Meet our supplier heroes:Billington Foods

National Curry Week has just wrapped up, and if there's one thing it reminded us of, it's how much the nation loves a good curry. Founded back in 1998, this week is the UK’s biggest celebration of one of the nation’s favourite dishes.

And who better to talk to about curry than our brilliant partner Billington Foods, the team behind the tasty curry sauces in our prepared meals.

Billington Foods is a leading UK producer of chilled and frozen foods, combining culinary expertise with modern innovation. Working with partners across foodservice, retail and B2B markets, the business focuses on delivering great flavour, quality and consistency in every product. 
 

Without further ado, let’s find out more about how they approach product development with their much-loved curry sauces. 

By having a strong understanding of the market and flavour profiles, our chefs at Billington’s ensure that the curry sauces we develop achieve the perfect balance of flavour, consistency, texture, and aroma, while being tailored to the target market. By sourcing fresh, local ingredients, herbs, and spices, we ensure that the curry sauces developed at Billington’s stay true to the authentic flavours our consumers expect.

A great curry sauce stands out in the market by having a strong depth and balance of flavour, which can be identified through layered spices, fresh ingredients, and a balanced level of heat within the sauce. The texture and consistency of the product are also key factors that help it stand out, supported by the quality of the ingredients and the cooking method.

Our roadmap for joint success begins with our NPD and marketing teams. By providing the Cuisine Centre with market insights and trends through innovation sessions, Billington’s is able to translate this data into recipes that align with the briefs.  

 Through years of collaboration and shared success, we have developed a deep understanding of the Cuisine Centre’s requirements, enabling our chefs to ensure that the flavour profiling, texture, and nutritional requirements are met while aligning with the Cuisine Centre’s operational platforms. 

We're beginning to see a proportion of customers moving away from mild curries, such as butter chicken and korma, towards hotter varieties like madras. Global and cross-cuisine curry sauces continue to be on trend, with more consumers experimenting by combining curry elements with other cuisines to further elevate their dishes. 

In our opinion, curries are loved across the country because they’re full of rich flavour, natural ingredients and authentic core elements. As a consumer, set menus and dish offerings provide a wide variety of options, from meat, vegetable and fish curries to those that are spicy, mild, garlicky or buttery, alongside accompaniments such as rice, naan, salads, dhal and potatoes.  

There is also an excellent range of curry offerings across the country and within various food sectors, including retail, foodservice, casual dining and street food, all of which have helped strengthen the market and sustain the nation’s love for these sauces.

National Curry Week allows the business to showcase the products we supply in a bold and authentic way to the food industry. It helps promote our brand story by highlighting how we source our spices, develop our recipes, and ensure they remain authentic to the market. It also provides an opportunity to shine a light on our team, from our chefs who create the products to our operations team who manufacture them as well as our logistics team who deliver them to our customers.

“When the initial brief comes in from Compass, we review the recipe both from a traditional perspective and in terms of how it will fit into our factory process. We then liaise with the team at the Cuisine Centre to discuss any calorific or protein requirements that need to be incorporated into the recipe. 

Good communication in the early stages between Billington Foods and the Cuisine Centre team enables us to get the first submissions right and hopefully hit the mark straight away. If not, feedback is provided and amendments are made, with resubmissions following shortly after. Once the development recipe is signed off, we progress to a factory trial. This is submitted alongside a bench sample for comparison, and once the Cuisine Centre team is satisfied, we move on to full production.” - Billington Foods 

A huge thank you to the team at Billington Foods for sharing their expertise with us. It's always a pleasure to work alongside suppliers who care as deeply about where their ingredients come from as we do.   

Want to find out more about the other fantastic partners and associations we work alongside? Meet them here!