Retail News CRM

Tag: Frozen food

  • Huat Lai Launches Five Frozen Poultry Products Under Little Farmer Brand

    Huat Lai Launches Five Frozen Poultry Products Under Little Farmer Brand

    Huat Lai Resources Berhad launched Little Farmer in Malaysia in October 2026, entering the retail frozen poultry category with five value-added chicken products processed from its domestic farming network.

    The company is Malaysia’s largest supplier of Certified Humane cage-free eggs and one of the country’s biggest integrated poultry producers, giving the new consumer label immediate upstream supply support.

    The Initial Five-Product Retail Lineup

    Little Farmer debuts with Shiok Mamak Drumettes, standard Chicken Drumettes, Japanese Crispy Chicken Bites, Tempura Nuggets, and Tempura Nuggets Smokey Cheese. The lineup targets home cooks and quick-meal shoppers through supermarket freezer aisles, carrying the sub-brand tagline “Farm Goodness by Huat Lai”.

    Packaging across the range highlights “Nenek Approved” branding alongside the producer’s farm heritage. The push takes Huat Lai directly into value-added, packaged processed meats, a segment that commands higher margins than wholesale fresh broilers and commodity table eggs.

    Value-Added Processing vs Commodity Poultry

    Upstream livestock producers across Southeast Asia face steady margin pressure from volatile feed grain imports and local retail price controls on standard fresh chicken. Moving into cooked and breaded frozen meats lets producers capture processing margins that commodity wholesale contracts do not provide.

    Retail buyers in Malaysia have allocated more freezer space to local, halal-certified processed foods as shoppers look for convenient meal options. Little Farmer enters a competitive shelf already contested by established regional brands, meaning shelf velocity and distribution reach will matter more than brand heritage alone.

    Farm Integration and Certification History

    Huat Lai built its market position as an early adopter of commercial cage-free egg facilities in Southeast Asia, securing third-party animal welfare certification for its layer operations. That farming scale provides complete traceability for its meat processing lines.

    Controlling feed, breeding, and processing under one corporate umbrella protects product consistency across the new retail line. It also allows Huat Lai to absorb wholesale supply fluctuations that pure-play food packagers must buy through open contracts.

    Retail Expansion to Watch

    The company is deploying Little Farmer across Malaysian grocers and modern trade outlets through the final quarter of 2026. Store distribution numbers and potential category extensions into raw chilled cuts will determine how much supermarket market share the brand takes in 2027.

  • Streets Partners with Bluey to Launch Frozen Treat in Australia

    Streets Partners with Bluey to Launch Frozen Treat in Australia

    Streets, part of The Magnum Ice Cream Company, has partnered with children’s television series Bluey to launch Streets Bluey Frozen Treat across Australia in September 2026.

    The rollout follows research commissioned by Streets showing 79 per cent of parents would rather their children remember everyday moments together, while more than half enforce rules around eating ice cream.

    Mixed Berry Format Targets Supermarket Freezers

    Shoppers will find the Streets Bluey Frozen Treat in Australian grocery aisles as a single-serve item and a multi-pack mixed berry ice-block. BBC Studios manages global commercial rights for the Brisbane-created show. Over the past four years, the animation brand has expanded across multiple consumer packaged goods categories.

    For The Magnum Ice Cream Company, the range broadens its impulse and family-pack presence in Australian supermarkets and convenience stores. Licensing proven intellectual property helps frozen treat makers defend shelf space without inventing categories from scratch.

    Research Points to Spontaneous Consumption Habits

    Research firm Pureprofile surveyed 1,000 Australian parents ahead of the launch. More than half of respondents set strict rules on when children can eat ice cream. Only 37 per cent allow unsupervised treats.

    Survey findings also show 79 per cent of parents prefer everyday shared moments with their children over major holidays. Another 28 per cent report having less unplanned family time than in past years. The marketing team aims to tap this dynamic directly at store checkout displays.

    Three-City Activation Precedes Broader Distribution

    Agency 1000heads ran the initial campaign across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. The push started with direct doorstep deliveries to more than 40 households across the three eastern capitals to seed social media chatter.

    Production firm Rockstar built a live activation site in Brisbane featuring Bluey and Bingo character appearances alongside a national morning television broadcast. The event aimed to drive shopper footfall to freezer aisles during early spring trade.

    Licensing Strategies Reshape impulse Buying

    Character licensing has become a key defensive tactic for ice cream makers competing with private labels. Australian supermarket chains continue to expand their store-brand dessert ranges, pushing tier-two names off prime shelf space.

    Securing major domestic properties gives manufacturers better use when negotiating promotional pricing and front-of-store freezer space with supermarket giants. Streets will monitor initial sell-through rates across east coast stores through the fourth-quarter summer peak.

  • Peters Ice Cream Launches Lotus Biscoff Frozen Range in 2 Formats

    Peters Ice Cream Launches Lotus Biscoff Frozen Range in 2 Formats

    Peters Ice Cream partnered with Belgian brand Lotus Bakeries in September 2026 on a co-branded frozen dessert line in Australia. The rollout covers two initial formats.

    Both lines combine the speculoos biscuit brand with frozen dairy to contest freezer space in supermarkets and convenience outlets.

    Two Formats for Australian Freezers

    The range includes the Biscoff Sandwich and a 425ml tub. In the sandwich, Biscoff-flavoured frozen dessert sits between two whole biscuits. The tub blends a frozen base with biscuit pieces and Biscoff spread.

    Dessert makers increasingly turn to co-branding to secure retail distribution quickly. It bypasses years of building flavour equity from scratch. For Peters, Lotus Bakeries brings established recognition from bakery aisles to drive impulse purchases in the freezer.

    Rivalry in the Premium Freezer Aisle

    This deal pits Peters against Unilever and private-label rivals selling licensed snack flavours in Australian grocery aisles. Freezer space is tight. Supermarket buyers regularly drop slow-moving stock keeping units to make room for high-turnover co-branded products.

    Lotus Bakeries expands its Asia-Pacific freezer reach via local manufacturing deals. Brand licensing lets the Belgian baker step outside ambient biscuit aisles. It avoids building regional cold-chain plants.

    Prior Brand Crossovers

    Earlier crossover projects paired Peters’ Maxibon label with heritage confectionery and ice cream flavours to gauge demand before full production runs. The Lotus partnership expands that strategy into year-round tub and sandwich sales rather than seasonal novelty releases.

    Supermarket buyers are tracking early sell-through rates on the 425ml tub format as grocers finalise upcoming summer freezer planograms.

  • Mr Chen’s Launches Three Multi-Serve Frozen Meal Kits

    Mr Chen’s Launches Three Multi-Serve Frozen Meal Kits

    Mr Chen’s expanded its frozen grocery lineup with the launch of three multi-serve meal kits in September 2026. The brand designed each pack to cook in 15 minutes and serve two people.

    The rollout targets dinner occasions with three takeaway-style recipes: Chicken Chow Mein Noodles, Korean Style Beef Noodles, and Chinese Chicken Fried Rice. The format shifts the brand beyond single-serve snacks and dumplings into complete dinner solutions.

    Component packaging for frozen dinner kits

    Each kit uses segregated interior packaging to keep proteins, carbohydrates, vegetables, and sauces separate until cooking. This structure avoids the texture degradation common in pre-mixed frozen ready meals during pan preparation.

    The supplier aims to capture consumers seeking quick evening meals without ordering restaurant delivery. Supermarket freezer space in Australia has historically concentrated multi-serve meal kits in Western and Italian categories such as pasta and bakes, leaving Asian recipes under-represented in larger formats.

    Shifting space in supermarket freezers

    For supermarket buyers at Coles and Woolworths, multi-serve Asian meals offer a higher register ring than traditional individual dumplings. Frozen grocery categories have seen steady volume gains as shoppers manage household food budgets against rising dining-out costs.

    Suppliers face execution hurdles in maintaining vegetable crispness and protein tenderness across commercial cold chains. Maintaining ingredient integrity across frozen distribution networks remains the primary barrier to repeated customer purchases in premium frozen food.

    Evolution from dim sum specialist

    Mr Chen’s built its retail distribution across Australian grocers by establishing a foothold in frozen yum cha items, gyoza, and steamed buns. Expanding into centre-of-plate meal kits represents an effort to command broader shelf space within the frozen aisle.

    Retail buyers will track initial sell-through rates across metropolitan stores over the coming quarter to determine whether the two-serve meal format justifies dedicated permanent shelf allocation.

  • Destination Italy Adds Two Frozen Pizza Lines Across Australia and New Zealand

    Destination Italy Adds Two Frozen Pizza Lines Across Australia and New Zealand

    Destination Italy expanded its frozen pizza lineup across Australia and New Zealand on September 7, 2026, launching two Italian-made varieties into regional supermarket freezers.

    Made in Italy, Woodfired Puttanesca and Woodfired Salame ship directly to Australian and New Zealand retailers catering to demand for imported convenience meals.

    Ingredients and Recipe Formats

    The Woodfired Puttanesca pizza uses a traditional tomato and mozzarella base topped with black olives, capers, and oregano. Woodfired Salame pairs that same base with sliced salami, produced in Italy before frozen transport.

    Both products rely on Italian-baked woodfired crusts to stand out from local alternatives. The format targets shoppers who want regional recipes without paying foodservice prices.

    Premium Competition in the Freezer Aisle

    Major grocers across Australia and New Zealand have steadily reallocated freezer space to imported and specialty private-label items over the past three years. Mainstream frozen pizzas face ongoing margin compression. That pressure has prompted distributors to push higher-value imported SKUs onto shelves.

    For retailers, imported lines offer higher basket values in a category historically dominated by discount domestic labels. Cold-chain freight costs and exchange-rate swings between the euro and the Australian dollar remain key operational hurdles, squeezing margins when shipping volumes fluctuate.

    Retail Distribution Timelines

    Destination Italy built its initial ANZ footprint around core woodfired SKUs before widening the range with specialized regional flavor profiles. Across the supermarket frozen sector, brands are taking similar premium routes, using origin-certified manufacturing to defend shelf share.

    Supermarkets will roll out the two new varieties across national freezer networks through the remainder of the month.

  • Coles rolls out Netflix favourites-inspired frozen food range

    Coles rolls out Netflix favourites-inspired frozen food range

    Coles has rolled out a range of frozen food products inspired by two of the most-watched Netflix shows: Stranger Things and Squid Game.

    The Netflix range includes Stranger Things-themed frozen pizzas, beef brisket BBQ patties, spicy wing nibbles and ice cream, and Squid Game-themed chicken nuggets and stuffed potato mashies.

    Available in two flavours, Rad Pepperoni and the Gnarly Hawaiian, the frozen pizzas are packaged in the same retro-designed boxes as The Surfer Boy Pizzas, the show’s pizzeria.

    Meanwhile, the four-pack beef brisket BBQ patties take inspiration from the show’s family-owned diner, Benny’s Burgers, and the Hellfire Club Spicy Wing Nibbles from the show’s Hawkins High School Society.

    The Stranger Things ice cream is available in 1-litre tubs in three flavours: Butterscotch, Cinnamon Buns Vanilla, and Cookie Pieces.

    The supermarket also launched a 9-pack BBQ chicken nuggets in the shape of triangles, circles, and squares inspired by Squid Game’s guard marks, alongside a 12-pack of Stuffed Potato Mashies with a red and green filling, playing on the red light, green light game from the show.

    Tim Lane, business category manager for frozen at Coles, said the company was thrilled to partner with the streaming service and bring new products inspired by its popular franchises.

    “We’re committed to working with suppliers to expand and diversify our product offering, and this innovative range draws on inspiration from the concepts and brands fans have seen throughout the shows,” said Lane.

  • Vietnam’s food processing industry an appetizing option for investors

    Vietnam’s food processing industry an appetizing option for investors

    With huge untapped potential and steady growth, Vietnam’s food processing industry promises much for foreign investors, officials say. In Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s biggest city, the food processing industry grew by 8.7 percent and the beverage production sector grew by 4.6 percent in the first ten months of this year, according to the municipal trade department.

    The industry’s products are sold at 2,280 convenience stores in the city, up 507 stores over 2017, it said.

    In the past five years, Vietnam’s annual consumption of processed food and beverages has grown at an average of 9.68 percent and 6.66 percent respectively, says data compiled by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

    In 2013-2017, the industrial production index grew by an average 6.8 percent per year for processed food and 9.7 percent for drinks, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai said at a recent seminar in HCMC.

    The country’s annual food consumption value is estimated to make up 15 percent of its gross domestic product, he said, adding that the figure is about to grow bigger thanks to higher annual incomes and the increasing trend of consuming ready-to-eat food, especially organic ones.

    In the first nine months this year, the consumption index grew by 8 percent and 10.2 percent against the same period last year for processed food and drinks, respectively, according to the Vietnam Report Joint Stock Company, a Hanoi-based market research and business assessment firm.

    The Business Monitor International (BMI) projected earlier this year that Vietnam’s food industry will grow by 10.9 percent each year between 2015 and 2020.

    Tran Kim Oanh, director of the Investment Promotion Center for Industry under the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency, said that in the 2010-2016 period, the number of companies operating in the sector made up two percent of the total, but their total revenue accounted for 7.3 percent, or $54 billion.

    With more than half of a population of 95 million of working age, Vietnam’s food processing industry has a lot of room to grow, said experts.

    Food and beverages currently account for the highest proportion of monthly consumer spending in Vietnam, accounting for about 35 percent of the total, she said.

    Opportunities

    Food processing is one of the industries Vietnam is giving priority to in its growth plans until 2025 with vision until 2035.

    Vu Van Chung, deputy head of the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said that so far, foreign investment in the food processing industry of Vietnam was $11.2 billion in 717 projects, excluding those formed through merger-acquisition deals.

    Most foreign investment has flowed into processing agricultural produce, seafood and producing beverages.

    The food processing industry in Vietnam is considered attractive thanks to tax preferential policies including an import tax exemption for technologies to upgrade the production chain in Vietnam.

    “Despite preferential policies for investors, Vietnam’s food processing industry has not been able to attract investments from markets that strong in this field, like Japan, the U.S., Australia and the EU,” Chung said.

    The biggest obstacle for the sector right now is that domestic material supply is unable to meet production chain demands.

    For example, domestic materials supply can only meet 25 percent of inputs for the dairy sector, and up to 90 percent of materials to make cooking oil is imported, he said.

    But deputy minister Hai was hopeful that things would improve when the free trade agreements that Vietnam has signed come into effect, opening a broader consumption market for investors in Vietnam in general and investors in the food processing industry in particular.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Royal Greenland to launch frozen range in Chinese retail

    Royal Greenland to launch frozen range in Chinese retail

    Royal Greenland is expanding its sales team in China, and preparing the launch of a frozen seafood range for retail.

    The company opened a sales office in Qingdao in its 2014/2015 financial year, in which it reported a record profit, with increasing frozen seafood sales in retail a target, CEO Mikael Thinghuus told.

    “We have had activities in China for a number of years, production and quality control, but also wholesale sales on a large scale. What we are talking about now is a sales office, directed to retail,” he said.

    The company is currently in Chinese retail with a few products based on the European assortment and packaging design, said Hanne Kvist, director of group market development and marketing.

    Royal Greenland has an expanded range in the works.

    “We are finalizing the assortment targeted at Chinese retail, but designs will not be revealed prior to launch. Key items will be based on coldwater shrimp and Greenland halibut,” she told.

    The timing is right for such a launch and focus, said Thinghuus.

    “My perception at least, is the Chinese retail market for frozen fish has changed quite a lot in the past four or five years. Some of our colleagues do a very good job on the frozen fish category on frozen fish. We think this is the right time to make this investment,” he told.

    The company’s 2014/2015 report states the sales office is focusing “exclusively on sales to retailers, and ultimately sales to consumers via e-commerce”.

    The 2014/2015 financial year has been used to prepare for the future retail sales by establishing the company, recruiting staff and developing the range, the report states.

    This is due to rising demand for Royal Greenland’s products in China and Taiwan, “which has resulted in increasing prices, to the benefit of both the company and the fishermen”, the report continues.

    The report notes that “Greenland halibut is a popular food in China”, and cuts of halibut can be found in most supermarkets in the northeastern part of the country.

    The increased sales to the retail segment have compensated for the slowdown in dining out.

    Royal Greenland’s ambition is “to establish itself as a strong brand in the awareness of Chinese consumers – and there seems to be considerable potential at the affluent end of the market, where there is a great demand for imported food”, the report states.

    In connection with this move, Zhifa Zhang, known as Tony, has been hired as sales manager responsible for retail sales, the report states.

    “We will make more hires, we already have made couple,” said Thinghuus.

    The sales team in China “work closely” with the company’s production and quality organization, sitting in the same offices in Qingdao, he said.

    Zhang will be working closely with Finn Laursen, sales director of Royal Greenland International, the report states.

    The company’s market development and marketing department in Svenstrup, Denmark “will draw up packaging and marketing plans for the Chinese market in cooperation with Chinese advertising agencies”, the report continues.

    In the 2014/2015 financial year, Royal Greenland for the first time achieved revenues of DKK 1 billion in Asia.

    Around half of this is attributable to the sales office in Japan, while the other half was achieved through sales by Royal Greenland International in China and other Asian countries, according to the report.

    The revenue growth of 18% was driven by price increases for the main species of Greenland halibut, shell-on coldwater shrimp and snow crab, the company said.

    The total growth in volume terms is only just below 1%. Asia now represents 23% of group revenue.

    In Japan, it remains difficult to increase sales in the wake of the many price increases, which were a necessary consequence of the devaluation of the Japanese Yen, but sales in local-currency have risen steadily, while earnings in the market are increasing.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook: