Sri Lanka’s foodies are set to receive a boost to their out-of-home dining experience, with Fonterra’s opening of the country’s first dairy innovation kitchen for the foodservice industry.
With increased urbanisation and more Sri Lankans eating out of home, Colombo, a city with more than two million people, is seeing new international hotel chains, restaurants, bakeries and other food outlets spring up around the city.
To cater to the growing interest in out-of-home dining, Fonterra’s foodservice business, Anchor Food Professionals, has opened an innovation kitchen in the city to trial new dairy products and work with chefs to develop new recipes and flavours that suit the tastes of Sri Lankan consumers.
Fonterra’s Global Director of Foodservice Grant Watson, who officially opened the innovation kitchen, said people around the world including in Sri Lanka are dining out more often, but with more choice than ever before it’s important that the industry focuses on creating an experience that really stands out.
“People are looking to try interesting and delicious foods, sample new tastes and flavours and have that authentic experience. That’s why with so many options available, innovation and high quality ingredients are key areas that the industry needs to focus on, making today’s opening of our innovation kitchen an important step for our foodservice business.”
“Dairy is both a highly nutritious ‘super-food’ as well as a versatile and diverse ingredient that can be used to delight customers through flavour and presentation.”
“For example, we’ve worked with chefs to create a delicious and authentic pizza experience through our extra stretch pre-grated mozzarella cheese. While it gives the perfect melt for consumers, it also saves the foodservice industry time and reduces wastage.
“And our cream cheese is versatile enough to be used by pastry chefs in a variety of hot and cold recipes, offering customers cheesecakes with an excellent texture and toppings with rich colour and sharp definition,” Watson said.
Fonterra Brands Sri Lanka’s Managing Director Sunil Sethi said Anchor Food Professionals has partnered with local chefs in Sri Lanka for many years to help them meet the challenge of providing fresh and nutritious food as fast and efficiently as possible, while keeping costs down and continuing to surprise and delight consumers.
“Adding our dairy innovation kitchen provides added technology and tools that will increase our ability to develop innovative new recipes using our products, train chefs on bakery concepts and develop cost effective solutions to help create more value for our customers,” Sethi said.
Photo: Fonterra Director Global Foodservice Grant Watson (third from right), Fonterra Managing Director Sri Lanka and Indian Subcontinent Sunil Sethi (second from right) and some members of the Anchor Food Professionals team celebrate the opening of Sri Lanka’s first dairy innovation kitchen.
