Retail News CRM

Category: Food

Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest Food and Food & Beverage news throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

  • McDonald’s Hong Kong Celebrates Chinese New Year with song

    McDonald’s Hong Kong Celebrates Chinese New Year with song

    Of the abundance of Chinese New Year campaigns by brands this year, McDonald’s Hong Kong has released a touching campaign that tugs at the heartstrings with the help of a classic by Sir Elton John.

    Cantopop star and actor Eason Chan (who once performed, sort of, with Madonna) sings Elton John’s Your Song in a campaign called #LittleBigMoments, which shows McDonald’s fans of all ages enjoying sharing French fries, a burger, ice cream and more, while emotions run the gamut from sadness to joy, tears to laughter, by babies and elderly women and all ages in between.

    Released on Feb. 15th, it has received more than 2 million views across digital channels, including almost 1.5 million views just on YouTube.

    “As a brand, we understand that life is not just one big thing, but the accumulation of a million little things, a million little moments. And in the end, it is these little moments that make life big,” said Randy Lai, CEO of McDonald’s Hong Kong. “It’s been a real privilege to work with Eason Chan, and with the blessing of Sir Elton John, to create a campaign that is a love song dedicated to our customers.”

    “Nothing stirs the heart like a great piece of music, and this is something our industry often forgets,” added Andreas Krasser, Head of Strategy & Innovation at DDB Group Hong Kong.

    “In this campaign we made the music the hero, with Eason Chan lending a homegrown twist to one of the world’s most beloved songs. Since launching on the 15th February, the brand spot has already garnered more than 2 million views across multiple digital channels, successfully reaching around one-third of Hong Kong people,” he added.

    The #LittleBigMoments campaign led with a 60-second brand spot, followed on February 20th by three 15-second stories (below), each focusing on some of the moments portrayed in the brand piece, but also on some of Hong Kong’s most popular McDonald’s menu items:

    Egg & Beef Burger (imported from Japan):

    Grilled Chicken Burger:

    Chicken Nuggets:

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  • BreadTalk Group posts a positive profit growth

    BreadTalk Group posts a positive profit growth

    With a record 91 per cent profit growth, lifestyle F&B company BreadTalk Group says it is ready to soar in a challenging market.

    Its record net profit for last year came in at US$21.8 million despite an “unpredictable” macro retail environment, says the Singapore-headquartered company.

    “We are well positioned to soar above the challenging retail market conditions,” says chairman Dr George Quek.

    “The group remains determined to identify innovative food concepts and partnerships, delivering them promptly across our 17 territories.”

    In line with the group’s consolidation strategy for the year, group revenue eased 2.5 per cent to $599.7 million.

    For the same period, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell 3.5 per cent to $84.4 million, with EBITDA margin steady at 14.1 per cent.

    Profit after tax and minority interests (PATMI) improved 91 per cent from $11.4 million to $21.8 million. PATMI margin rose from 1.9 to 3.6 per cent.

    During the year, $9.3 million in net capital gain was recognised from the divestment of the group’s investment in TripleOne Somerset in the first quarter.

    Excluding one-off items, core F&B business net profit for the year would have been $17.7 million, an improvement of 153.3 per cent.

    Bakery less bouyant

    Bakery-division revenue declined 3.2 per cent to $297.2 million, attributed to lower revenue from directly run stores in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, as well as lower franchise revenue from China because of the planned early termination of eight franchisees during the year.

    There were 20 fewer directly run stores at 240, following the reclassification of the eight outlets in Malaysia in the fourth quarter to franchise, as well as closures in China and Singapore.

    Franchise outlets ended the year at 631, 29 more because of the addition of the re-classified outlets from Malaysia as well as more outlet openings by franchisees in Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand.

    EBITDA for the division declined 20.5 per cent to $23.2 million, with EBITDA margin at 7.8 per cent, down from 9.5 per cent, mainly because of lower profitability at Shanghai and Singapore directly run stores, and lower high-margin revenue contribution from the China franchise business.

    For the food atrium division, revenue was 5.4 per cent lower at $149.3 million with four fewer outlets. The same-store sales growth momentum for the entire food atrium portfolio was strong, especially in China. Two outlets opened in Shenzhen during the fourth quarter, at MIXC World and Uniwalk.

    EBITDA improved 53.7 per cent to $25.1 million, with EBITDA margin improving from 10.3 to 16.8 per cent.

    London debut

    For the restaurant division, revenue was up 2.2 per cent to $140.7 million, with one outlet being added in Thailand. EBITDA rose in tandem by 2.1 per cent to $30.1 million with EBITDA margin steady at 21.4 per cent despite costs related to the start-up of the group’s first Din Tai Fung outlet in London.

    A new business division, the 4orth Division, was launched with the objective of incubating F&B concepts, as well as enter into joint ventures. The division ended the year with revenue of $7.9 million and EBITDA of $500,000, translating to an EBITDA margin of 6.8 per cent.

    “Significant” efforts were put into consolidating and turning around the group’s bakery business, particularly underperforming stores in China and Singapore. Also, the Toast Box product in China was revamped to better suit the local palate and to meet the consumers’ mobile lifestyle.

    BreadTalk’s food-atrium division ended the year with a record low stall vacancies of less than 2 per cent.

    The management team is also staying focused on deepening reach in Singapore and Thailand to further optimise economies of scale. Two outlets were opened last month, at the new Northpoint City in Singapore and at Thonglor in Bangkok.

    All five Ramen Play outlets were rebranded as So, turning the business profitable. The group’s first JV, Song Fa Bak Kut Teh outlet at Jing An Kerry Centre in Shanghai officially opened last month, to be followed by further Song Fa outlets in other parts of Shanghai as well as in other cities in China and Thailand.

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  • Ashley Sutton presents Dear Lilly at IFC mall rooftop

    Ashley Sutton presents Dear Lilly at IFC mall rooftop

    Award-winning Australian designer Ashley Sutton has launched a restaurant and bar with a floral theme in a glass-walled space on the roof of IFC mall.

    Dear Lilly is described as a romantic restaurant and bar inspired by the hole-in-the-wall florists found along Parisian boulevards. As with Sutton’s other projects in Hong Kong, such as nightlife venues Iron Fairies, J.Boroski, Ophelia and Yojimbo, Dear Lilly is a collaboration with restaurant group Dining Concepts.

    Floor-to-ceiling shelves in Dear Lilly are crammed with vintage perfume bottles brimming with flowers, and hundreds of bouquets hang from the gently swaying kinetic ceiling.

    “Dear Lilly is unlike anything I’ve ever done before,” Sutton says. “It’s an incredibly enchanting space filled with flowers, love letters and charming antique ornaments I’ve sourced from around the world. I want people to step inside and feel like they’re in a fairytale.”

    Heart-shaped marble inlays in the floor are engraved with extracts from love letters. After reading thousands of love letters from throughout history, Sutton decided to fill Dear Lilly with extracts from letters sent by soldiers to their sweethearts during World Wars I and II. The restaurant’s name even came from one of the letters.

    Love letters and poems scrawled on scrolls of paper are piled on the bar alongside vintage black-and-white photos of couples. The bar and mixologists’ workstations are decorated with typewriters, rolls of ribbon and other knick-knacks.

    For romantic meals, Dear Lilly offers intimate booths designed as supersized versions of vintage jewellery boxes. For the steel heart-shaped structures, the metal has been treated to look like tarnished sterling silver.

    Embroidery and crowns

    Meanwhile, the serving staff at the restaurant wear outfits that feature embroidered button-up shirts or Victorian-inspired dresses and flower crowns. Mixologists wear vintage aprons with magnifying glasses, antique scissors and other knick-knacks poking out their pockets.

    Alongside classic drinks, Dear Lilly’s serves signature items inspired by 1920s French cocktails. To match the decor, the cocktails are garnished with edible flowers and sprigs of lavender. Dear Lilly also offers a range of beers served on its terrace overlooking Victoria Harbour.

    The cuisine is contemporary European featuring Mediterranean favours.

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  • Jumbo Group to go jumbo in Asia

    Jumbo Group to go jumbo in Asia

    Following another strong quarter, multi-dining concept company Jumbo Group says it aims to expand its brands to other major Asian cities.

    “We will continue to take a calibrated approach in our expansion plans to capture the growing F&B market in major Chinese cities such as Shanghai and Beijing as well as other regional markets like Vietnam,” says group CEO/executive director Ang Kiam Meng.

    Jumbo also plans to pursue franchising opportunities as well as growing its network through openings, acquisitions, JVs and strategic alliances.

    For its first quarter to the end of December, Jumbo has announced a profit attributable to the owners of the company of $2.6 million, compared to $2.1 million for the corresponding period a year earlier.

    Revenue increased by 5.8 per cent, or $1.8 million, to $32.7 million, mainly because of  increased revenue contributions from the group’s seafood outlets in Shanghai.

    Gross profit increased by 8.1 per cent, or $1.6 million, to $21 million. Gross profit margin was 64.2 per cent, up year on year from 62.9 per cent.

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  • Blackmores stumbles on China costs and fish oil shortages

    Blackmores stumbles on China costs and fish oil shortages

    Blackmores CEO Richard Henfrey is wrestling with supply constraints for some ingredients and a more competitive market in China.

    Blackmores is grappling with shortages of ingredients such as whey protein and fish oil, and competition in China is becoming more fierce but chief executive Richard Henfrey says the long-term growth projections for the vitamins maker are robust.

    Blackmores shares tumbled more than 15 per cent in early trading on Thursday to $135 as the company said it was working with ingredients suppliers to shorten lead times in its supply chain and that profits from its China business had grown by 4 per cent as it bumped up investment and spent more on expanding its in-country presence in China.

    Mr Henfrey said Blackmores still expects solid growth in the second half of 2017-18, after generating a 20 per cent per cent rise in net profit after tax to $34.2 million.

    He said on Thursday that Blackmores was a more consistent business now after going through extreme volatility in the past couple of years and it would be some time before it was able to repeat the stellar full-year profit of $100 million notched in 2015-16. “That was the gift year,” he said, when booming demand from China fuelled extraordinary profit growth.

    Cost-cutting inside the business and a reduction in discounts to customers enabled Blackmores to generate a 20 per cent rise in bottomline profits, with revenues up 9.3 per cent to $287.4 million. The company lifted its first half dividend by 15 per cent to $1.50 per share, to be paid on March 22.

    But the soft Australian retail market is expected to crimp growth in the second half, while Blackmores is also wrestling with some supply constraints. “We’re working with our suppliers to shorten lead times,” Mr Henfrey said. Whey protein and fish oil were two specific areas where there had been constraints.

    The China market is becoming a tougher market in which to compete, as different players step up their efforts to gain a bigger share of the market as Chinese consumers flock to “clean and green” products from countries like Australia.

    “It’s becoming a more competitive space,” Mr Henfrey said. China sales were up 27 per cent. But Mr Henfrey said profits from China grew 4 per cent as more investment was made in bolstering the in-country presence. Blackmores was also hit by an increase in doubtful debts provisions in China of $2.8 million.

    Blackmores has a new distribution centre at Bungarribee in western Sydney which went into full overdrive in December after a staged ramp-up. “We’ve finished building out the technology in there,” he said. But it was at the start of the supply chain where headaches emerged. “It’s at the other end of the chain,” he said.

    Mr Henfrey, who took over from long-serving chief executive Christine Holgate in August 2017, said sales revenue in Australian and New Zealand slipped marginally to $121 million as more sales which had previously been emanating in Australia from entrepreneurs buying up in local retail stores and then selling them online in China, shifted across to direct sales online in China by Blackmores itself. But EBIT from Australia and New Zealand was up 19 per cent to $26 million.

    Blackmores shares had almost doubled in the past six months from $87 in late August 2017 to $160 on Wednesday before the fall on Thursday.

    This was on renewed optimism returned about Mr Henfrey’s strategy of ensuring a more consistent and reliable Blackmores with a focus on lifting investment returns with tighter management.

    Lofty gains

    Blackmores shares reached the lofty heights of $220 in early January 2016 on the strength of enormous appetite from Chinese buyers for “clean and green” vitamins brands.

    It was largely driven by the Chinese entrepreneurs buying up large volumes of vitamins from Australian supermarkets and big box outlets such as Chemist Warehouse, and then selling them online on e-commerce sites in China.

    But then regulatory uncertainty resulted in a pull-back. Chinese tourists and exporters changed their buying patterns and the Australian market became much more competitive, with high levels of stock left in warehouses, which blunted the speed of replacement orders.

    Rival Swisse was acquired in two tranches for a total of $1.7 billion in 2015 and 2016 by a company now called Health & Happiness, which changed its name from Biostime International.

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  • Coca-Cola Amatil-owned fruit brand SPC to enter China market in 4500 stores

    Coca-Cola Amatil-owned fruit brand SPC to enter China market in 4500 stores

    Managing director Reg Weine said that its premium Goulburn Valley 700g fruit range, SPC snack cups and pouch ranges, and IXL jam would be the first products to enter stores.

    SPC’s snack cups are already available on online retailer JD.com and Weine said the full range of SPC, Goulburn Valley and IXL products will progressively be available across major online and offline retailers in China.

    In end-January, SPC finalised an agreement with China State Farm Agribusiness (CSFA) Shanghai to export SPC, Goulburn Valley and IXL lines of processed fruit products to China.

    CSFA Shanghai, a wholly-owned subsidiary of China National Agriculture Development Group Corporation — one of China’s largest agribusiness conglomerates — will be “master distributor” of SPC’s brands and product lines in China.

    “It takes significant time and resources to build brands in overseas markets, which is why we are partnering with China’s leading agricultural firm. Their enviable track record of successfully bringing premium foreign brands to China is very attractive to us,”​ said Weine

    Marketing to middle class​

    He added that CSFA Shanghai had the dedicated personnel and sales and marketing support that SPC needed to build its brands, as well as the distribution capability to reach China’s burgeoning middle class.

    At the signing ceremony, he said, “It’s about taking our market-leading brands into markets where provenance plays a part and there is a large enough consumer segment that is affluent and willing to pay a premium for Australian produce.”​

    To this end, they have engaged Chinese singer and actress Ye Yiqian, who as a “deep connection with aspirational Chinese consumers”​ to be brand ambassador.

    Extensive distribution ​

    Weine confirmed that the exported fruit products will be available in over 4,500 premium retail and mother and baby stores, which he said will provide a considerable market for the company’s products.

    “We will have a strong presence in bricks-and-mortar retailing ​— including Alibaba’s HEMA retail outlets, Ole supermarkets and mother and baby chain Kidswant,”​ he said.

    Initially, they will be in China’s tier one cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Tianjin, and later will include Shenzhen and Chongqing.

    The products will also be carried by leading e-commerce platforms such as such as JD.com, Kaola, and Alibaba’s T-Mall.

    Asian expansion​

    Said Weine, “This hopefully will only be the beginning of our relationship with Chinese consumers.”​

    He emphasised that China represents a significant business opportunity for SPC in the years ahead, with its processed fruit market five times that of Australia.

    Among further plans for expansion, Weine said SPC’s ProVital, functional and fortified fruit products in accessible packaging, will also appeal to China’s ageing population.

    In the vast Asia Pacific region, aside from China, SPC already exports to Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Pacific islands and the Middle East.

    In February, SPC will also be launching its Perfect Fruit frozen fruit whip dessert in India and, shortly after, to Japan as well.

    Coca-Cola Amatil-owned SPC is the largest producer of premium packaged fruit and vegetables in Australia, processing about 150,000 tonnes of fruit a year. Its products include processed and packed fruit, vegetables, spreads and jams, prepared meals, snack foods, sauces and condiments.

    CSFA Shanghai already has established business relationships with several Australian companies including A2 Milk and Stanbroke Premium Beef. The company will organise staff and carry out sales and marketing to build SPC’s product brands in China.

  • Starbucks Korea issues CPs to speed up domestic expansion

    Starbucks Korea issues CPs to speed up domestic expansion

    Starbucks Korea recently issued commercial papers worth 30 billion won (US$28.07 million), possibly to further speed up its domestic expansion, according to news reports on Feb. 19.

    Seattle-based Starbucks is the nation’s No. 1 specialty coffee chain with about 1,100 outlets, followed by rival CJ’s A Twosome Place with 910 outlets. Its revenue hit the 1 trillion won mark last year for the first time as a coffee chain brand here.

    The Korean unit, a 50:50 joint venture with local retail giant Shinsegae Group, last year opened 130 new outlets nationwide, spending about 100 billion won. Sources said the firm is seeking to raise funds possibly to open about 150 new stores this year as part of its aggressive expansion plans.

    “We will continue to expand our presence here like we did last year,” a company spokesperson said. “We cannot confirm any details of the CPs now.”

    According to industry watchers, Starbucks Korea is issuing CPs as it has reduced its debt over the past years thanks to strong earnings. In the early years, the firm issued CPs to fund the expansion. Its debt reached more than 60 billion won five years ago but the figure dropped to 4 billion won by the end of last year.

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  • The Macallan pursues ‘Quest’ with global travel retail rollout

    The Macallan pursues ‘Quest’ with global travel retail rollout

    The Macallan Quest Collection has launched in global travel retail following a month-long exclusive tie-up with DFS Group at Singapore Changi Airport.

    Quest, unveiled to members of the press during TFWA WE, initially launched across all four of Changi’s terminals in January and will now be available on-shelf at key airports globally.

    A giant, rotating bottle cut-out display housed in an illuminated diamond-shaped glass showcases Quest’s four different expressions at Changi.

    As part of the promotion, shoppers were taught more about the collection via interactive displays that emphasised the cask story and flavour of the four expressions.

    This twinned with food pairings and complimentary postcards to act as an additional incentive to purchase.

    Brooke Supernaw, Senior Vice President, Spirits, Wine & Tobacco at DFS Group, commented: “The Macallan Quest Collection embodies the innovation, storytelling and dedication to quality which have made The Macallan such a powerful brand in the single malt category.

    “This partnership and exclusive launch are especially significant for DFS, as we continue our own quest to offer fresh, engaging and exciting experiences to delight travelling customers at our airport and downtown stores around the world.”

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  • Visa now accepted at all 7-Eleven stores nationwide

    Visa now accepted at all 7-Eleven stores nationwide

    Visa, the world’s leader in digital payments, announced the complete rollout of credit card acceptance at all 7-Eleven convenience stores nationwide.

    Expanding acceptance points is crucial to the National ePayment Plan and will help accelerate Thailand on the journey to become a full-fledged digital economy. The program was first piloted last year in selected 7-Eleven stores with high tourist traffic and has since gradually branched out across the country.

    Suripong Tantiyanon, Country Manager, Visa Thailand said: “The partnership between Visa, Thai Smart Card and 7-Eleven is an important chapter in the digital transformation of commerce in Thailand. It is an exciting milestone for our cardholders, who can now pay with any Visa credit card, including contactless, when shopping at 7-Eleven. It is a great opportunity for more people to experience the convenience and security of digital payments.”

  • Tesco UK to tackle food waste with new Colleague Shops

    Tesco UK to tackle food waste with new Colleague Shops

    Grocery and general merchandise retailer Tesco is set to introduce ‘Colleague Shops’ in all its UK stores to give employees the opportunity to take food approaching its expiry date, as part of its wider work to prevent good food from going to waste.

    Dedicated storage areas and fridges will be set up in back-of-store employee rooms to safely store quality food on its use by or best before date, and has the added benefit of helping to reduce food waste.

    The company said the move is part of Tesco’s on-going drive to ensure that no food safe for human consumption will go to waste in its UK retail operations by the end of 2017/18. Colleague Shops will form an additional part of Tesco’s established approach to managing stock in store which includes using sophisticated systems to predict and order the amount of food that customers are expected to buy in stores.

    Additionally, the price of products are ‘reduced-to-clear’ as they approach their expiry date to minimise surplus. If food cannot be sold, it’s offered to local charities and community food groups via Tesco’s surplus food redistribution initiative, Community Food Connection. However, charities don’t always need everything offered to them, so any food left over will now be made available to Tesco staff.

    Tesco’s head of food waste reduction Mark Little said: “We want to do everything we can to make sure perfectly good food doesn’t go to waste. Our Colleague Shops are a win-win, providing an additional step to support our efforts to tackle food waste in our own operations and offer colleagues an extra little help at the end of their shift.”

    Colleague Shops will be introduced to Tesco stores by the end of February. The surplus food will initially be made available for 1p before becoming free of charge in a few months’ time.

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  • China in strong growth on the organic front

    China in strong growth on the organic front

    During the last ten years organic sales have doubled in Denmark and have accounted for 9,7 percent of all groceries sold, the Danish newspaper Berlingske say. That places Denmark to be the top number one country in the world with the largest organic share of retail trade. Now China is catching up and is ranked fourth since organic food was traded for 44 billion Danish crowns in 2017.

    Globally organic trading accounted for 540 billion Danish crowns in 2016, according to the international report “The World of Organic Agriculture” which was published at this year’s BioFach in Nürnberg, Germany. USA is still by far the largest organic market globally with a turnover of 290 billion Danish crowns in 2016.

    Organic production is a rapidly developing business area with a great market. And now might be the time to throw an extra glance at organic export to China, – a market in strong growth.

     

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  • Imported beer sales at convenience stores on rise

    Imported beer sales at convenience stores on rise

    Sales of imported beer at South Korean convenience stores have risen sharply, store operators Sunday, as more consumers opt for variety and a growing number of people drink at home.

    BGF Retail Co., the operator of CU, South Korea’s largest convenience store chain, said sales of foreign beer brands accounted for 60.2 percent of the total in the two months of this year.

    The figure has steadily increased from 58.3 percent in 2015, with numbers surpassing the 60 percent mark for the first time ever.

    Industry insiders said the rise of single-person households also boosted the trend of demand for light alcoholic beverages. This has resulted in rising demand for imported beer sales at discount chains and convenience stores.

    “A total of US$250 million worth of beer were imported last year to set a new record,” said a CU official, noting that discounts on imported beer have also reduced the price gap with domestic beers.

    Local convenience stores have recently offered aggressive price promotions for foreign beers to meet strong demand for various flavors beyond the lager-dominated domestic brands.

     

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  • Spanish wine made for Asia

    Spanish wine made for Asia

    The practice of dining together and sharing plates is something Asian and Spanish cultures have in common.

    So Spanish winemaker Alejandro Garcia Lopez, director of Rioja winery Vina Pomal, wanted to make a wine to suit the shared dining experience in Asia. He created the Vina Pomal Edicion Limitada 2012, which will be sold exclusively in Asian markets, including Singapore, China, Japan and Indonesia.

    “In Asia, you have different profiles of food with spices, flavours and aromas, so to complement that, I wanted to make a special-edition wine with a good structure and body, and the potential to age,” he tells The Sunday Times during a promotional trip in Singapore last week. “We also wanted the wine to be easy to pair with food.”

    Vina Pomal is the flagship label of Bodegas Bilbainas, one of Rioja’s oldest wine estates. Only 10,000 bottles of the Edicion Limitada – made of 100 per cent Tempranillo grapes – have been produced.

    The grapes are sourced from only old vines that are between 45 and 55 years old and planted in the clay and limestone soil typical of the region. Some of the land on which they are grown has been worked by the winery since 1904.

    The climate of the Riojan capital of Haro, where the winery is located, is also influenced by the Atlantic Ocean, which lies 160km to the north.

    “So the grapes have a really long ripening process because of the climate, which makes the tannins very soft,” Mr Lopez, 40, says.

    The grapes are handpicked from three different vineyards – they add up to no more than 2ha of land – within the 250ha property. Each vineyard contributes a different quality, including fruitiness and minerality, to the blend.

    Even the ageing process had to be tailored to these grapes. Since the grapes were from old vines, Mr Lopez decided to age the wine in French oak barrels instead of American ones that are typically used for Rioja wines. For Edicion Limitada, 70 per cent of the wine is aged in new oak barrels and the remainder in barrels that have been used for a year.

    French oak, Mr Lopez notes, results in a wine “with more structure and flavours like tobacco, wood and spices”.

    After 18 months in the barrel, the wine spends another year ageing in the bottle.

    The result is a deeply aromatic Rioja with black fruits and spiced flavours on the nose, and a velvety soft texture and long finish on the palate. Even though Edicion Limitada has spent six years ageing, the wine still tastes fresh.

    It also does not adhere strictly to Rioja’s wine classification, which is based on how long the wine spends in the barrel. One that is labelled Rioja spends only a few months in oak before it is bottled, while Gran Reserva must be aged in oak for at least two years and then spend three more years in the bottle.

    But Mr Lopez did not want to feel restricted when creating the Edicion Limitada.

    “We wanted to feel free as winemakers to do what the wine needs, not what the rules require,” he says.

    While the wine can be drunk immediately, he adds that it also has great ageing potential.

    “It is made of a selection from our best vineyards and, because it spends such a long time in the barrel and bottle, it can also be opened in the next 10 to 20 years,” he says.

    Vina Pomal Edicion Limitada 2012 has a recommended retail price of $85 and can be ordered from its distributor, Singapore Beverages, or at Cellarbration stores in Circular Road, Seletar Mall, Ubi Road and Marina Square.

  • Mondelez Malaysia Wins Regional Award for Halal Excellence

    Mondelez Malaysia Wins Regional Award for Halal Excellence

    Mondelez Malaysia, part of Mondelēz International and owner of iconic brands such as Cadbury Dairy Milk, Toblerone, Oreo, Chipsmore and Twisties recently won the Best Halal Chocolate Bar under Heritage Brand for its Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolates at the Asia Halal Brand Awards 2017 (AHBA). The prestigious award recognises the company’s long-term legacy in making Halal Cadbury chocolates in Malaysia and catering to the local consumers, with its commitment in manufacturing processes and supply chains that are internationally-compliant and halal-certified. Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolates are certified Halal by Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (JAKIM) since 2004.

    Swadheen Sharma, Managing Director of Mondelez Malaysia said, “2017 has been an outstanding year for Mondelez Malaysia and being recognised as a prominent Halal brand not only further validates our position, but also demonstrates our continued responsibility towards meeting consumer needs and preferences. We understand how important Halal is to our consumers. Ensuring that all our products made here in Malaysia are Halal is something that we take very seriously.”

    The Asia Halal Brand Awards 2017 (AHBA) aims at promoting prominent Halal brands in Asia that elevate the significance of the brands in the global market. Mondelez Malaysia was awarded because of its stringent manufacturing process to ensure the highest standard of quality, while being compliant to the Halal guidelines. All Mondelez products in Malaysia are certified Halal by JAKIM and 20 percent of products manufactured here are exported to 16 countries worldwide.

    Mondelez Malaysia reinforced its focus on Halal by strengthening its collaborations with authorities and certification bodies, including Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC), as well as carrying out proactive audits on its products. These initiatives have collectively strengthened consumers’ confidence in Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolates as a Halal-certified product.

    Mondelez Malaysia maintained its strong presence in the country in three core categories; chocolate, biscuit and salty snacks. Currently ranked number one in the biscuits category and number two share position in Salty Snacks and a sizeable Candy business, the owner of famous brands such as Cadbury Dairy Milk and Cadbury 5 Star is confident that it would gain back its category leadership in chocolates because of its strong plans and execution roadmaps.

    “Mondelez Malaysia’s positive growth in the chocolate category is driven by our product innovation and portfolio diversification. Over the years, we have had great success with the new products we introduced to the market, such as Marvellous Creations, Cadbury Honey Comb & Nuts, Cadbury 5 Star and Cadbury Dairy Milk Oreo to suit the Malaysian consumers’ taste. These efforts are important for us to keep up with the evolving needs of consumers, while catering to a variety of taste profiles and flavour preferences,” said Vikram Karwal, Associate Director Marketing Chocolates SEA.

    The market will continue to be uncertain in view of the changing dynamic of consumers’ purchasing habits. In sustaining this leadership, Mondelez will focus on building excellence in its sales execution to drive category growth. This includes even deeper partnerships with retailers to improve the shopping experience, faster speed to market, improved freshness and availability.

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  • Jollibee craves for more stake in Smashburger

    Jollibee craves for more stake in Smashburger

    Jollibee Foods Corporation has agreed to acquire an extra 45 per cent of the US Smashburger brand for US$100 million, giving it a controlling stake of 85 per cent.

    “Jollibee has been an invaluable strategic partner,” says Smashburger co-founder/CEO Tom Ryan.

    His company last year launched and sold nearly 2 million Triple Double Burgers, setting record levels of mix, sales and traffic. The company also launched the Smash Pass, a subscription-based loyalty program.

    Smashburger CFO Bradford Reynolds says Jollibee’s majority stake in Smashburger positions the brand for continued growth, particularly in Southeast Asia.

    As well as beef and turkey burgers, Smashburger offers grilled or crispy chicken sandwiches, black-bean burgers, salads, side items and hand-spun Haagen-Dazs shakes. For each market, the menu includes locally inspired items as well as local craft beer. Launched in 2007, the chain now has more than 360 corporate and franchise restaurants in 38 states and nine countries.

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