Tesco has dramatically beefed up its ethnic food offering with the launch of seven new ranges.

The supermarket giant is adding specialist Turkish, Sri Lankan, Latin, Filipino, African, South African and Greek-Cypriot ranges to a roster that already includes Asian, Oriental, Afro-Caribbean, Kosher, Polish, and Halal foods.

The new ranges will debut at the Tesco Extra stores in Wembley and Slough before being extended across the UK.

Tesco said it had doubled the number of ethic foods in the past year to 1,600 lines, while volumes had grown by more than a third (35%) over the period.

“Britain is one of the most ethnically diverse nations on earth and there is a very strong, growing demand from people who have settled here to buy food from their homelands,” said Tesco ethnic food buyer Muhammad Rahman.

“In just four years our Polish range has developed from just 20 products in 2006 to 260 and from being sold initially in 100 stores to nearly 600 now.”

He added: “There is also a natural curiosity from shoppers to try other cuisines – especially with interesting-looking sauces, condiments, vegetables, tinned products and sweets.

“For that reason we have put educational material including tips on how to prepare various products on the shelves.”

Read more
Ethnic meals boost Tesco chilled share (20 November 2010)
Focus On World Cuisine (20 November 2010)

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