Supermarket giant Tesco is to expand its ethnic food range with the launch of seven new lines.
The retailer is adding specialist Turkish, Sri Lankan, Latin, Filipino, African, South African and Greek-Cypriot ranges to its selection of Asian, Oriental, Afro-Caribbean, Kosher, Polish, and Halal foods .
The new lines will be introduced at Tesco Extra stores in Wembley and Slough before being rolled out across stores nationwide.
Over the past twelve months, Tesco has doubled the size of its world food range to 3,000 products in response to growing consumer demand, which has led to a 35 per cent increase in sales .
Muhammad Rahman, Tesco ethnic food buyer, said: “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.”
“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.”
