Indian take-away expands into SuperValu
A husband and wife cooking team from ‘God’s Own Country’, Kerala, in southern India, have launched a selection of heavenly tasty starters as part of their new supermarket range.
Krishna Foods is available to buy in Supervalu stores in Co Wexford. Currently there are two products, a pack of freshly prepared chicken tikka samosas and beef keema croquettes.
Amu Parvathi and her husband Shijo run the Holy Grail restaurant in Irishtown, New Ross. The county’s other three Holy Grail restaurants are run by her brothers Manoj, Biju and Bino in Wexford, Enniscorthy and Ballindaggin.
Amu said having tried other Indian savoury dishes from the chilled section of supermarkets with her husband – and been very underwhelmed by how they tasted – they saw an opportunity to develop their own range at their Irishtown kitchens.
‘We couldn’t connect what we were eating to our Indian food heritage. We got talking about it and about how our customers always say they love our samosas and croquettes. All this was bouncing around in our minds and then I saw the Supervalu Food Academy program and how they were supporting new busniesses to enter the retail market,’ Amu said.
She contacted Supervalu and suggested the idea about selling their range of freshly prepared Indian snacks and was invited to do the program.
The Holy Grail opened three years ago and Amu, who has worked in the food industry for a decade, said the supermarket range is a way to add to the businesses income.
‘We have closed the business on Mondays to concentrate to our supermarket products. We are also looking at introducing more products in the chilled section of supermarkets like our Keralan chicken curry. We’ve had great feedback so far. I did a tasting in St Aidan’s Supervalu in Wexford and our products sold out within less than two hours. They are ideal for lunch or supper with a side salad.’