Food coatings specialist Witwood Food Products is preparing to introduce several new snack and appetiser concepts following a trip to the USA.

The 2006 National Restaurant Association show in Chicago provided some of the inspiration for the new concepts, which combine exciting visuals, flavour combinations, tastes and textures to provide innovative coated poultry, seafood and vegetable appetiser, snack and side dish concepts for the retail and food service sectors.

Says Witwoods’ Marketing Manager, Heather South, “The NRA show is the most comprehensive foodservice and hospitality event in North America. It brings together the major global retail, food service and QSR players from more than 100 countries, and creates a forum for discussion with industry leaders about food, flavour and ingredient trends, new processes and technological advances.

“For us, it is an ideal opportunity to see first hand what Americans are buying and eating, and identify emerging food and flavour trends that we can feed back into our international NPD activities.”

As well as visiting the show, the Witwoods team also carried out an extensive retailer review during the visit to Chicago. The review covered a wide range of food categories, but it was crisps, snacks, seasonings and sauces that provided the stimulus and inspiration for the development of the new concepts, which also incorporate regional flavour profiles.
                                                                                                               
Heather adds: “The move towards provenance continues, with regional speciality ingredients and foods widely available in the States. This is reflected in the new concepts, which feature flavour profiles such as Spicy South-western, Baja Chipotle and Santa Fe for an authentic flavour kick.”