Bak kwa NPD: Malaysia’s Oloiya banks on innovative flavours to capture younger consumers Malaysian bak kwa company Oloiya (Chinese:我来也) is banking on flavour innovation to capture the younger market, as it bids to disrupt the century-old industry.
Bak kwa is a Chinese salty-sweet dried meat product, usually made with preserved sliced or minced pork and marinated with sugar, salt, and spices. It has a taste profile, similar to jerky.
It is traditionally bought as gifts for families and friends in Asian countries during the annual Chinese New Year (CNY) festival.
Last year, Oloiya launched five new flavours of bak kwa, and the year before, another five flavours.
Thy not? Next Gen plucks for Singapore as it launches global plant-based chicken brand Plant-based food tech start up Next Gen is making its global debut by launching its consumer brand TiNDLE in Singapore this March.
The first product to be launched is TiNDLE Thy, a plant-based chicken thigh product which will be distributed by Classic Fine Foods, and rolled out initially in food service, with retail in the pipeline.
The launch of the consumer brand comes after Singapore headquartered Next Gen closed a US$10 million seed round, more than its initial US$7 million target, following an earlier founder capitalisation of US$2.2 million.
WHO’s Ayurveda push applauded but Indian industry calls for clearer regulations to propel growth India’s Ayurveda nutraceuticals and medicines industry players have welcomed efforts by ministers and the World Health Organization (WHO) to promote the safe and effective use of traditional medicines, but has also urged for clearer regulatory guidelines.
India’s Ministry of AYUSH recently signed a letter of exchange with the WHO South East Asia Regional (SEAR) Office in New Delhi on Monday (Feb 15), pledging to integrate these traditional practices into national health care systems.
“As a major outcome of this partnership, the Ministry of AYUSH and WHO would be working to identify various challenges faced by the member states of SEAR in regulating, integrating and further promoting traditional systems of medicine in the respective countries,” the Ministry of AYUSH said.
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Authentic approach: Indonesia’s first plant-based meat firm Green Butcher banks on local flavours to pique interest By Pearly Neo Indonesia’s first homegrown plant-based meat firm Green Butcher is banking on its localised flavours and spices focus to pique the interest of the nation’s consumers and grow the domestic category.
According to Green Butcher Co-Founder Helga Angelina Tjahjadi, staying authentic to Indonesian flavours is important to the firm in order to set itself apart from other plant-based meat firms entering the market, particularly as the local plant-based market is still in its early stages.
“We maintain a strong focus on authentic Indonesian and South East Asian flavours as well as strong nutrition profile [as our main value proposition] to our main consumer demographic, upper middle flexitarian and vegan consumers,” Tjahjadi told
Nestle has committed to focus on plant-based product localisation, sustainability and affordability as key focus areas for its Asia Pacific businesses on the back of the region posting near flat-growth as a result of poor performance in China.
The firm revealed in its 2020 Full Year Results announcement that its businesses in Zone Asia, Oceania and sub-Saharan Africa (AOA) had seen overall organic growth of just 0.5%, with sales decreasing by CHF 1.4bn (US$1.6bn) to CHF 20.7bn (US$23.1bn) in 2020, from CHF22.1bn (US$24.6bn) in 2019.
“Growth numbers in APAC were mostly impacted only by China, where we faced some specific issues such as our exceptionally high exposure in that market to the Out-Of-Home category which was severely hit by COVID-19, as well as Chinese consumers not stockpiling food supplies at home in contrast to what was seen in most other markets,” Nestle CFO Francois-Xavier Roger said in response to queries from