All-rounder ambitions: Kirin announces plan to bridge businesses between beer, functional food, and pharma
Kirin — which has its roots in the beer business — has launched a nine-year plan to better align its food, nutrition and pharma sections, with a major focus on health and wellness.
CEO Yoshinori Isozaki announced the “Kirin Group Vision 2027” on Thursday (Feb 14).
The firm aims to be a global CSV (Creating Shared Value) leader providing value-adding services across multiple portfolios, from serving general needs to special needs, preventative healthcare, and medical treatment by 2027.
“The Kirin Group will expand the business of high-functioning ingredients and establish a unique business model by leveraging the Kirin Group’s extensive experience and assets in pharmaceuticals and food & beverages so as to provide solutions to health issues that have not been addressed.
‘Hyper-local’: Coca-Cola India’s new Minute Maid Colour targets Tamil Nadu region
Coca-Cola India is looking at a focused approach to conquer the consumer base in the state of Tamil Nadu with its new product, Minute Maid Colour.
Minute Maid Colour is a sparkling drink made with locally-sourced black grape juice, and is ‘specially designed for consumers in Tamil Nadu who have a liking for grape flavored beverages’, according to Coca-Cola India.
“[We] are actively focusing on our strategy to offer consumers a wide variety of choices as per their preferences,” said T. Krishnakumar, President of Coca-Cola India and South West Asia.
“In-line with this, we follow a hyper-local strategy and introduce localised beverages that suit the consumer preferences specific to a region.”
Health focus: CP Foods targets 30% of healthy products for NPD with opening of new research centre
Thai food manufacturing giant Charoen Pokphand Foods PCL (CP Foods) is targeting 30% of its new product development (NPD) this year to be focused on healthy food products.
It hopes to achieve this goal with the aid of its newly-opened food innovation, research and development centre, which will focus on developing and delivering ‘nutritious and safe foods at world-class quality’.
Current R&D foci include food biotechnology and sustainable packaging development. The former sees the use of enzymes and microorganisms in enhancing product quality, whereas the latter looks at the minimisation of CP Foods’ environmental footprints, especially in plastic use.
Bubble tea battle: Chatime Malaysia targets market-leading position after franchise dispute
Bubble tea chain Chatime Malaysia has grand plans to emerge as the top operator globally by the end of 2019 – this despite a long and hefty court case with its previous master franchisor in the country.
Chatime Malaysia has outlined an ‘aggressive’ expansion plan that will span across five years in order to achieve this, and appears optimistic about its targets.
'Pure naked goodness': Singapore brand Udders seeks to bring wellness trend to ice cream
Iconic Singapore ice cream brand Udders is looking to conquer the health and wellness market with its new healthy ice cream range: Nuude.
The firm claims the new brand is ‘natural, fresh, and clean label’.
“With recent trends towards healthier living, we wanted to use our expertise and creativity to develop a new range of lower-sugar and lower-calorie ice creams for a different segment of customers, who are health-conscious and more deliberate about food choices,” said Wong Peck Lin,
Udders Founder and Chief Milkmaid.