Tiger Tiger shows uncaged ambition with fierce new product strategy
Authentic Thai food company Tiger Tiger is to launch a range of new products in the UK to capitalise on its expertise of Thai cooking and boost its brand presence over here.
Tiger Tiger currently produces over 500 authentic Thai products, including herb and spice powders, poppadums and crackers, stuffed breads, pickles and chutneys, pastes, sauces, tinned vegetables and rice as well as a range of frozen products. However, there is still little recognition in the UK of the Tiger Tiger brand as its products are mainly sold through specialist ethnic retailers and cash and carries, says general manager Tom Metson. While the Tiger Tiger name is well-known in the restaurant industry, where the company supplies products to more than 3,000 restaurants nationwide, its name is still largely unknown by the average consumer, he says.
To create wider brand recognition, the company is now looking to secure listings in what it calls the top-end retailers, such as Waitrose and Harvey Nichols, with a range of new products. It also plans to step up its marketing of a number of its core brands for retail.
The company has developed a range of premium restaurant quality cooking sauces, which it hopes will be listed in Waitrose later this year, and which have the same profiles as that which it sells to the restaurant trade. Also newly launched is a range of frozen chicken meals for retail. The meals are available in the varieties Koraage -- a battered chicken -- and Yakutoni -- a marinated chicken breast -- as well as more common Satay, Tikka, Tandoori and Teriyaki flavours.
Tiger Tiger is also looking for more retail channels for its Nutties range of snacks, and its Easy Snax meals.
Nutties are flavoured nuts, available in four flavours -- Wasabi Peanut, Coconut, Coconut Crunch and Spicy Mexican -- which are sold in tubes for retail. They are also available for foodservice, with customers including the train catering company Rail Gourmet.
Easy Snax is a six-strong range of rice- and noodle-based products packaged in a cardboard carton, and also use restaurant quality sauces, says Metson. They come in Jasmine Rice with Sweet & Sour sauce, Jasmine Rice with Thai Green Curry, Chow Mein, Rice Noodles (vermicelli style) with Panang sauce, and Rice Noodles (tagliatelle style) with Pad Thai and Satay sauces.
