Itsu is to launch a chilled sushi range into Tesco as part of its premium meal deal promotion.
It has unveiled a chilled dragon roll sushi range (rsp: £4.75/184g-203g) – comprising Teriyaki Salmon, Vegetable Crunch, Katsu Chicken and California – which will be available as a ‘main’ in the retailer’s £5 meal deal offer from 21 October.
Each features its own “bespoke mayo” sachet, along with a sweet soy sauce sachet and a pot of crunchy tempura pieces to add to the sushi.
The trays also feature a border to prevent the sauce from spilling over the sides.
Developing a sushi range for supermarkets had taken Itsu several years, as there were “so many challenges in terms of quality” to overcome, said Itsu grocery MD Claudia Santagada.
One such challenge was preventing the rice from hardening on shelf. To achieve this, the development team decided to “keep the shelf life short”, but also make sure there were “controls in place – from temperature to pH – to make sure the rice stayed as moist as possible.”
The team also wanted to add crunch to the rolls without relying on a flavourful ingredient – like fried onions – which would mask the taste of the sushi.
“We worked on the tempura pieces, which are little batter balls that you can pour on top, so you get the crunch without covering the original flavour of the sushi,” said Santagada.
The innovation responded to the insight shared by Tesco at the end of 2023 that sushi had replaced its smoked salmon sandwich as “Britain’s favourite premium lunchtime treat”.
Itsu has also expanded its frozen range with five SKUs.
A duo of frozen dumplings (rsp: £3/6x28g) – Chicken Soup and Vegetable Steamed – and a trio of veggie snacks (rsp: £3.25) – Vegetable Tempura Fries 350g, Glazed Miso Aubergine 330g and Pumpkin Crispy Fritters 6x40g – have joined its grocery range.
The dumplings can be microwaved in their packaging in just over two minutes. They responded to the “viral trend” which has seen shoppers customising their soup dumplings on social media.
The trio of veggie lines, meanwhile, are intended to be served as a “centre or a side”, sitting with Itsu’s frozen gyoza range.
The dumplings have already hit Waitrose, Morrisons and Asda. They will roll into Tesco, along with the veggie lines, on 4 November.
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