Patak's Foods scooped one of the prestigious Oscars' in Food from Britain's Foodie awards in New York this week, thanks partly to an innovative instore TV/VCR campaign. The Indian foods group won the prize for the best sales growth in the US during the past three years at a glittering ceremony in the heart of New York's financial district. Grocery executives from the US and Canada joined UK firms at the presentations staged by Food from Britain North America as part of the city's 48th Fancy Food Show and compèred by Steve Dawson, FFB North America president, and Clive Beddall, editor at large for the William Reed Group. Patak's chairman Kirit Pathak and his wife and fellow director Meena carried off the Jack and the Beanstalk award in an evening that took a fairytale theme to mirror British success across the Atlantic. Kirit Pathak, whose US importer is the Hormel Foods Corporation, said: "Instead of merely spending money on advertising, we have used more tactical marketing initiatives. One example is a TV/VCR campaign. This involved putting a combined TV/VCR unit in an off shelf display. "A video loop of five different 90 second segments was played showing how easy our products are to use and how our range is suited to a variety of uses. Stores running the video saw sales rises of 462% compared with standard sales." Best new product or packaging went to George Wortley, md of St Peter's Brewery Company, of Bungay, Suffolk, for its bottled beers. Quorn, launched in the US this year, won the product expected to show most success in North America in 2002. Mackay's of Scotland took the prize for the best sales growth in Canada during the past three years, and the award for the best US showcase store for British food and drink went to West Point Market of Ohio. The Foodie for the British product considered by the judges to have the greatest potential in the US went to The Juice Company of London, for its crushed fruit smoothie drink in tetrapaks. {{NEWS }}