Japan’s DyDo Group Holdings has revealed plans to fully own the current joint venture it has with Mamee Double-Decker in Malaysia. In the FY2019 2nd Quarter Financial Highlights, the Japanese firm said it will “dissolve its joint venture with Mamee and make the sales company a wholly owned subsidiary (planned for November 2019).”
In Malaysia, DyDo is shifting the brand towards “made-in-Japan” quality. The aim is to use premiumisation, Japanese quality and a focus on healthy products to turn around the business. The local product range Vida (Clear Cider, Minty Lime and Clear Lemon), Befine chilled yogurt drink and Yobick yogurt flavoured drink is reflective of this strategy.
So far, we have not seen DyDo maximising Malaysia as the halal hub for the Southeast Asia region as the company is probably still looking at ways to turnaround the local operation.
For the lucky few Malaysians have tried the Mamee Monster Ghost Pepper, across the Causeway, Mamee Double-Decker has come up with yet another new Mamee Monster. This time it is something dear to the heart of Singaporeans – Mamee Hainanese Chicken Rice Noodle Snack.
This ready-to-eat snack is said to be extra crunchy and has 20% more seasoning than the existing flavour. This Singapore-exclusive flavour, the first in Mamee’s 49 years of history, is only available until the middle of November 2019.
We are seeing brands increasingly celebrating and honouring local flavours as part of their innovation process. We expect to see more of these examples in the future.
Playmade by 丸作 is making its milk tea more nourishing with the new limited edition Carrot Tea Blend in Yakult or Smoothie style in Singapore. Available from 23 August 2019 to 12 September 2019, the carrot series is meant for “adventurous and carrot lovers,” according to Playmade.
Carrot pearls can be added for a price of SGD 0.80 (M) or SGD 1.2 (L).
Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks has embraced the chicken skin trend with crispy chicken cracklings as part of the menu. The chain, famous for Taiwanese street snacks from Shihlin Night Market, has also made available crispy chicken cracklings as part of a standalone packaged snack.
The Crispy Chicken Cracklings – Snack Attack Pack is currently having a buy 1 free 1 promotion on the official Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks store on Shopee Malaysia. The promotion price is RM 22.80. There are three flavours to choose from – original, sour cream and tom yum.
Lay’s hugely successful Thai Taste range in Thailand has added a few more variants including the Crab Curry Flavour and the Extreme Hot Chili Flavour.
Image from salehere.co.th
The potential market for Thai Taste lies not just in Thailand but in the export market. For example, Lay’s Malaysia has introduced Lay’s Miengkam Krobos in Malaysia. The chip is directly imported from Thailand.
Lay’s Thailand is also the exporter of new concept into neighbouring markets such as the bowl-bag packaging that turns into a bowl so you can open, share and enjoy right from the pack with your friends and family. The bowl-bag chip is now available in Malaysia but in a limited scale.
Lay’s salted egg flavour has come to Singapore and Malaysia. This is yet another indication of why it is important to monitor closely Lay’s launches in Thailand as some of their snacks are in a strong position to meet consumer demand for snacks with unique flavour, texture and format.
PepsiCo Food, a division of Pepsi-Cola Thai Trading Co and the maker of Lay’s snacks, has introduced Lay’s Potato Crackers in Original, Cheddar Cheese and Spicy Seafood flavours.
Lay’s Potato Crackers is described as thin and crispy. The new snack offers consumers with a product that can serve as an alternative to cracker.
The manufacturer can even turn Lay’s Potato Crackers into a menu item in the form of canapes that are topped with savoury food eaten in one bite.
Lay’s has 75% of the potato chips market in Thailand, reported Bangkok Post citing Kurt Preshaw, general manager for food at Pepsi-Cola Thai Trading.
7-Eleven is the new channel where consumers can purchase the new Japanese premium bread Fuwa Fuwa, first launched in the Philippines in June 2019. The plain and sweet variants of Fuwa Fuwa (literally known as ‘fluffy’ in Japanese) including custard bun, chocolate roll, mini loaf caramel and mini loaf milk are now being sold in the convenience store in Luzon.
The Launch of Malaysia's First Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shop - Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shop
Malaysians will be welcomed with 10,000 free scoops on the 2nd of September, 2019
Kuala Lumpur, 29 August 2019 – Get mooo-ving and have your spoons ready as
KL is about to be hit with delicious, mouth-watering chunks and swirls!
World-famous Ice Cream company, Ben & Jerry’s, is officially opening its
first-ever Scoop Shop in Malaysia at Sunway Pyramid (Central Avenue). In
conjunction with the official opening, the premium ice cream brand will be
greeting Malaysians with 10,000 free scoops on the 2nd of September, 2019,
Monday from 12:00pm – 8:00pm.
The Scoop Shop is ready to serve an exciting menu of sixteen (16) ice cream flavours, including the brand’s global best-sellers – Cherry Garcia, Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Chunky Monkey, New York Super Fudge Chunk, Triple Caramel Chunk and Tonight Dough, alongside new shakes, sundaes, ice cream cakes and a wide range of merchandise.
The Launch of Malaysia’s First Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop – [L-R] Koh Tsu Lynn (Category Lead for Ice Cream), Woody (Ben & Jerry’s mascot), Shiv Sahgal (Food and Refreshments, Marketing Director of Unilever Malaysia
“We are learning that our customers are becoming more conscious of the products and ingredients they consume, and the values brands have. We at Unilever are proud to introduce Ben & Jerry’s to the market and its strong values along with it. We look forward to educating our local consumers on the brand’s history and our unique social mission which aims to create a positive difference in the world. We know that now more than ever, Malaysians are ready to spread peace, love and ice cream together with Ben & Jerry’s,” Shiv Sahgal, Food and Refreshments, Marketing Director of Unilever Malaysia said.
In wanting to make ‘the best possible ice cream
in the nicest possible way’, Ben & Jerry’s believes that apart from making
delicious ice cream, the brand has a powerful and positive advantage in evoking
social and environmental change. From Fairtrade farmers being paid fair prices
to providing people in need of a second chance with job opportunities, Ben
& Jerry’s sources ingredients from producers and suppliers who share
similar values. Aligned with this approach, Ben & Jerry’s in Malaysia have partnered with eat X
dignity – a homegrown initiative that provides underprivileged students with
entrepreneurial opportunities in the Food & Beverage industry – to create
baked goods that will be made readily available at the Ben & Jerry’s Scoop
Shop in Kuala Lumpur. In addition,
the Scoop Shop in Malaysia will embark on reducing single-use plastic in-store,
offering biodegradable paper straws and wooden spoons to customers.
The
Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop in Sunway Pyramid will open doors from the 30th of
August onwards with a grand opening on Monday, 2nd of September, where the
brand’s ice cream gurus will be serving Malaysians free scoops from 12:00pm –
8:00pm. Ben & Jerry’s best-sellers are also made available in pints and
mini-pints at major supermarkets such as AEON, Jaya Grocer’s and Sam’s
Groceria.
For more information on Ben &
Jerry’s, check out the brand’s:
As an aspiring social justice company, Ben &
Jerry’s believes in a greater calling than simply making a profit for selling
its goods. The company produces a wide variety of super-premium ice cream,
yogurt and sorbet using high-quality ingredients. Ben & Jerry’s
incorporates its vision of Linked Prosperity into its business practices in a
number of ways including a focus on values-led sourcing.
In 2015 the company completed its transition to
using entirely non-GMO (genetically modified organisms) ingredients by source
as well as to fully source Fairtrade-certified ingredients wherever possible,
which benefits farmers in developing countries. Ben and Jerry’s products are
distributed in 35 countries in supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience
stores, franchise Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shops, restaurants and other venues.
Ben & Jerry’s, a Vermont corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary of Unilever,
operates its business on a three-part Mission Statement emphasizing product
quality, economic reward and a commitment to the community. Ben & Jerry’s
became a certified B Corp (Benefit Corporation) in 2012.
About
Dignity for Children Foundation
Dignity for Children Foundation aims to empower
underprivileged urban poor children to break the cycle of poverty through
quality education, positively transforming their lives and the lives of the
community around them. Dignity achieves this by establishing high quality
learning centres; implementing specialised learning environments to develop
children academically and socially thus empowering them to become productive
members of society.
Started more than 20 years ago in Sentul, Kuala
Lumpur with only 20 students Dignity is now a learning centre with more than
1,000 poor and vulnerable children ranging from 2-17 years old. It provides
quality education and care in a secure environment for pre-school to Form 5.
Many of the children had gone through the school and passed with IGCSE ‘O’
level qualifications. Without Dignity’s education provisions these
underprivileged children would not be attending school and will be open to and
engaged with undesirable activities on the streets.
The group of Malaysian Girl Guides from the PPR KL community visits historical landmarks in KL together with 7-Eleven Malaysia, NGOHub Asia and Yellow House KL
Kuala Lumpur, 30 Aug – 7-Eleven Malaysia recently carried out its latest CSR initiative by
bringing a group of Malaysian Girl Guides from the PPR KL community on a city-walking
trip within Kuala Lumpur in collaboration with Yellow House KL (YHKL) and its
start-up, NGOHub Asia.
The Unseen Tours is a series of city-walking tours created, designed
and run by YHKL, with the help of street sleepers-turned-tour guides. Launched
earlier last year by founder Shyam Priah, it is a unique and first-of-its-kind
innovation that aims to give street sleepers employment opportunities by
training them to become tour guides and uplift the quality of their lives. Since
it was launched, more than 300 tourists have made bookings.
With the nation’s 62nd National Day around the corner,
the activity embraced the spirit of patriotism and educated the youth about the
city. Before embarking on a journey of learning and discovery, the girl guides
were given Malaysian flags and a safety briefing by the YHKL tour guides. From
the bustling Chinatown, the participants visited Central Market, then a wet
market and now refurbished to be one of the city’s most prominent cultural
bazaars. River of Life – the river surrounding the city’s oldest mosque, Masjid
Jamek – was next on the list. From there, the group took ‘wefies’ with each
other at one of the country’s most important landmarks, Merdeka Square, where
Malaysia declared independence in 1957. At each of the landmarks, they were
given a brief and informative summary on the historical facts of the location.
Through this tour, the youth were fully immersed in learning about
Malaysia’s capital city and cultural melting pot. Under the morning sunshine, they
sauntered through the city’s numerous well-known cultural sites and were
exposed to different places of worship such as Masjid Jamek, Sri Mahamariamman
Temple and Sin Sze Si Ya Temple. The last pit stop of the day was the Old
Market Square – also known as Medan Pasar – where the activity concluded with
the participants being served 7-Eleven Malaysia’s fresh and ready-to-eat meals
alongside other treats and goodie bags.
“Malaysia is an amalgam of many different cultures from various
ethnic groups. We believe this exploration and exposure helps to build a sense
of national unity, which has always been a recurring theme in Malaysia and even
more significantly during the National Day celebrations. We hope that the girl
guides will continue to learn more about the local attractions and historical
sites of the country, and share their knowledge with their loved ones and
friends of all races, towards a more united, multicultural Malaysia. This is
after all what the National Day celebration is about – all races who are living
harmoniously uniting together to honor the nation’s independence”, said Ronan
Lee, 7-Eleven Malaysia General Marketing Manager.
Taokaenoi is back with another collaboration, this time with the iconic Pringles chips. In Asia, Pringles has previously worked with the Japanese instant noodle maker Acecook in 2018 to bring to the market Pringles-flavoured ramen and ramen-flavoured Pringles.
Pringles and Taokaenoi are taking the same approach for their first co-branding partnership in Thailand. For potato chips, Pringles has rolled out the Hot & Spicy Seaweed and Classic Seaweed flavours, while Taokaenoi has the Sour Cream & Onion seaweed snack.
Co-branding is an effective approach to recruit new consumers to your brand. It is also a way to demonstrate how well your brand is in tune with consumer preference for something unique and interesting. Therefore, the choice of partner is important as the idea is to partner with a strong and well-recognised brand to make the co-branded products available in both the domestic and international markets.
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