New Nutrition Business

Welcome to New Nutrition Business

We are a service like no other, dedicated to the business of food, beverages and health. Since 1995 we have supplied the world's most innovative food and drink businesses with unrivalled insights and practical case studies. Our unique, high quality information enables hundreds of businesses to successfully refine and implement their strategies

Recent Case Studies Protein message puts insects on road to “normal”

As consumer education challenges go, this is surely one of the toughest. Persuading Western consumers that eating insects is not only good for the environment and for health but palatable too could take decades. But if change is going to start anywhere, it’s with the lifestyle consumers who love a new food trend – and that’s exactly who three bug-based start-ups are targeting.

read more Good connections = success Two of the most important elements of your strategy, whether you are marketing ingredients, creating a new brand or reviving an old brand, are:

read more Innovating beyond consumers’ imaginings is key to success

Most industry executives will dismiss the idea of using insects as an ingredient as “too weird”; as something that consumers “will never accept” or accept too slowly for it to be commercially interesting.

read more Slimfast slide underscores Unilever’s failed weight management strategy

We all make mistakes. But some people and companies make more spectacular mistakes than others. Unilever’s purchase and subsequent management of the Slimfast brand is one of the biggest failures of the last 15 years – and certainly the biggest failure in the weight management market. Indeed, Unilever’s weight management strategy has exceeded even the impressive failure of Nestle’s weight management strategy.

read more Slow “squidgy” energy delivers fast revival for old brand

How do you breathe new life into a traditional food, sold under a 75-year-old brand, which has falling sales and a strong image as an afternoon snack for grandmother? The story of Soreen shows how an old brand can be revived with an energy message and convenient formats and drive impressive sales growth at premium prices – even against the background of a weak economy.

read more A healthy protein product for our time

Having repositioned itself on its protein benefits, meat-substitute Quorn – made from soil fungus – is enjoying growing sales and a global presence in 15 countries. Its success is also down to new product development efforts geared towards delivering Quorn in forms that are familiar and acceptable to consumers, and now, for the first time, it has introduced snacking options for Quorn consumers.

read more Tea can’t stretch to chocolate Stretching a brand too far is one of the most common causes of failure. Yet senior managements are fond of brand extensions, despite abundant sales data that shows that more often than not they have modest sales – or more usually fail. Even successful brands like Honest Tea have found limits to how far a health brand can go.

read more Talking Rain: the 25-year “overnight” success story The business press is full of stories of people who created start-up brands, quickly achieved massive success and within a few years sold out for breathtaking sums of money. But such “overnight” successes are rare. A far more realistic story is that of drinks company Talking Rain – many years of hard work and investment that eventually pays off.

Malaysian entrepreneur shows how to commercialise science

After 45 years in the industry, Mr. LH Ong of Biogrow, in Malaysia, knows how to market health benefits.

He found himself faced with the opportunity to launch a high beta-glucan oat powder, proven to lower cholesterol, supplied by DSM Nutritionals.

Mr. Ong knew he needed to differentiate his clinically-proven product from regular oats and from ordinary oat powders, which have do not have the same high content of beta-glucan.

His answer: to provide Malaysians with free cholesterol tests, so that they could see why they needed his product.

“In Malaysia there are 28 million people,” Mr. Ong explained to New Nutrition Business. “6 million of them have high cholesterol. They are aged 40 and above. But not everybody knows they have high cholesterol.”

Mr. Ong’s company provides a free cholesterol-testing service at special booths set up in pharmacies and drugstores – and since 2011 his company has provided almost 40,000 free tests.

“If people discover they have high cholesterol, they buy the product. If people want a cholesterol test they normally must pay – and the cost is about €4 per test [US$5.50]. There are people who cannot afford to pay that. We are giving it to them for free.”

Malaysian consumers have rewarded Mr. Ong by giving his brand – called BG22 – an 80% share of the oat powders segment, despite the fact that BG22 retails at a super-premium price. Based on this success, an oat breakfast cereal has recently been added to the range.

BG22 is sold only in pharmacies – meaning that it can communicate its serious message more easily and the cholesterol-testing service can be provided in the same location. It is not sold in supermarkets, where it would be under constant price pressure by comparison with inferior products.

If you are looking to commercialise a new ingredient or some piece of nutrition science, the wisdom of Mr. Ong shows you how.

Read more on the blog

Juian Mellentin

Industry Events

7th Protein Summit 2014 Bridge2Food is delighted to present the 7th Protein Summit to focus on creating sustainable opportunities in the protein food and feed value chains.

Date: 18-19 September 2014

Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Weblink: http://www.bridge2food.com/events/ingredients-platform/protein-summit-2014/summary.html

Benefiq 2014 International Rendezvous on Health Ingredients

Date: 23-25 September 2014

Location: Quebec City Convention Centre, Quebec, Canada

Weblink: http://www.benefiq.ca/en/?page_id=54

Hi Europe & Ni The 360° perspective of the health, natural and nutrition industry

Date: 2-4 December 2014

Location: Amsterdam RAI, The Netherlands

Weblink: http://www.foodingredientsglobal.com/hie/home

In-depth analysis of trends and excellent insights. The case studies provide solid market data and I refer to them often and in particular when starting new initiatives. Mary Parsons VP Global Platform Development, The Hershey Company