanis, says there is also continued strong growth in African and Caribbean food and drink. “African is the star performer, partly due to a growing consumer base and partly due to a far-wider acceptance of products by other consumers who traditionally would not have purchased. We see this sector continuing to offer a significant opportunity for the independent retailer, particularly those located in conurbations.”

Strong demand
A popular accompaniment to many world cuisines is rice, which Jonathan Calland, head of external affairs at Tilda, says has seen significant growth within the convenience channel. “We saw strong demand for store-cupboard essentials in this channel, driven by an increase in bulk buying, more at-home eating occasions with restaurants, workplaces and schools being closed, consumers switching to buy locally and looking for healthier products.” Clearly, that increase is now dropping back, but Calland says the Tilda brand continues to outperform the overall rice market with growth of 43%.

By Éilis Cronin