Local demand drives business and boosts cooperation
Overseas food vendors and ingredient suppliers continue to roll out innovative offerings after sealing partnerships at last year's China International Import Expo.
Fonterra, the world’s largest dairy exporter, forged closer ties with local caterers and packaged food vendors ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
After unveiling a new strategy to stay close to local tastes at the previous CIIE, this year the New Zealand company has secured deals with more than 50 mooncake merchants, compared with around 10 vendors last year.
"The most evident trend in the China market we see is the trade-up which is good news for us to cater to the rising need for good and nutritious products," said Fonterra China CEO Teh-Han Chow. "Innovation is critical for us to work with customers in the bakery, dining and beverages sectors."
Beijing Daoxiangcun Bakery, Shen Dacheng and Guangzhou Restaurants are offering mooncakes with dairy ingredients such as cream cheese and butter this year.
They are among the time-honored brands embracing the infusion of Western dairy ingredients into Chinese cuisine, desserts, and traditional bakery and pastry products.
Ferrero brought its “Kinder Happy Hippo” biscuit line to last year’s CIIE and plans to diversity its portfolio to increase its footprint in the sweet packaged food category.
"We've seen encouraging results in the first two months of the launch and decided to invest more for marketing and distribution," said Mauro De Felip, general manager of Ferrero China.
In October it will unveil new Chinese TV commercials and a new mascot for the biscuits.
"The decision to invest more here in China follows the successful launch at the CIIE and we plan to add more categories under the Kinder brand," he said.
Its latest local partnership is with “Kaishu Story,” a Chinese children's audio content and educational program producer, to create customized audio programs about rare animals.
A limited package featuring animal protection will be available exclusively through Tmall.
Catering to local demand is a key agenda of the central government 's encouragement for home and overseas companies to further take the domestic market as the mainstay while letting domestic and foreign markets boost each other.
The innovation of the packaged food and catering industry is a catalyst for service providers and hygiene solution providers as well.
Ecolab, which provides water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions, said it plans to deepen local innovation with dedicated digital services and data management capabilities.
The scattered operations of stand-alone caterers in China gave rise to new hygiene and cleaning demands, said Connell Zhang, executive vice president of Ecolab.
"We aim to fully localize our products and offerings by beefing up research, talent training and digital services," he said.
Instead of regular services to chain stores, it started to offer comprehensive solutions for local fast-casual restaurants in March, including a one-bottle-fit-for-all disinfectant.
Targeting small and medium scale caterers, it requires less storage space.
The catering and food business is evolving rapidly in China and that requires service providers to change accordingly for new formats like smaller-scale dine-in places and food delivery, Zhang said.
