The trend for celebrity food ranges is alive and kicking. Ethnic lines from Saturday Kitchen chef Silvena Rowe and 80s kids' TV star Floella Benjamin will hit shelves this month.
Rowe has joined forces with Waitrose to create Delicatezze, a 30-strong Eastern Mediterranean-inspired own-label range of savoury dishes. "Western Mediterranean has been done to death, but there's a lot of potential for food inspired by my roots - Turkey and Bulgaria," said Rowe, claiming the range was the first of its kind in the UK.
Rowe was behind 15 of the recipes, which were inspired by the menu at the Baltic restaurant group where she is executive chef. The remaining lines, which also include dishes from Italy and Spain, were added by Waitrose buyer David Stone.
It is understood that the range will feature in an upcoming TV ad. "I'm coming up with new ideas and continuing to work with Waitrose on this range and on new projects," added Rowe.
Meanwhile, Benjamin's Caribbean Kitchen range of ready meals is rolling out into 60 Morrisons next week - a year after it had originally planned to launch.
The range of four Caribbean recipes, which includes jerk chicken with rice & kidney beans and curried mutton with rice & gunga peas, had been scheduled to launch in Sainsbury's last year, but lost the listing when the buyer Benjamin was dealing with left the company.
The company, which claims the range is unique in the UK, has a further four lines in the pipeline and also hopes to expand into new categories, including soup, cakes, juice and sauces.
No comments yet