British Curry Company

Going for Olympic gold in China.

The issue

With the Beijing Olympics fast approaching, many Chinese foodservice and retail buyers have been sourcing Western products in earnest. Realising the potential of this opportunity, Food from Britain (FFB) hosted a British Pavilion at FHC China and encouraged the British Curry Company to join them as a means of developing a market in China for its Bombay Authentics Luxury Curry Sauce range.

What we did

Maria Hellyer, Sales Director at the British Curry Company, joined the FFB Pavilion at Food China 2005 to ascertain the potential of the market first-hand and engage a distribution company to act on its behalf across China. As the only ethnic producer on the FFB Pavilion, the company attracted huge amounts of attention from visitors. Maria said: "The first day was manic. I had prepared hot samples of our curry sauces and was literally mobbed by visitors. Luckily, the FFB team and an interpreter were there to help me deal with a number of leads, including buyers from top hotels, distributors, and retailers."

The result

The British Curry Company succeeded in forming a partnership with a Chinese distributor, which was soon followed by an order from a retail chain in Hong Kong. The company now supplies Pines, a Chinese retail store specialising in fine foods, and Hong Kong’s Park ‘n’ Shop, with an order to supply retail stores in Tokyo expected shortly.