“Frutarom in a cup”: Firm showcases functional drink solutions as acquisition integration begins

The ingredient specialists told NutraIngredients it is starting a whole new dialogue with their customers.

“What’s going on? With Frutarom that’s a big question because there’s always stuff going on!” ​said Yoni Glickman, president of Natural Product Solutions at Frutarom.

Frutarom’s Vitafoods booth was turned into a tasting area, with the company showcasing its functional beverage line, including juices and coffees.

Acquisitions, acquisitions and more acquisitions

The company has made several business moves in the last couple of years, with Glickman saying one of the things Frutarom loves to do are acquisitions.

“Over the last couple of years, we looked at our food ingredients business, our flavours business is obviously key and significant to us also but we looked at the food ingredients business and said where are the areas that we believe we can bring added value to our customer base if we get more deeply involved in them,”​ Glickman said.

The areas identified were natural colours, food protection and also Frutarom Health.

It was in these areas that the company wanted to extend its product offerings and its geographical scale.

“So we focused on three areas and we went after them fairly, I would say, aggressively from an acquisition point of view because that’s the way we do business,” ​explained Glickman.

“We identify companies that look really good, buy a bunch of them, look at their product portfolio and see how we can integrate all of those businesses and that’s what we’ve done over the last year and a half”.​

Through this tactic, Frutarom has acquired companies in Eastern Europe and Spain, including Vitiva, Nutrafur and Ingrenat.

Glickman said he is surprised by the level of innovation coming from Eastern Europe recently.

Despite the company’s global growth, Glickman says Europe is where the heart is.

“Europe is our home base. We’re excited about the States and Asia but we have our strongest customer base in Europe.”​

With regard to Brexit, Glickman says it is not one of the company’s top concerns and, apart from the currency fluctuations, Frutarom are not worried about the stability of Great Britain.

“Do you know what’s great about this industry? People eat!” ​he said. “At the end of the day, people eat and drink, so it’s a stable industry overall”.​

Who knew curcumin could taste so good?

Infused with NovaSOL curcumin, ginseng and guarana, Frutarom’s drink provides an energy boost with a mango, orange and pineapple taste.

NovaSOL liquid curcumin is 185 times more bioavailable than a standard curcumin extract and is fully water and fat soluble.

Glickman says the main challenges with using curcumin are solubility, taste and low dosage.

As a result, Frutarom has worked on its innovation in flavours to be able to combat this problem.

“If we are approaching a customer, we don’t have to say ‘we have this ingredient but it tastes like.. I don’t know what!”​  he said.

“This is Frutarom in a cup! In here we have some scientifically based ingredients – which we have a relationship with a third-party company for – Frutarom natural flavours, Frutarom natural colours and some juice concentrates. We do the whole thing”.​

Glickman says the company’s passion lies in health and taste and bringing the two together, despite flavour masking being a challenging issue.

With the snacking craze becoming more and more popular, Frutarom believes it holds a good position in the market.

“If you’re talking about a millennial, who wants a fruit snack but also wants a cognitive boost, or an energy boost, then those are the solutions we are working on,” ​he explained. “A combination of dose forms, flavours, colours and active ingredients”.​

Glickman believes bars, fruits and beverages are the most popular functional ingredient vehicles at the moment.