China Focus: Food innovation celebrity search, viral chickpea snacks, Nestle China NPD and more feature in our round-up
Can reality TV deliver 3D food NPD? China’s Bright Dairy seeks to make celebrities out of innovators
Shanghai-based Bright Dairy Food Group is building a super factory – not to manufacture products, but to unravel innovative ideas on TV screens.
The “Bright Tech Super Factory” located in the Baoshan district of Shanghai, is built on the firm’s now-defunct factory, and is expected to be completed in December this year.
A two-year long competition will take place in the factory, where 20 contestants - comprising of either individuals or teams - would live in the factory as they conceptualise and create their products.
China’s chickpea challenge: Online backing driving sales for industry heavyweights’ snack products
Chickpeas are not commonly consumed in China, but PavoMea Chick Pea Crisp has gone viral after gaining fervent supporters from consumers online and via social media.
Unbeknown to some, PavoMea was started by former industry heavy-weights. For instance, its CEO and founder Ricky Gao, was previously PepsiCo’s China marketing director. One of the directors from the innovation department also came from one of Korea’s largest food firm – Orion Confectionery.
Coming in four different flavours - including seaweed wasabi, pistachio, and charcoal spice - the product received “Best Bakery Award” at the Hello Foods Prize organised by the Food and Beverage Innovation Forum 2019, which was held in Hangzhou last week.
New product priorities: Nestlé China unveils plans to launch 170 new goods to market this year
Nestlé China is harbouring two highly ambitious goals – it wants to cut down the speed to market of new products and brands from 18-24 months to six to eight months and aims to launch 170 new products for this year.
Nini Chiang, the Chief Marketing Officer of Nestlé (Greater China), revealed the plans and strategies to do so when speaking at the Food and Beverage Innovation Forum (FBIF) 2019, a three-day event held in Hangzhou.
During her presentation, she revealed that the firm had struggled to meet the demands of Chinese consumers two years ago, and a breakthrough was urgently needed.
Foreign wines continue to be a booming business in China as domestic brands battle to fight back
Imported wine brands appear to winning the current battle against Chinese domestic products, with experts forecasting an 8% rise in imports this year.
This led the China Wine Association a and Yizhi Data to warn that imported wines are ‘rapidly eating into the market share of domestic wines’ in China due to factors including consumer habit shifts, the zero-tariff policy and the country’s ‘One Belt One Road’ policy.
“The total amount of imported wine in China has doubled in five years, whereas domestic wine production dropped by about 12% year-on-year in 2017,” said the report.
Dairy opportunities: The top five trends in China market revealed
From functional claims, to plant-based sources, and dairy for different occasion, China’s dairy brands are on constant innovation drive to stand out from their competitors.
At the recent Food Ingredients China show, Yuan Zhao, market analyst from Innova Market Insights shared some of the top trends and opportunities for exploration in China’s dairy market.
These were: Power of functional dairy, Soy popular, Age targeted, Opportunities for different occasions and Novel flavours.
