Free digital copy
Get Speciality Food magazine delivered to your inbox FREE
Get your free copy07 March 2011, 20:04 PM
- Supermarket giant Tesco has revealed a 27% increase in sales of French ready meals and desserts
The news comes after retail analyst Kantar Worldpanel reported a 16% surge in volume sales of French meals and ingredients across the retail industry generally. The increase in demand for dishes such as Chicken Chasseur, Coq au Vin and Salmon en Croute has prompted Tesco to launch its first ever dedicated range, called French Classics.
Stephanie Bacon, food developer at the company, said: “French food has never been more popular in Britain than it is right now and that may seem unusual given the tough economic times because it’s a cuisine which has always been perceived as being expensive.
“However, with less money to eat our shoppers have been treating themselves to upmarket dishes at home in order to replicate the restaurant dining experience in their own homes,” said Ms Bacon.
“We initially saw sales soar after the launch of our Restaurant Collection – which features several French dishes – two years ago and decided to create a dedicated range in the autumn which is outperforming all expectations,” she added.
Tesco has also worked with various Michelin-starred chefs to create a new selection of dishes, including Beef Bourguignon, Chicken Diane and Crab Gratin, which will be launched this spring.
According to the supermarket, the top five fastest growing cuisines in the UK are French (16%), Chinese (15%), British (6.7 percent), Italian (6.6 percent) and Tex-Mex (3.2 percent).
