• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Preeti Mehra

NEW DELHI, April 19

ITC Foods' premium gourmet packaged food brand, Kitchens of India, is going places. Literally. Next month its three vegetarian packaged products, Dal Bukhara, Dal Dakshin and Baingan Mirch ka Salan will hit the shelves of the well-known department store, Selfridges, in London. Later, in June, the products will be showcased at the annual Ethnic Food Festival at Birmingham.

While Dal Bhukara is ITC Foods' first packaged product, the other two have just been developed and have not yet hit the Indian market. However, its non-vegetarian product, Chicken Chettinad, cannot cross the Indian shores due to stringent legislation.

For development of the packaged foods sector, ITC has leveraged the skills of three of the well-known heritage restaurants that are located in ITC-Welcomgroup Hotels in the country.

The packaged Dal Bukhara, which was a hot favourite with the former President of the US, Mr Bill Clinton, is the signature dish from Bukhara restaurant which specialises in the cuisine of the North West Frontier. Baingan Mirch ka Salan (a brinjal-based preparation) is the creation of Dum Pukht restaurant, which serves the cuisine of the nawabs of Awad. Dal Dakshin from Dakshin restaurant brings with it the taste of the four southern States.

And this is not all. ITC Foods has several schemes up its sleeve, most of which are being tested at the experimental kitchen in the Welcomegroup Institute of Hotel Management in Gurgaon. And, if the grapevine is as authentic as it seems, several Indian sweets and desserts will soon join the product range.

The Kitchens of India brand will also be scouting for traditional recipes outside those created by Welcomgroup restaurants to expand their product range. With the help of ITC's print and packaging division, it will also introduce innovative and hygienic convenience foods without preservatives for Indian consumers.

In fact, all products under the brand are devoid of preservatives and sport a `keep fresh' packaging.

Says the Executive Vice-President, ITC Foods, Mr R.S. Naware, "Our aim is to create packaged cuisine that contains all the refined and subtle flavours that Indian recipes have to offer. With ITC-Welcomgroup's acknowledged culinary expertise, we hope to spread the reach of Indian cuisine far and wide."

In fact, this may well be the first time that ITC Ltd has created a synergy between its various divisions and has got them to complement each other's skills to build a specific product.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section
AC majors hike ad budgets this summer

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line