Green banana chips
“The market for potato chips in the UK is declining simply because it is so big,” general manager for exports at Grace Foods George Phillips said. “These plantain chips and green banana chips are seen as an alternative so that gives them an advantage. And although we don’t position them as healthier than potato chips, they are higher in protein and fibre.”
The chips are fried in palm oil (olein), and one 85-g pack provides around one quarter of the recommended daily amount of fibre (6 g or 24%) and 30 g of fat (47% of the recommended daily intake), one half of which is saturated.
Although Grace also manufactures a low-fat and low-salt version, Phillips said this does not sell as well.
The company currently sells around two million packs a year and is seeing around 20% organic growth a year.
The UK remains its biggest market where it sells in all major retailers, but it has recently started selling in Holland through the Jumbo chain, and Germany.
Although the company’s origins are Jamaican, Grace sources the ingredients for its plantain chips principally from Colombia, where it has a BRC-accredited factory, as Jamaican output only covers its domestic needs.
One packet sells for around 89 p in the UK or €1 in Europe.