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Give Dishes a Delicious Colour and Taste with Lee Kum Kee Cooking Caramel

By
Tan Heng Hong
-

8 February 2018

A must-have brand in the kitchen, Lee Kum Kee is introducing another quality product into its range of high quality sauces. The Lee Kum Kee Cooking Caramel is made using Class 1 Caramel, which is the highest grade and most natural of the four classes of caramel as it is minimally processed without any chemical compound added. It is also free from harmful 4-methylimidazole (4-MEI).

Manufactured to the strictest quality control standards and using only Class 1 Caramel, Lee Kum Kee Cooking Caramel does not contain added preservatives. With this assurance, consumers can have peace of mind while preparing their family’s favourite dishes.

Adding a dash of Lee Kum Kee Cooking Caramel enhances the colour of any dish and gives a subtle caramel aroma and flavour without overwhelming the taste buds with bitterness that often associated with caramel cooking sauce. It is also ideal for braised recipes where the cooking caramel gives a perfect deep reddish brown colour that makes the dish hard to resist.

This stringent quality requirement reinforces Lee Kum Kee – the inventor of oyster sauce and leader in authentic Chinese sauces – as an internationally recognised brand known for its quality sauces that enhance Chinese dishes, whether for home cooking with love or professionally prepared by chefs.

“The new Lee Kum Kee Cooking Caramel will help create tantalising looking dishes with rich colour while giving our consumers a peace of mind as it is safe and free from 4-MEI,” said May Lim, Managing Director South East Asia, Middle East, Africa and India of Lee Kum Kee (M) Sdn. Bhd.

“It is manufactured at our regional Halal-certified plant in Shah Alam and made from top grade ingredients with food safety being a top priority for us. At Lee Kum Kee we always strive to improve the quality of our sauces so that our consumers can enjoy safe, authentic flavours in their cooking,” added May.

Lee Kum Kee Cooking Caramel retails at RM5.50 (350ml) and RM10.50 (740ml) and is available at selected minimarkets, supermarkets and hypermarkets nationwide.

*Note To Editor: The 4-methylimidazole (4-MEI ) chemical compound is a byproduct that forms during the food manufacturing process when using lower grade caramel and long term consumption of 4-MEI is linked to lung cancer – a finding supported by a study by the National Toxicology Program in the United States.

 

Female Entrepreneurs Thriving on 11street

By
Tan Heng Hong
-
Sharon Goh, COO of IT Comp
  • 56% of the registered sellers on 11street are entrepreneurial women
  • 30% of the female entrepreneurs on 11street are selling Health & Beauty products
  • 7% of 11street’s female sellers are tapping into male-dominated categories including Home Electronics and Mobile, IT & Camera

11street (www.11street.my); Malaysia’s number two online marketplace, today announced that in 2017, 56% of its registered sellers were women’ selling products across various categories. This data was revealed in conjunction with International Women’s Day.

CEO of 11street, Hoseok Kim said: “Online shopping has proven to be a boon for female entrepreneurs and they are thriving in the e-commerce industry. The top category with the highest number of registered female sellers is in the health & beauty segment. 30% of the female entrepreneurs on 11street are selling cosmetics, fragrance, dietary supplements & tools, skin & personal care items online.”

The platform that first launched in Malaysia in 2015 has had a fierce vision to help sellers reach their full potential, particularly with female entrepreneurs through its seller development programs and the 11street Academy.

Hoseok Kim added, “On average, 11street’s sellers have witnessed an increase in sales revenue by 15% to 20% within six months of completing the courses under the 11street Academy, the nation’s first certified e-commerce certification platform. Many of the women entrepreneurs have outperformed the average benchmark, and some have even doubled or tripled their sales performance.”

CEO of 11street, Hoseok Kim

Agnes Chua from JOCOM who has an online grocer app on 11street has enjoyed a 300% growth since joining 11street. JOCOM is an integrated solution that connects rural farmers, traders and vendors with consumers via e-commerce. She started a business in e-commerce to allow herself more flexibility; a factor that is especially crucial to those balancing motherhood and other familial responsibilities, in addition to the advantage of being one’s own boss, as well as lower costs than starting a brick and mortar business. With support from 11street, Agnes has started to see the fruits of her labour come to life with the success that JOCOM is enjoying “Rather than competing with each other, why don’t we collaborate and forge a stronger outcome together?” she said.

Agnes Chua, Managing Director of JOCOM

Tapping into Male-Dominated Categories

In addition, 11street saw 7% of its female sellers tapping into the categories of large electronic appliances, camera, smartwatches & wearables, audio & gaming and home improvement. One notable female entrepreneur who has definitely broken the gender stereotypes of women in e-commerce industry is Chief Operating Officer of IT Comp, Sharon Goh. Interestingly, despite not having a background in IT, Sharon was savvy enough to foresee that e-commerce was the future trend and hopped onto the bandwagon.

In 2015, Sharon and IT Comp joined forces with 11street, a partnership that eventually helped her become one of the top players in a typically male-dominated category of sales on 11street’s marketplace: Mobile, IT & Electronics

Director of the N4 Camera Store Sdn Bhd, Ong Mei Jye also spoke about how e-commerce changed her business and her life. “I have found greater opportunities in providing consumer digital products and services online, like a steadier growth and wider possibilities at the lowest cost. By partnering with online marketplaces, including 11street, the N4 Camera Store has successfully achieved a turnover of 20% in our group business and I am positive to see more growth in the e-commerce sector,” Ong said.  

BRAND’S InnerShine growing at double-digit

By
Tan Heng Hong
-
(L-R) Kuang Ming Ming, General Manager, BRAND’S® Suntory (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd with InnerShine® Brand Amb assador, Siti Saleha

We spoke to Kuang Ming Ming, General Manager of BRAND’S Suntory Malaysia, on the sideline of the appointment of the Malaysian actress Siti Saleha as the new brand ambassador for BRAND’S InnerShine Prune Essence with Vitamin E. We asked her about BRAND’S Suntory products and their brand positioning in Malaysia.

According to Kuang, the flagship BRAND’S Essense of Chicken comes under the health segment and consumers drink it for health reason. The BRAND’S InnerShine range, meanwhile, falls under the beauty segment. The philosophy of InnerShine is beauty from within rather than external, natural goodness and is 100% plant-based without the addition of chemicals.

InnerShine is growing at a double-digit rate and the trend is still continuing, said Kuang.

For products targeting the mind, BRAND’S Suntory Malaysia has BRAND’S Essense of Chicken and Ca’ya. She explained Ca’ya Habbatus Sauda and Ginseng not only gives you energy but also ginseng also gives you the mental alertness.

Ca’ya Habbatus Sauda and Ginseng, first launched in 2016, is a product that focuses on the health aspect and is a non-essence of chicken-based drink, according to Kuang. She explained “Ca’ya is a ginseng drink product that is anchored towards people that perhaps would choose to go for non-animal based products.” Kuang added Ca’ya is “gaining traction among the Chinese and Malays” but revealed Malay is still the biggest consumer. For consumers in Malaysia, Kuang alluded “BRAND’S has a certain credibility and is very big in ginseng not in Malaysia but in Taiwan.”

The company does have Malay and Indian consumers for BRAND’S Essense of Chicken but the majority of the consumers are still Chinese and Kuang attributed this to the “Chinese tradition and culture” of drinking essence of chicken.

Real Good UHT milk reports 3.9% volume growth

By
Tan Heng Hong
-

Japfa Ltd reported a 3.9% full year growth in volume sales of its Real Good brand of UHT milk products, according to the company’s latest FY2017 financial results.

Sales volume of Real Good UHT fell 18% in the first half of 2017, according to Japfa’s 1H 2017 financial results. The company attributed this to weaker purchasing power citing falling retail sales.

This poor performance in the first half of 2017 stood in contrast with a 19% growth in sales volume for the January-December 2016 period, according to the FY2016 investor presentation. In 2015, sales volume of Real Good UHT milk jumped 30% year-on-year.

The launch of the Real Good UHT milk in flexible plastic pouch with sweet cheese, strawberry cereal and chocolate cereal flavours in 2017 must have stimulated demand and helped to returned volume sales to a positive territory in 2017. The milk in flexible plastic pouch is the first of its kind in Indonesia and offers an alternative to the existing pillow pouch format.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hLLCnpICUY

The flexible pouch can be microwaved to reheat, chilled in the refrigerator or soaked in hot water with a temperature of 70°C.

 

Greenfields opens 2nd dairy farm, enters small pack UHT market

By
Tan Heng Hong
-

PT Greenfields Indonesia, a unit of Japfa Limited, has officially opened its second dairy farm in the country. Located at Wlingi, Blitar in east Java, the farm will have 7,266 dairy cows with a capacity to produce 2.2 million litres of milk per month by the end of 2018, reported Kompas.com.

2020 target

By the end of 2019, the capacity will increase to 9,264 dairy cows with a production capacity of 3.8 million litres of milk per month. The target will subsequently increase to 10,000 dairy cows by the end of 2020 with a monthly production capacity of 4.1 million litres of milk.

Meeting rising demand for fresh milk

The new farm is aimed at meeting rising demand for fresh milk in Indonesia, said Edgar Collins, CEO AustAsia Dairy Group. He said the group contributed as much as 5% of the total fresh milk produced locally in 2018 and with the full operation of the new farm, this share will rise to 10%, said Collins.

Greenfields Indonesia might open its third dairy farm in the coming two years but it depends on demand, added Collins.

The company’s first dairy farm is located in Babadan, Malang.

Location of the two Greenfields dairy farms

Entering UHT small packs

The dairy firm has recently introduced UHT milk in smaller sizes of 250ml and 200ml as UHT small pack is deemed a big market in the country, said Darmanto Setiawan, Head of Manufacturing PT Greenfield Indonesia as cited by Kompas.com.

Image from Greenfields Indonesia website

He also added at the moment, the highest sales is pasteurised milk at 65%.

What Mini Me thinks

The focus on small pack UHT milk is a significant development  for Greenfields. UHT is the largest segment in the Indonesian dairy market and the key consumers are mainly children and young adults. There will be a change in strategy with more emphasis on marketing to children and young adults going forward.

 

 

Chitato sports new packaging to maximise flavour authenticity

By
Tan Heng Hong
-

Indofood’s Chitato potato crisp is now sporting a new packaging to maximise the authenticity of its flavours. The packaging features a split view design with the image of the flavour on the left represented by the depiction of the actual food and on the right is the image of the chips.

The image below is the old Chitato packaging where the flavour is represented in the form of a graphic design.

The marketing does not stop here. Chitato encourages consumers to pair its crisps with other foodstuffs such as ice cream, pancakes or martabak, a roti-like stuffed fried flatbread.

We have seen other snack food companies channeling their marketing to encourage their consumers to experiment with other ways of eating snacks. In Thailand, Lay’s offered combo meal sets featuring its chips at the inaugural Tesco Lotus expo at IMPACT’s Challenger Hall in late 2017.

Lay’s booth at the inaugural Tesco Lotus expo at IMPACT’s Challenger Hall. Photographed by the author.

Perhaps snack food companies can work with the foodservice industry to use their snacks as garnish or for new meal creations?

Chitato unusual flavours Fried Crab Golden Egg Yolk and Mango Sticky Rice

By
Tan Heng Hong
-

Potato crisp innovation is all about texture and new flavour (sometimes unusual). Indofood has launched three unique flavours based on the creations of its users as part of its #ChitatoDoUsAFlavor contest. The three flavours are Fried Crab Golden Egg Yolk (created by Seifi Yanny), Mango Sticky Rice (by Alia Wijia) and Beef Rendang (by Arif).

The contest duration is from 19 April 2017 to 31 July 2017. The contest is divided into four phases.

  • Phase 1 – Submission of new flavour
  • Phase 2 – Selection by internal juries
  • Phase 3 – The final winner will be selected among the final three shortlisted winners based on retail audit data from Nielsen Indonesia
  • Phase 4 – Announcement of the final winner

So far, it seems Fried Crab Golden Egg Yolk is leading.

Selfi Yanny claims on her new YouTube posting on 3 March 2018 that her Fried Crab Golden Egg Yolk is the winning taste.

Would salted egg yolk thrive as a new flavour in Indonesia? Already new food innovations are tapping into salted egg yolk or telur asin. A good example is the new KFC Salted Egg Chicken launched in early 2018 under the fast food chain’s Taste of Asia banner. The same product was also launched in Malaysia under a different name KFC Golden Egg Crunch for Chinese New Year.

Apart from KFC Salted Egg Chicken, there are other slated egg snacks like Blueduck from Bandung and local ei! It’s Salted Egg as well as fish skin chips from thebettertaste.id.

It seems salted egg flavour still has room to grow and it is advisable to ride the wave while it lasts.

 

belVita debuts in the Philippines focusing on wellness on-the-go breakfast

By
Tan Heng Hong
-

Mondelez Philippines has released belVita breakfast biscuit to target the on-the-go breakfast occasion. For a balanced breakfast, it is recommended to pair belVita with dairy products and fruits, said Princess Landicho, belVita Brand Manager.

Skipping breakfast and consuming breakfast outside of homes

The key pain point for consumers is the lack of time, which resulted in consumers skipping breakfast. Mondelez cited a study by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Journal in 2013 showing one out of 5 adults in the Philippines tend to skip breakfast. Another statistics points to the practice of eating breakfast outside of homes by 13% of households in the National Capital Region.

Such consumer habits suggest an opportunity for belVita to fill the gap as the healthy and convenient breakfast that is perfect for on-the-go.

Celebrity brand ambassador

Young celebrity couple Padilla Tatlonghari-Yuzon and Yael Yuzon are the brand ambassadors of belVita in the Philippines. They represent the urban consumers who are living a hectic and active lifestyle but still want to jumpstart their day with nutritious breakfast.

https://www.facebook.com/belVitaPH/videos/167455273888588/?t=1

The TVC in the Philippines is the repeat of the same approach used by belVita for the Malaysia and Indonesia markets featuring the young celebrity couple Bunga Citra Lestari from Indonesia and Ashraf Sinclair from Malaysia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwJz-RkpHpY

The breakfast biscuit was launched in China in 2015 and entered Indonesia and Malaysia in 2016. It is now available in more than 50 countries worldwide.

In the Philippines, belVita is available in two variants – Milk and Cereal, and Honey and Chocolate. BelVita is also purposely packaged to help consumers exercise portion control. It is available in a 4-pack box with a suggested retail price of PHP 30.50 (USD 0.57) and the single 20g pack worth PHP 8.25.

The belVita sold in the Philippines is made in the factory in Johor, Malaysia where it was recently expanded to serve the Southeast Asia market.

 

 

 

 

Anna Sapitan, Mondelez Philippines’ Marketing Manager for the Biscuits Category, said in press release that people are increasingly aware of “their well-being needs but are sometimes challenged by the lack of time to prepare and eat a balanced breakfast. Their preferences are evolving and they want snacks that are not only delicious but offer convenience and good nutrition. We see belVita entering the breakfast category by creating this new biscuit occasion.”

 

 

 

Milo drops health rating following pressure from health groups

By
Tan Heng Hong
-

In Australia and New Zealand, Nestle Oceania has come under pressure from health groups and has announced in early March 2018 that it would remove the 4.5 Health Star Rating from its Milo powder in the two countries. The Health Star Rating was removed “pending the outcome of the Government’s review of the Health Star Rating system,” said the company.

The 4.5 star rating is based on three teaspoons of Milo and 200ml of skim milk, said the company. However, the public health group Choice Australia claims, based on their survey, that only 13% of consumers use skim milk, while 55% use full cream milk and that would warrant giving Milo powder only a score of 2.5. If consumed on its own, the score is even lower at 1.5.

Controversy in Malaysia concerning “as prepared” basis

Recently in Malaysia, Nestle was embroiled in a controversy over the same issue. A viral video in early 2018 claimed Milo is simply “too sweet.” However, Nestlé (Malaysia) Berhad explains if Milo is properly mixed with water based on the recommended serving suggestion then the Milo will only contain 6% of sugar. However, Nestlé (Malaysia) Berhad senior nutritionist Nurul Iliani Ahmah said the 40% sugar content on the label is before being diluted in water. The Milo sold in Malaysia comes with the “pilihan lebih sihat” or (healthier choice logo).

We all know Malaysians do not tend to follow the recommended serving and many like to add sweetened condensed milk into their Milo.

The question is does the Malaysian Healthier Choice Logo (HCL) address the complex problem with “as prepared”? In Malaysia, the HCL guideline says malted or chocolate drink with up to 12g per serving (excluding lactose from milk) is considered a healthier choice. This is based on the criteria that a typical serving is 30g powder per sachet to be mixed with 200ml of water.

It is interesting to see what is the outcome of the review by the board of Health Star Rating and how it will affect the rating of Milo powder in Australia and New Zealand.

 

Greenfields now with a fresher look

By
Tan Heng Hong
-

Japfa Ltd, through its unit PT AustAsia Food, has introduced a new packaging for its milk in Indonesia and Singapore covering all sizes 1,890 ml, 1,000 ml, 500 ml and 200 ml. The new packaging injects a fresher image to the brand and comes with the message “Passion in every drop.”

Below is the old packaging featuring images of consumers on the front pack as cues.

Passion in every drop

With the “Passion in every drop” motto, the milk company aims to redirect consumer attention to how the milk is produced and its inherent freshness quality. According to Syahbantha Sembiring, Indonesia Country Head Marketing & Sales of PT AustAsia Food, the cows are not fed with growth hormones or given antibiotics to safeguard the quality of the milk, reported Kontan.co.id. The integrated farm in Malang also reduces the time to get the milk to consumers.

What Mini Me thinks

We have seen other integrated milk producers in the region with their own dairy farm like Malaysia-based The Holstein Milk Company Sdn Bhd (Farm Fresh) increasingly focusing their marketing message to emphasise their farm-to-fork approach to dairy farming. This approach also resonates with consumer desire for authenticity and transparency when it comes to the food they consume.

 

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