Case study: Tilda

This content is part of our annual food and drink collaboration with the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) and the Food and Drink Exporters Association. Find out more about this feature at – https://opentoexport.com/info/food-and-drink-feature/

Tilda® is known for high quality rice. For nearly half a century the company has been providing a wide selection of products ranging from Tilda® Basmati, Tilda® Fragrant Jasmine Dry Rice, to ‘ready-to-heat’ Tilda® Steamed Basmati, Tilda® Kids and now Tilda® Pulses & Rice available in a wide variety of flavours.

Basmati remains at the heart of Tilda® and the company is committed to preserving the authenticity of the grain. It refuses to blend with inferior grains, carefully removes broken grains, DNA tests every batch, consistently ages the rice for at least nine months and works hand-in-hand with the farming community to ensure the quality of the final product.

Tilda® Pure Basmati is the UK’s number one Basmati brand today with growing international sales in over 40 countries.

Background

Tilda® started selling Basmati rice primarily to the Asian community who immigrated to the UK in the late ‘60s. With the rise in popularity of Indian food the Tilda® brand soon secured distribution in major supermarkets. By the ‘90s Tilda® had become a supermarket brand leader as more consumers switched from ordinary long grain rice to Basmati.

Exports

Tilda® is based in the Thames estuary, a gateway for ocean-going vessels delivering brown cargo rice to its Rice Mill in Rainham. Tilda® exports dry rice and the Tilda® Steamed Basmati range to mainland Europe, America, Australia, Canada and the Middle East. Exports of Tilda® Steamed Basmati are growing strongly and these exports continue to play an important role in spreading our reliance on any one market.

These markets can of course have specific regulatory requirements that are different from the UK which require good local knowledge. Tilda® has built up a solid global outlook which drives innovation throughout the business.

Rohit Samani OBE, Managing Director, Tilda:

“Tilda’s export market accounts for about 30% of our volume. This allows us to balance our reliance on the UK market, spreading our business profile to create a truly global brand. Developing these markets takes time and patience, working with the right distributors and agreeing a plan for each market to launch, maintain and grow our joint businesses.”