Waitrose adds new products inspired by TikTok cooking trends.

• Waitrose introduces eight new products to Cooks’ Ingredients range, including Korean Inspired Bibimbap Sauce, Hot Honey Gochujang, and Salt & Pepper Seasoning
• Sales of Black Garlic Paste and Gochujang Paste up 31% and 27% at Waitrose
• Builds into wider trend in Korean and Japanese cuisine, popular at Waitrose

Waitrose customers love to experiment with new ingredients and recipes, where we have seen cuisines such as: Korean (+9%) and Japanese (+7%) rise in popularity this year, which has led us to launch eight new products into our Cooks’ Ingredients range.

Emilie Wolfman, Trends Manager at Waitrose, says: “We know that Korean cuisines have sparked customer interest as they experiment with fermented and umami flavours, meaning that our new Cooks’ Ingredients Korean Inspired Bibimbap Sauce and Cooks’ Ingredients Hot Honey Gochujang will be a perfect addition to any food lover’s pantry.”

With thousands of videos of the viral Irish 'Spice Bag' shared across TikTok and the term officially added to the Oxford Dictionary, it highlights the growing number of people looking to try this fiery flavour profile. Combining this, and the fact TikTok searches for ‘Salt and Pepper’ recipes have increased by 468% over the last seven days, with stand-outs including

Furthermore, Waitrose customers are dialling up the heat as they embrace hot and spicy products such as Sriracha. Searches on Waitrose.com for ‘Sriracha Mayo’ and ‘Sriracha Sauce’ are up 105% and 28% over the four weeks, respectively. Now, customers will be able to add mouth-tingling heat and flavour to anything from noodles and rice to eggs and salads with our new Cooks' Ingredients Sriracha Sprinkle.

Positive sales for Asian Cooks’ Ingredients products include:

• Cooks’ Ingredients Black Garlic Paste up 31% versus last year
• Cooks’ Ingredients Gochujang Chilli Paste up 27% versus last year
• Cooks’ Ingredients Nam Pla Fish Sauce up 13% versus last year
• Cooks’ Ingredients Mirin Rice Wine up 12% versus last year

New restaurant openings such as Angelina and Hausu, followed by the recent publishing of cookbooks such as Umai by Millie Lagares, have brought Japanese cooking and its unique flavour profile to a larger audience. Searches on TikTok for ‘Japanese Chicken’ and ‘Japanese Recipes’ are up 340% and 1000% over the last week, respectively.

It’s not only our customers who are looking to cook these cuisines, as the current rise of Asian supermarkets across the UK showcases the demand for these ingredients, with brands like Oseyo recently opening a new store in Liverpool Street, London.

Moreover, our customers already love Japanese ingredients such as miso (sales up for the Ottolenghi Miso Pesto (+13%) and our Cooks’ Ingredients White Miso (+4%) over the last week) and with trending cuisines such as Japanese Italian fusion on the rise, our new Cooks’ Ingredients Miso Tomato Paste is set to be a staple in many of our customer's pantries.

Sarah Lourence, Cooks’ Ingredients Product Developer at Waitrose, comments, “We know that our customers love to cook GOOD food at home, and we are seeing more of them looking to recreate recipes from trips abroad. Sometimes it can be quite a challenge to find the more niche ingredients in supermarkets, so we have made sure to include those cuisine staples in our Cooks’ Ingredients range.

Find these eight new Cooks’ Ingredients products in our shops and online, with select products also available on Deliveroo, Uber Eats, and Just Eat through Waitrose.