Brand New: Nestle's SEA growth, Heineken's zero-alcohol beer, Japan-only Pepsi and more feature in our round-up
‘Fastest growing markets’: Nestle 2018 growth in SEA headed by Vietnam and Indonesia
Nestle’s 2018 annual review has revealed that its rapid growth in the South East Asian region was headed by Vietnam and Indonesia last year.
Of Nestle’s CHF 21.3bn (US$21.4bn) total sales coming from what it classified as Zone Asia, Oceania and sub-Saharan Africa (AOA), CHF 6.6bn (US$6.6bn) or 30.8% was from its ASEAN markets.
Zone AOA demonstrated 4.3% organic growth in total as compared to 2017, with China, South East Asia, and South Asia all contributing to this.
Vietnam and Indonesia were clear leaders towards the ASEAN growth numbers, posting double-digit growth numbers.
Zero hero? Heineken wants no-alcohol beer to rival Coke in Singapore following Europe sales boom
Heineken’s new zero-alcohol beer Heineken 0.0 is the brand’s pioneering foray into the Low and No Alcohol (LNA) category in Singapore, with the firm targeting availability in locations such as salad bars, gyms and offices as it seeks to rival soft drinks giants such as Coca-Cola.
Heineken 0.0 is made with normal beer ingredients (water, malted barley, hop extract) and brewed with Heineken’s unique A-yeast, but the alcohol is removed ‘gently’ in a ‘natural process’.
“[Our] unique recipe [makes] for Heineken 0.0’s distinct balanced taste, and each 330ml bottle contains only 69 calories,” Andy Hewson, Managing Director of Asia Pacific Breweries Singapore (APBS) told FoodNavigator-Asia.
‘Full supply chain transparency’: Nestle publicly discloses lists of commodity suppliers in industry-first move
Global food and beverage giant Nestle has published its second round of supplier lists for public perusal in an industry-first move towards total supply chain transparency, revealing Oceania, Malaysia and Indonesia as its biggest APAC suppliers so far.
The first food-related commodity supplier list that was earlier published on Nestle’s website was for palm oil, and this was recently followed by four more lists for meat (beef, pork, veal, lamb, mutton), vanilla, soya and hazelnuts.
Nestle Executive Vice President, Head of Operations Magdi Batato said that: "By mid-2019, we will also publish the supply chain information for our other priority commodities, which include seafood, coconut, vegetables, spices, coffee, cocoa, dairy, poultry, eggs, cereals and sugar.”
“These commodities cover 95% of the company’s annual sourcing of raw materials.”
Japan-only cola: Suntory launches exclusive Pepsi Japan Cola to ‘revitalise’ local market
Suntory Beverage & Food is set to launch its new Pepsi Japan Cola exclusively in the country next month, in its latest bid to put the fizz back into the market as consumers increasingly opt for healthier options.
The new Japan Cola will contain unique ingredients such as salt and Japanese citrus (yuzu) which Suntory expects to ‘enhance the original taste of cola’ and ‘provide a Japan-original taste’.
“Pepsi Japan Cola is designed with a carefully balanced combination of spices, a subtle flavor of salt, and citrus flavors unique to Japan,” Suntory spokeswoman Naoko Kushima told FoodNavigator-Asia.
“The end result is a taste that [brings] both a robust mouth feel and a sharp and clean aftertaste, delivering an exceptionally refreshing experience that is popular with Japan's ‘cola lovers’.”
‘Explosion of flavours’: Impossible Foods tells all on how to stand out in the plant-based crowd
Investing in cutting-edge research, providing groundbreaking new choices for consumers and creating a massive marketing buzz have been hailed as the three factors that have spurred plant-based meat company Impossible Foods' success to date, according to a leading exec.
Impossible’s Director of International Expansion Jordan Sadowsky told FoodNavigator-Asia that one of the main factors of success for the company was its research and technology surrounding the haeme molecule.
“Scientists knew [about haeme] long before we came around as a company, but what had never been researched was the fact that haeme is also responsible for the flavour chemistry of meat,” he said.
“This molecule is [the reason] why when you put a piece of meat on the grill, there's suddenly a burst of flavours and aromas - it's because the haeme catalyses all the other small molecules to creates this explosion of flavour that is unique to meat.
