ETHNIC

01 January 2000
ETHNIC

MOST caterers would claim that they listen to their customers, and try to cater for their needs. At face value this would seem to be the case with ethnic foods. Catering sales in the most popular sectors of Indian, oriental and Mexican rose by 10% in 1993, according to Master Foods' newly published 1994 Foodservice Rice Report.

However, compared with the level of ethnic food cooked at home, this figure seems unusually small. A recent ISI survey of the retail market between 1989 and 1992, for example, claims that sales of Indian foods rose by 267%, oriental by 252% and Mexican by 100% over this period.

Certainly, supplies of ethnic products from traditional catering sources can be difficult to find. Terri Vertessy, landlady at the Woodbridge Inn near Pewsey, Wiltshire, finds this a real problem.

"I prefer to make my own dishes, so we end up travelling miles to Bristol or London," she says. "Unless you're in or very near a city with specialist ethnic supermarkets, you haven't got a cat in hell's chance of preparing authentic food at a competitive price."

At contract caterers ARA Services, unit managers can buy ingredients for ethnic dishes through existing suppliers. But, says restaurant development manager Maxine Donne, for more specialised products they need to search further afield. "More people would offer ethnic food if they could," she says. "Having the ingredients available is the key. If we ask a supplier to stock something for us, they will have to be sure that the demand will be there.So we have to do all the research and convince them."

Many caterers are also reticent about ethnic foods which seem time-consuming, fiddly or just plain difficult to create.

"You have to carry out a lot of research to do oriental cooking properly," says Peter Scott, executive chef at Center Parcs' Elveden Park operation near Brandon, Suffolk. "Thai cuisine in particular seems to defy all the conventional rules. And some Chinese marinades take a week, which we can't do because of stock control." Facilities for stir fry, which has been popular in the retail sector for the past three years, are also limited. "We have a production kitchen and can only stir fry in bulk in bratt pans. I would have a battery of industrial woks if I could," Scott adds. ARA Services, meanwhile, has enjoyed a tremendous response to its recently tested wok cookery programme. "People seem willing to pay a higher price for something cooked this way using authentic ingredients," says Maxine Donne.

EDUCATION

The way to develop ethnic cuisine in catering is through education, she believes. Unit managers at ARA are encouraged to approach chefs in specialist restaurants and invite them in for a guest period, enabling ARA's chefs and customers to appreciate authentic ethnic cuisine at first hand.

The company also runs a series of Sample It programmes to encourage caterers to develop a taste for more exotic foods. In ARA's City of London outlets, for example, Donne plans to run a programme featuring Japanese food such as sushi. But she believes it is important to gauge a market correctly and not rush consumers.

"The City has a more educated audience, but if we tried to do this food regionally, we wouldn't get such a good reaction. The same applies to Thai food - our customers aren't ready for it yet."

Fiona Jeffries, catering development manager for the Boddington pub group, agrees. "Thai isn't that familiar to our target market of C1s and C2s, whereas we know if we put Indian on the menu we can sell it three times over. Customers like to see what they've seen one hundredtimes before."

Boddington, like many other companies, is focusing on Balti-style Indian dishes as one of the key growth areas in Indian food. Most widely known in the Midlands, their popularity is spreading fast.

Terri Vertessy plans to make a feature out of them in her pub. "We will be preparing dishes from scratch, roasting and grinding our own spices and offering 14 different flavours," she says. "We'll prepare the sauces in advance and vacuum-pack them so we can serve fresh Balti with nan bread."

Authenticity

At Center Parcs, Peter Scott says he has increased business by more than 30% on Tuesday and Wednesday nights with his Indian and oriental evenings. But, he points out, it's difficult to be too authentic or unfamiliar. "You can't get away from the fact that oriental has to taste like a Chinese takeaway," he says. "If I did lemon chicken properly, I'd receive adverse comments."

The 1994 Foodservice Rice Report certainly confirms the popularity of mainstream "Anglo authentic" dishes, as Peter Scott describes them, with 45% of caterers selling more standard curry dishes and 28% more sweet and sour.

At Boddington outlets tikka masala and korma are such big sellers that Fiona Jeffries says she dare not take them off the menu.

Adding extra side dishes to popular menu items is also becoming more popular. ARA Services encourages units to serve curry with vegetables, dips, poppadums and naan bread, and Boddington menus offer naan bread, pilau rice and poppadums. Indian is so successful that Jeffries is even considering making it the main focus of the menu throughout the week at one of the company's pubs. "We could still serve some traditional alternatives, like Indian restaurants." she says.

To develop dishes which will sell well to its target market, the company works closely with suppliers on carefully priced bespoke recipes and portion sizes for its core range.

Both Center Parcs and ARA have also found that regular suppliers can sometimes - though not always - help with the raw ingredients to prepare recipes from scratch, normally buying in products on their behalf. As for the more specialist products, some caterers are making the effort to use ethnic supermarkets.

Cheaper

At the Wrestlers, Cambridge, publican Tom Goode serves exclusively Thai food with huge success. He makes a monthly trip to specialists in London and St Neots for the ingredients his Thai wife needs for her menu. And at Northcote Manor, Bolton, joint proprietor and chef Nigel Haworth is a regular visitor to specialist Thai supermarkets in Manchester's Chinatown.

"For products like soy sauce, it's three times cheaper than my regular suppliers," Haworth says. "You just have to remember to carry cash - most Chinese supermarkets won't take cheques or plastic."

Alastair Little, chef patron of the eponymous restaurant in London's Soho, also uses various ethnic supermarkets including the recently opened Japanese operation at Yaohan Plaza in north London to add ethnic influences to his food. "I can't understand why more chefs don't wander round these places to see what's available. Very few restaurants are far from a city with a Chinese supermarket," Little says.

While large supermarkets sell products in inconvenient sizes for caterers, it's worth keeping an eye on their prices.

"Superstores are often cheaper than wholesalers - I know lots of chefs who shop in supermarkets all the time," says Nigel Haworth. Alastair Little agrees. "They often have better products - look at the supermarket shelves and see what's out there," he advises. o

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