Brand New: Mondelez, Nestle, Coca-Cola and more big names feature in our brands round-up
Caramilk’s back: Cadbury’s limited edition chocolate relaunched as Oceania-only permanent item
Cadbury has relaunched its popular Caramilk chocolate as a permanent item due to fervent consumer demand – but the availability of this will be limited to only New Zealand and Australia.
Caramilk is a blend of white chocolate and caramel. It was taken off shelves in 1994, but returned as a limited edition item in Australia (2018) and New Zealand (2017) previously.
Throughout this time, multiple campaigns were started by consumers across both countries, either calling for its return or demanding that it be made into a permanent item.
In response to this overwhelming fan demand, Cadbury’s manufacturing company Mondelez eventually decided that a permanent return was in order.
"With so much demand for Cadbury Caramilk, and a concerted campaign from consumers to see it return, it's exciting to be able to bring Caramilk back as a permanent product,” Mondelez Head of Marketing New Zealand Will Papesch told FoodNavigator-Asia.
Milo of the future: Nestle Malaysia’s Global Centre of Excellence plugs into Industry 4.0 trends
Nestle Malaysia recently launched the Milo Global Centre of Excellence in the country with the aim of meeting not only global demand for the malted chocolate beverage, but also overall hot drink demand within South East Asia.
The centre is housed together with the firm’s Chembong factory in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, which is also the ‘largest MILO manufacturing facility in the Nestlé world’. As a whole, the entire establishment saw a total of some RM90mn (US$21.5mn) in investments to complete, some RM10mn (US$2.4mn) less than originally planned for.
“This investment has enabled us to increase production capacity by 30% and upgrade the facility with state-of-the-art automated processes and digitalisation, optimising operational efficiency and productivity,” Nestle Malaysia Group Corporate Affairs Executive Director Nirmalah Thurai told FoodNavigator-Asia.
“This includes machinery upgrades on the Milo manufacturing line, such as for new dryers with the latest technology, additional equipment for the filling process and extra automated packing lines.”
Double the luxury: Coca-Cola Japan launches second two-fruit Fanta product with focus on indulgence
Coca-Cola Japan has launched the second product in its popular two-fruit Fanta Zeitaku W series, maintaining its focus on luxury and indulgence, this time with a blend of two types of grapes.
‘Zeitaku’ in Japanese by definition means ‘luxury’, and the firm focused on the two-fruit blending aspect to bring out this concept.
“Blending two kinds of fruits makes [the drink] taste juicier and richer, which strengthens Fanta’s fruity flavour,” a Coca-Cola Japan spokeswoman told FoodNavigator-Asia.
“This second product from the Fanta Zeitaku (luxury) W series [has been made] with Cabernet and Chardonnay grapes.”
Responding to queries on the reason behind focusing on grapes, the spokeswoman added that external surveys had found the fruit to be ‘one of the popular fruits favoured in autumn’.
Shelf life boost for beer: Sapporo extends expiry dates in bid to reduce food waste
Sapporo Breweries will extend the best-before period for its beer and quasi-beer products from the existing nine months to 12 months.
The changes will be applied to 21 of its products made in or after March 2020.
For products manufactured in March 2020, the expiration date will be February 2021.
Responding to queries from FoodNavigator-Asia, the firm said the move was to reduce food waste throughout the supply chain.
Food waste is a global issue, including Japan, and urgent measures are needed. The firm said the amount of food waste per capita in Japan was estimated at 51kg per year, and domestic food loss (edible portion) exceeded 64 million tons per year.
Sapporo saw this as a chance to contribute to a sustainable society. Yasuhiro Nagumo, manager from the firm’s corporate communications department said: “(We want) to help consumers deepen their understanding and interest in the importance of reducing waste loss.”
Sports exclusive: Coca-Cola China banks on e-commerce to market BodyArmor exclusively on Tmall
Coca-Cola China is banking on the popularity of digital e-commerce in the country to introduce its second local sports drink BodyArmor to consumers via its Tmall store, along with other products only found in other global markets thus far.
Coca-Cola purchased a minority stake in BodyArmor in August last year. Financial details were not publicly released, but BodyArmor falls under the bigger brand’s Venturing and Emerging Brands (VEB) investment portfolio.
In China, BodyArmor is currently only available as an imported product exclusively found on the Coca-Cola Tmall store.
“We are taking advantage of China’s digital eco-system and a range of e-commerce platforms to expand our touch points with consumers,” Coca-Cola Asia Pacific Leads Communications, Sustainability and Public Affairs Matt Echols told FoodNavigator-Asia and NutraIngredients-Asia.
“We can see a growing number of Chinese consumers are evolving to seek innovative and premium products, [so] we continue to introduce exciting products from other markets around the world through our China e-commerce platforms.”
