Ben's Easy Kitchen is menuing new range of Thai and Japanese heat-and-eat products.

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Presented as "authentic fresh-frozen food" that is easy to prepare, attractive to menu and tasty to eat is a variety of Asian ready meals and snacks from Ben's Easy Kitchen. The newly launched products range from Thai Shrimp Soup and Tom Kha Kai to Shrimp & Fish Tapas, Thai Green Curry Fish, and Japanese-style Yakitori Chicken Skewers in sweet soy sauce.

Introduced to the European market during March, the line was developed and is produced and distributed by BML Food Group Holland.

"We started out with authentic recipes from Thailand and Japan before developing the assortment of products in one-kilo vacuum bags. The dishes have been formulated to especially appeal to Horeca (hotel, restaurant and catering) operators," said Bernard Slothouber, director of the Den Haag, Holland-headquartered company. "All that one has to do is heat the package in hot water or pop the bag into a microwave oven. Add steamed rice and it is ready to serve as many as four people."

Other items in the preservative-, additive- and artificial color-free variety of Asian ready meals and snacks include Red Snapper Seafood Skewers, Mussaman Curry Chicken, plus Green and Red Curry Chicken.

A second dish in the Japanese range is Prefried Shrimp Tempura distributed in units of 30 pieces per box. The offering of 25-gram Chicken Yakitori sticks is packed in 36-count boxes.

Fast and Easy Preparation

"Our products offer a time-saving advantage as well as ease of preparation, which is increasingly important at small restaurants, bars or local sports facilities where skilled chefs may not be regularly available," added BML's Lex Peeters.

All of the Group's products are made at two modern factories in Thailand, with the charcoal-grilled Yakitori treat produced under strict Japanese supervision and technology.

"We think that the Ben's Easy Kitchen assortment of pre-grilled items, curries and seafood soups will have excellent sales potential at fish shops and snack bars, where they can be prepared and sold hot on site," said Mr. Slothouber.

"Among targets for initial distribution are cash and carry outlets that serve the Horeca trade in Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom and Scandinavia," added Mr. Peeters.