A leading rice and ambient food manufacturer, Veetee Foods captures the flavours of the globe and brings them to plates all over the world. The team at Veetee Foods discussed new product launches and the future of the company, in conversation with Antonia Cole.
Veetee Foods is one of the largest rice suppliers in the UK, with a man-ufacturing and commercial footprint spanning from India to the USA, Managing Director Rajiv Varma said: “Our brand portfolio caters to a wide range of global customers across all trade channels, from multinational retailers to independent traders. We believe that superior products deliver a better consumer experience and drive high repeat purchase.”
Founder-led, family-owned company was founded in London in 1987. To deliver award-winning products, Veetee carefully selects and processes natural raw ingredients to retain nutrition, aroma and flavour. Working closely with farming communities and investing in industry-leading technology, the company pioneers the development of ambient foods.
“It’s our vision to enable more moments of mealtime enjoyment,” added Mr Varma. “We create amazing products that capture the versatility of different plants and grains, which are good for people and the planet.”
Finding flavours
Rice has a household penetration of more than 80% and Veetee covers all rice segments, from traditional brands like Veetee Mega, Classics and Badshah to award winning formats like speciality boxed rice and Veetee’s steam-filtered ready to heat ranges. These are offered in distinct rice trays and single serve Duo Pots filled with varieties like Perfectly Sticky Rice, Fluffy Basmati and Fragrant Thai Jasmine.
“These have now been joined by a range of global flavours in the Veetee Specials
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range,” explained Head of Commercial Kumar Raghvendra. “It’s unsurprising that Veetee rice has won Great Taste awards and been singled out for recognition in the Grocer’s New Product Awards. This is something we’re hoping to repeat with our new Veetee range extensions and the new Hungry Heads range.”
In July 2024, Veetee launched 27 new lines of the HungryHeads range as part of Tesco’s big Easy Meal category reset. The company’s development team were inspired by their travels around Asia, bringing the smells and flavours of street food stalls into Hungry Heads. These portable and convenient pouches feature freshly sourced ingredients, hand cooking and innovative technology to lock in taste and quality.
“It all started with NoodleHead, launched in 2023, and we took the learnings from NoodleHead into a new set of categories to bring our vision of re-imagined ambient foods with SoupHead, RamenHead, PastaHead and MacNcheeseHead,” commented
Head of Marketing Marcel Aerts. “They’ve only just arrived in stores, but are already driving very good trial rates, as well as interest from retailers in the UK and abroad.”
Additionally, the company has launched Veetee Specials with Jollof, Nasi Goreng and Gochujang inspired flavours, as well as a new line of rice flavour pots called Veetee Stir’d and a bespoke range of new rice offerings for World Foods. This has been Veetee’s biggest new product development project since the launch of Veetee rice trays. The company has already received great customer feedback, with more than 100,000 units sold in stores before the launch campaign began.
Sustainable sourcing
Veetee sources rice from the regions renowned for specific varieties, such as Basmati from the Himalayan foothills or Jasmine from Thailand. This offers a distinctive flavour grown from the unique climate and soil conditions of the area.
“Our commitment to quality begins with selecting the right suppliers,” said Procurement Manager Barbara Ferre. “We collaborate with
those who have a well-established reputation for producing premium rice and adhere to strict agricultural standards. We consider our suppliers as an extension of our team.”
From harvest to reaching the end consumer, rigorous quality control measures are implemented at every stage of the supply chain. Regular testing for purity, moisture content, pesticide, mycotoxins and over-all quality are conducted to ensure premium results.
“At Veetee, we make sure our ingredients are responsibly sourced, sustainably produced and ecologically packaged,” continued Mr Aerts. “We like to work with suppliers local to our manufacturing sites to minimise transportation impacts and support broader opportunities for the communities in which we operate.”
The company is also continuously looking to make its packaging more sustainable. Its rice trays are already curb-side recyclable, Veetee uses recycled cardboard in cartons and is also rolling out paper-based packaging into more products like its new 5kg Veetee Classics and Everyday ranges, plus 2kg
Veetee Mega and Badshah packs. Additionally, to support communities, the company donates a million meals per year through FareShare and recently delivered 50,000 meals to the Felix Project to help struggling families over the summer break.
Productive partnerships
Veetee is continuously looking for ways to create value for customers and has established longstanding partnerships to achieve this, Mr Aerts said: “Whether it’s developing new climate-friendly packaging solutions like our premium Veetee Rice Box in collaboration with DS Smith, sourcing speciality rice variants with long-term partners like MAP and Invernizzi, finding new ingredients with Jardox or putting in a new piece of kit to improve production and logistical capabilities as we did with BSE UK, there’s always a business partner to help.”
Another example of a creative partnership is with Springetts Brand Design. This collaboration saw the redesign of the Veetee Rice range, as well as the development of Hungry Heads. The project brought effective results,
growing store listings and driving great in-store stand-out both on and off shelf.
Veetee organises immersion days to review trends and showcase new products to retail partners. These sessions function as a cornerstone of the company’s retail relationships. Additionally, Veetee carries out comprehensive concept testing and taste panels to ensure the success of product launches supported by promotional campaigns that drive brand awareness and trial.
“We also work hard to identify synergies between our retail partners’ plans and brand objectives to make sure we create those all-important triple wins for shoppers, retail partners and Veetee’s brands,” explained Mr Raghvendra. “Aiming high is not just an ambition at Veetee – it’s an expectation that runs right through our business, like ‘Blackpool’ through a stick of Blackpool rock!”
As a company, Veetee Foods is committed to delivering products that are tasty, healthy, convenient and affordable, always seeking new and innovative ways to do so. The company will continue to find inspiration across cuisines, technologies and through understanding consumer needs.
“Today’s global consumer is more widely travelled than ever before,” added Mr Varma. “We’re always exploring opportunities to connect with consumers and new routes to market strategies in the UK and beyond.”
Veetee will continue to develop new formats and flavours into the future, as well as expanding into more markets. The company is currently in the process of setting up a manufacturing site in the USA and is actively consolidating its five UK sites into one supersite factory in close proximity to its current operations, further supporting its growth trajectory and ambitions.
One thing is certain… Veetee is on a journey and the best is yet to come! n
