Food giants cash in on a taste of Poland

Borsch packet soup and goulash ready-meals are the new battleground for British retailers and manufacturers as they meet the demand for home-grown comfort food from the country's burgeoning Polish community.

An estimated 750,000 Poles - 2 per cent of the total Polish population - now live in Britain and the market opportunity afforded by the Polish pound (actually the zloty) is not going unnoticed. The Centre for Economics and Business Research believes the average Polish migrant worker has a disposable income of between £6,000 and £7,000 a year.

Now Nestle is going head to head with its arch-rival Heinz by bringing Winiary, its Knorr-style Polish food brand, to the UK. The brand is a household name in Poland, generating sales of around £100m and Nestle is to launch the bestselling product lines, including the white and red borsch-flavoured packet soup, stock cubes and favourite pudding, kisiel o smaku truskawkowym, a soft strawberry jelly. The move is backed by a campaign in Dziennik Polski, the daily Polish language paper which has a UK circulation of around 30,000.

'We know that people who come to live in Britain look for brands they recognise,' says Deirdre O'Donoghue, Nestle's director of food. 'By bringing Winiary to Britain we give them familiarity and trust hundreds of miles from home.'

The competition is already sophisticated. Heinz stole the march with the launch of a ready-meal range under the Pudliszki brand this year. The dishes, which include pork and beef goulash and stuffed cabbage in tomato sauce, are aimed at homesick Poles, but the company believes they could also find favour among Brits who are becoming increasingly familiar with their cuisine through themed restaurants and delis.

Around 375,000 Poles have registered to work in the UK, but many more have arrived as self-employed job seekers since European Union enlargement in 2004. The impact they are having on Britain's economic life is well-documented but the cultural change arising from the Polish diaspora was reflected in comments last week by Home Secretary John Reid, who said that more Roman Catholic schools might be required to cater for their children.

Retailers have been quick to cater for the Polish palate. All major supermarkets now stock Polish food , with some introducing notices and labelling in Polish. Kingfisher, the owner of B&Q;, has dual-language signs in selected stores to help Polish builders find what they need.

Tesco, whose success owes much to its ability to identify new opportunities, has added Polish fare to its extensive ethnic food business, which already includes dedicated Asian, Halal, Afro-Caribbean and Kosher ranges. It employs a Polish food buyer and stocks hundreds of specialities ranging from exotic treats such as Silesian sausage and hunting-style goulash to the more mundane pickled cabbage. It is able to source foods from its stores in Poland with supplies coming over on a weekly basis.

'The types of items Polish people have told us they miss most are comfort foods such as soup, pickled cabbage, and marshmallows covered with chocolate as well as various meats,' says Elena Connell, ethnic foods buying manager at Tesco. 'But there is also a big demand from the huge number of people born in Britain of Polish parents who want foods that will remind them of their roots.

'The first batch of products we brought from Poland were generally tinned or in packets, but we now sell chilled meat and bread. But it's not only Polish customers who are buying these; certain lines, such as soft drinks, sweet delicacies and beer, have become very popular with non-Poles too.'

Pole positions

· Road signs in Cheshire were duplicated in Polish to solve Polish-speaking drivers' confusion about diversion signs. Some councils' street signs are in Polish.

· Police in Consett, County Durham, are to be issued with prompt cards to help them communicate with the area's growing Polish community of around 600. The cards contain phrases such as, 'Are you injured?' and, 'Please turn your music down'.

· The Reading Chronicle became the first newspaper to produce a Polish edition. The Reading Kronika has seven pages of Polish content and is sold in Polish delicatessens, shops and clubs across Berkshire.

· Brewer SABMilller says sales of its top Polish beer brand, Tyskie, have risen threefold in Britain.

· In January, NatWest introduced Welcome, the first dedicated Polish bank account in the UK, offering both current account services and access to customers' funds in Poland.