Focus On World Cuisine: 11 November

Focus On World Cuisine by Ed Churchfield

(edchurchfield@gmail.com)

Publishing: 11 November

Advertising deadline: 26 October

Submissions deadline: 20 October

The Story

Brits have munched their way through an extra 6.3 million packs of tortillas, 2.3 million cans of coconut milk, 1.1 million Mexican meal kits and 828,000 jars of curry paste this past year, to name just a few of the ethnic food stuffs in strong growth at present. What’s driving this growth? Which ethnic cuisines are in fashion right now and what will be hot in coming years? Which brands and retailers are cashing in Britain’s increasingly exotic culinary tastes? And how?

Key themes:

Retailers: How have retailers changed their world cuisine offerings over the past year? How have they developed own label and branded ranges to tap into the key trends? What will they be doing over the next 12 months to ensure further growth?

Cuisines: Which cuisines have seen the biggest growth in chilled ready meals in the past year? How come? And which ones are struggling? Are these trends reflected in other areas of grocery, such as snacking, beverages and so on?

Price and promotions: This feature will pay close attention to how promotional and pricing strategies have evolved in the past year, with particular attention paid to how suppliers and retailers are tailoring deals around key events, such as Eid and Divali, and using ‘dine in for £xx’ type deals to drive sales of chilled ready meals.

Premiumisation: Premiumisation has been big in chilled ready meals for some time now, but the trend is still gathering pace. How are brands and retailer own label lines looking to premiumise?

Meal kits: This has been a key trend in recent years, with brands and retailers looking to attract time pressed shoppers who want the scratch cooking experience without the fuss. What’s new in this area? Which types of cuisines are being used in this area?

Innovation: Key to this feature will be a discussion of the latest NPD from the category’s brands and own label players, large and small. The feature will explore the market trends that have inspired these innovations and weigh up which new launches are most likely to encourage new trends in the market. We will profile 16 of the most interesting new launches in a separate innovation panel.

Sub sectors: Not just ready meals: In this feature we will also be analysing everything from ethnic meal kits, snacks, pastes, marinades, sauces and recipe mixes. The feature will also look at key consumer trends affecting this category: how is health playing a role here?

Next big thing? This feature will look at the types of cuisines that have been popular in the past year and why – for example, did we see growth in Latin American foods, drinks and flavours as a result of the Rio Olympics? And what will be the next big thing?