Baking & Snack - April 2010 - 105

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NEW PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

Deep Foods expands its line
of authentic Indian cuisine
with a frozen naan pizza.

he popularity of ethnic cuisine has been years
in the making. Since 1977, Deep Foods, Inc.,
Union, NJ, has provided all-natural, authentic
Indian products to the US marketplace. Recognizing the rising popularity of pizza among the Indian
community, especially with vegetarians, the company
sought a dual approach - to meet the needs of its
current customer base as well as build a mainstream
audience hungry for ethnic cuisine.
"We understand that the flavors of Indian food are exotic, and the spices are unknown, but there is a comfort level
with pizza that makes it a good crossover product," said
Michael Ryan, vice-president of marketing, Deep Foods.
The vegetarian pizzas use traditional Indian naan
bread as their base. Each piece of naan is hand-stretched
before it is baked in a clay tandoor oven at 1000°F, just
as naan has been
created for centuries. "You can't
have a larger-thannormal tandoor
oven," Mr. Ryan
said. "Each oven
holds four pieces
of naan, so the
oven size must remain manageable
by one employee."
The bread is directly applied to
the side of the clay
oven and removed
with tongs after
baking. The baked
surface creates a

BAKING & SNACK / April 2010

nonporous surface perfect for pizza toppings, according to Mr. Ryan. After baking, the naan is immediately
moved to a spiral freezer to ensure ultimate freshness.
Toppings are added via an automated process.
The Original Naan Pizzas are available under the Tandoor Chef brand in Cilantro Pesto, Margherita, Roasted
Eggplant and Spinach & Paneer Cheese varieties. Paneer,
an unaged cheese made from cow's milk, is the traditional Indian cheese. The company adds a touch of mozzarella cheese to the Spinach & Paneer variety to enhance
familiarity and texture. New flavor varieties are slated for
later this year.
The frozen pizzas, which are made entirely in India, are shrinkwrapped and boxed to protect product
during transport. A 9-oz pizza retails for $2.99 and
has a 1-year shelf life. After a December launch in
Texas-based Whole Foods Market stores, the product
is now available in mainstream supermarkets and the
natural food channel.
"Innovation will continue to drive our success in
2010, and we're sure this product, hand-stretched and
made of all-natural ingredients, will further innovate
the growing frozen specialty pizza category," said
Deepak Amin, vice-president for Tandoor Chef and
Deep Foods.
Approximately 1,800 people are employed by the
company, primarily women, providing jobs for a
group that normally would find it difficult to get
employment in India. The company also supports a local foundation that provides bikes, school equipment
and writing tablets to children who might not have the
means to afford equipment or transportion to school.
Information about the foundation is shared with the
company's buyers but not with its consumer base,
according to Mr. Ryan.
- Jennifer Barnett Fox

Baking & Snack - April 2010

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