Lotus roots could be the next craze gracing plates of sandwiches or garnishing 'cheffie' dishes in upmarket restaurants, if developers at specialist vegetable crisp manufacturer Glennans can make the costs add up.
Lotus root crisps are among many new developments that Glennans is looking at introducing as part of its aim to displace hand-fried potato crisps in smart restaurants, hotels and pub chains - both as a premium bar snack and as a meal accompaniment.
Glennans has just doubled the frying capacity at its Uttoxeter factory, which it moved into in 2005. It now operates four fryers to produce vegetable crisps from parsnips, sweet potatoes and plantains.
The new capacity should enable the company to achieve a turnover of £20M. Currently, turnover is £5M with plans to double that to £10M over the next couple of years, according to brand manager Richard Thompson, who claims sales have grown by around 33% year-on-year over the past three years. Glennans is currently producing around 7M packets of crisps a year, with capacity to produce 40M.
"We are always trying new vegetables," says Thompson. And the lotus root product "looks fantastic", he adds. "Because it is cut cross-sectionally, it gives a nice kind of quilted pattern, so it looks very impressive on the plate and it fries well and tastes really good." But the main obstacle to further development of lotus root crisps, says Thompson, is cost.
Glennans has a development team of just two, supplemented by consultant chef Matthew Shropsall. Shropsall, when he's not advising Glennans, teaches at a college in Birmingham and has a sideline leading Britain's international award-winning BBQ team.
Glennans' business is primarily in branded sales to the foodservice sector, although it also sells to independent retail outlets. Around 50% of Glennans' branded output goes for export to the EU and Middle East.