Fonterra adds new beverage division
Beverages made with yogurt, topped with cream cheese and mixed with cream are growing in popularity, which has given rise to the new division.
The company said almost 600m cups of tea and coffee are consumed out-of-home daily in the Asia Pacific region alone, a 22% increase on five years ago.
Dairy trend
General manager marketing, global foodservice, Susan Cassidy, said Beverage House will provide Anchor Food Professionals products to the growing number of modern coffee and tea houses, beverage kiosks and dessert bars.
“In Asia, consumers are moving from traditional ‘straight’ brews to drinks with dairy, as they look for a more indulgent way to enjoy their daily fix of coffee or tea,” Cassidy said.
The trend of adding dairy to more traditional beverages started in China with the tea macchiato, which is green tea topped with a mix of cream and cream cheese.
“This trend was really driven by youth and took off, with people queuing for hours to get the latest creation from their favorite tea house,” Cassidy said.
“We moved quickly and as a result, the tea macchiato alone grew the volume of our cream and cream cheese sales by 47% in the first half of the 2017/18 financial year.”
Focus on China
Since the start of 2018, Beverage House has sold more than 30,000 metric tonnes of product, enough to create the equivalent of more than 400m tea macchiatos.
“Beverage House has mainly been focussed on China so far, but the potential for growth in other markets is huge,” Cassidy said.
“We are now using what we’ve learnt to look at other markets where beverages with dairy are growing in popularity.”
Beverage House joins Fonterra’s existing foodservice channels: Quick Serve Restaurants, Italian Kitchen and Asian Bakery.
“Having a standalone channel within our foodservice business means we can be more targeted with the service we offer our beverage customers and gain a better understanding of changing consumer tastes and trends,” Cassidy added.
