The Patak’s Indian food brand has partnered exclusively with the Tesco retail group in the United Kingdom to bring its first Indian frozen ready meals to market with the debut of an assortment of microwaveable and traditional oven cook curries. Featuring Patak’s spice blending expertise, the range is being produced by The Authentic Food Company, under license from AB World Foods Limited.
Distributed in 425-gram packs, six selections are offered: Beef Madras, Chicken Korma, Chicken Vindaloo, Chicken Tikka Masala, King Prawn Balti and Vegetable Jalfrezi. The suggested retail price for each is £2 price.
In line with all Patak’s products, the recipes contain no artificial colors, flavoring or preservatives. The premium curries are all served with a separate pilau rice accompaniment in a twin compartment, microwaveable and ovenable tray. As such, consumers may conveniently enjoy a high quality, authentic Indian meal prepared at home in just 10 minutes.
Commenting on the launch, Chris Crosby, head of product development at parent company AB World Foods, said: “Patak’s have pioneered curry in Britain for almost 60 years, and the new selection sets out to raise the bar in the ethnic frozen ready meal category. We’re bringing the same quality and depth of flavor to frozen curry that we’ve always offered with our curry sauces.”
Patak’s debut in the sector is an incisive move in light of Kantar’s Worldpanel December 2015 data, citing that the frozen ready meal market has grown by 4.3% year-on-year in Britain. Indian food is performing well in this sector, coming in as the third largest category behind Italian and Traditional. Indian frozen ready meals have achieved a 13.8% market share and an annual growth rate of 5.7% during the past year.
