<p>Farsan, an Indian food company based in the east Midlands town of Leicester, has opened a new factory in Gujarat to produce snacks such as samosas and bhajis.<br />Leicester offers many delights of Indian vegetarian cuisine.<br /><br />The first Indian restaurant in Britain was opened by a Patna resident Sake Dean Mohammad in London in 1810.<br /><br />He established the Hindoostan Coffee House at 34 George Street, Portman Square.<br />Farsan managing director Nainesh Patel is in India on a two-week tour to promote the new factory and market his products to supermarket chains.<br /><br />He said: "There's huge potential for UK companies in India. Although we are a UK company selling snack foods such as samosas to an Indian market, we give the product a British twist so it has a unique taste for Indian customers.<br /><br />Farsan is one of several firms which have strengthened ties with India with support from UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), and the move comes as Business Secretary Vince Cable leads a major business delegation to India.<br /><br />Patel's export ambitions ties in with growing evidence that despite recession and immigration, the £3 billion Indian restaurant industry continues to grow.<br /><br />Britons' continuing love affair with spicy curry has ensured that restaurants expand and ready-made Indian meals fly off the shelves in supermarkets.<br /><br />The overall number of people visiting Indian restaurants is down, but industry figures show that entrepreneurs who have switched to supplying ready-made Indian meals have seen their business soar – and some are struggling to meet supermarket demands.<br /><br />Leicester-based Sanjay Foods has seen its turnover soar by 50 per cent to £1.5 million and has now formed a partnership with a London-based caterer Chak 89 after winning several prestigious contracts.<br /><br />Other successful Indian food companies have seen their business grow in major supermarkets.<br /><br />These include Desford-based Simtom Food Products, which supplies Indian food products at supermarkets Asda and Aldi.<br /><br />Bobby's, a prominent Indian restaurant in Leicester, opened up a takeaway counter at Asda, making it the first restaurant to enter into an agreement like this with a supermarket chain.<br /><br />One of the beneficiaries of the recession-induced growth in Indian ready-made meals is Oxford-based Kiran Bhandari, who recently landed a £300,000 deal to sell her home-made curry sauces in Asda supermarkets.<br /><br />Bhandari began mass-producing her Indian table sauces after pupils at her cooking classes hailed them as the best they had ever tasted.<br /><br />She is now working full-time with her daughter Anu to keep up with demand, as the tasty sauces are snapped up by curry-mad cooks.<br /><br />"Given the current climate, you would think this would be the worst time to launch a new brand, but we've found the range is already selling extremely well. I realised there was a gap in the market when the pupils started telling how much they enjoyed it," Bhandari said. <br /><br /></p>
<p>Farsan, an Indian food company based in the east Midlands town of Leicester, has opened a new factory in Gujarat to produce snacks such as samosas and bhajis.<br />Leicester offers many delights of Indian vegetarian cuisine.<br /><br />The first Indian restaurant in Britain was opened by a Patna resident Sake Dean Mohammad in London in 1810.<br /><br />He established the Hindoostan Coffee House at 34 George Street, Portman Square.<br />Farsan managing director Nainesh Patel is in India on a two-week tour to promote the new factory and market his products to supermarket chains.<br /><br />He said: "There's huge potential for UK companies in India. Although we are a UK company selling snack foods such as samosas to an Indian market, we give the product a British twist so it has a unique taste for Indian customers.<br /><br />Farsan is one of several firms which have strengthened ties with India with support from UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), and the move comes as Business Secretary Vince Cable leads a major business delegation to India.<br /><br />Patel's export ambitions ties in with growing evidence that despite recession and immigration, the £3 billion Indian restaurant industry continues to grow.<br /><br />Britons' continuing love affair with spicy curry has ensured that restaurants expand and ready-made Indian meals fly off the shelves in supermarkets.<br /><br />The overall number of people visiting Indian restaurants is down, but industry figures show that entrepreneurs who have switched to supplying ready-made Indian meals have seen their business soar – and some are struggling to meet supermarket demands.<br /><br />Leicester-based Sanjay Foods has seen its turnover soar by 50 per cent to £1.5 million and has now formed a partnership with a London-based caterer Chak 89 after winning several prestigious contracts.<br /><br />Other successful Indian food companies have seen their business grow in major supermarkets.<br /><br />These include Desford-based Simtom Food Products, which supplies Indian food products at supermarkets Asda and Aldi.<br /><br />Bobby's, a prominent Indian restaurant in Leicester, opened up a takeaway counter at Asda, making it the first restaurant to enter into an agreement like this with a supermarket chain.<br /><br />One of the beneficiaries of the recession-induced growth in Indian ready-made meals is Oxford-based Kiran Bhandari, who recently landed a £300,000 deal to sell her home-made curry sauces in Asda supermarkets.<br /><br />Bhandari began mass-producing her Indian table sauces after pupils at her cooking classes hailed them as the best they had ever tasted.<br /><br />She is now working full-time with her daughter Anu to keep up with demand, as the tasty sauces are snapped up by curry-mad cooks.<br /><br />"Given the current climate, you would think this would be the worst time to launch a new brand, but we've found the range is already selling extremely well. I realised there was a gap in the market when the pupils started telling how much they enjoyed it," Bhandari said. <br /><br /></p>