Tag: food and beverage

Manila, Philippines – In the mid of the COVID-19 pandemic, food has been a frequent topic that sparks hearty discussions for Filipinos on Twitter, expressing their love for food and channeling their inner chefs, as seen on the #DalgonaCoffee, #UbeCheesePandesal, and other food trends that happened during the lockdown.

According to Twitter, just in 2020 alone, there were over 7 million food and drink mentions in the Philippines, which proves that moments with food or just the thought of food alone invites people to share and tweet about it. Out of all the consumer-packaged goods in the market, food is the most talked about on Twitter in 2020 with 57%, followed by drinks with 20%, alcohol with 9%, and beauty with 7%. Food became a conversation starter and an expression of care and concern. In addition, most of the conversations about food at home are on ‘ulam’, which means ‘dish’ in the Filipino Language.

Chandan Deep, the head of emerging business at Twitter SEA, said that conversations on food are highly welcome because people are very passionate about it and they actively engage in these discussions, which is why the buzz keeps on growing. 

“In fact, food conversations on Twitter increased in 2020 as more foodies became active in sharing their activities or thoughts related to food. These observations are vital because they help us understand how food conversations evolved during the pandemic. Knowing what’s happening around this community, from how or where to find them, is also helpful for brands as they navigate and make relevant campaigns moving forward,” added Deep.

Twitter has also recorded other insights on Filipino foodies on the platform such as the popularity of home-cooked meals which came about during the lockdown period. About 50% of Filipinos on Twitter shared that they spent more time cooking at home, and more than 1/2 of Filipinos on Twitter are searching the platform for products to buy. 

Filipino users were also found to tweet before eating, which presents a marketing opportunity for food brands to promote their products, as 50% of Filipinos discover new brands through the platform. Meanwhile, another popular topic on the app is food for special occasions. Many Filipinos order food from their favorite restaurants or newfound local shops during special days and tweet about it.

With this, Twitter believes that food and beverage brands must consistently share their stories, and create strategies to launch campaigns and connect through different ways, be it through graphics, videos, or something experimental and new such as Fleets, a new way to post content on Twitter that will disappear after 24 hours.

Penang, Malaysia – Airasia’s food delivery platform airasia food has announced its market expansion in Penang – Malaysia’s food capital – and is now calling on Food and Beverage (F&B) operators across Penang island to join the platform.

Airasia food was first launched in Klang Valley, Malaysia. It aims to disrupt the food delivery scene by offering a seamless solution for merchants at an affordable and business-friendly commission rate. 

F&B operators in Penang who are interested in joining airasia food will only need to fill up a form, and they will be contacted within 48 hours by the airasia food team. Once set to onboard, merchants will be able to receive support from a dedicated account manager who will assist in bringing the F&B business online, provide system support on data analytics, and monitoring. Merchants can also leverage airasia’s extensive marketing effort and periodic campaigns to drive publicity and sales.

The platform is supported by airasia’s ecosystem where BIG Members can earn and pay with their BIG Points. Consumers can also get the lowest delivery fees with no hidden charges or minimum order fees.

Ben-Jie Lim, the head of e-commerce at airasia Super App, said that there is no doubt that Penang is a foodie’s dream come true, being a place that boasts an abundance of local flavors, as well as world-class cuisines.

“Airasia food offers the lowest commission rate in town at only 15%, enabling merchants to earn more while having full control over their menu, pricing, and easy access to data aside from being able to communicate directly with their customers. We welcome all F&B operators to register with us and look forward to serving the foodies of Penang with delicacies from their favorite hawker stalls and F&B outlets,” added Lim.

Airasia food has also expanded in Singapore earlier this year, offering an online solution for Singaporean merchants in maintaining their F&B business, and at the same time offering a new alternative for consumers in the country.

New Delhi, India – As summer is approaching, the Indian arm of food and beverage company PepsiCo has launched its first-ever local campaign for the beverage ‘Mountain Dew Ice’, starring Bollywood superstar Hrithik Roshan.

The ‘Made for India’ Mountain Dew Ice has been developed to suit the Indian palate and is a significant milestone in PepsiCo India’s journey of innovation in the beverage category. In line with this, the first-ever Mountain Dew Ice campaign is building a very aspiring extension to the Dew philosophy.

The campaign focuses on Roshan contemplating on performing a bike stunt across a fire obstacle, and with ‘Mountain Dew Ice’, he takes the challenge head-on successfully. By its message, the campaign embodies the ideology of ‘Darr Ke Aage Jeet Hai’ or overcoming one’s fears to achieve great success. This is best seen by Roshi’s ending words “Har chunauti hogi paar, bas chahiye jeetne ki aag aur thanda dimaag”, or loving every challenge while maintaining a ‘cool’ mindset.

“This campaign for Mountain Dew Ice is as refreshing as its name suggests! In time for summer, the TVC introduces the consumers to a ‘chilling’ experience. What is interesting is that it adds to the brand tagline – ‘Darr ke aage jeet Hai’ with emphasis of being responsibly fearless. Mountain Dew Ice propositions ‘Jeetne Ki Aag aur Thanda Dimaag’, is a valuable slogan. It is a perfect mix of the product attributes along with a message in public interest,” Roshi said, regarding his experience as part of the campaign.

According to Vineet Sharma, category director for Mountain Dew & Sting at PepsiCo India, the campaign aims to inspire the youth that they can overcome any obstacles in their way if they just keep a cool mind along with the fire to win while facing their fears head-on.

“We are very excited to unveil the first-ever brand campaign for Mountain Dew Ice. The launch of Mountain Dew Ice has been a significant milestone for us in our beverage category innovation journey. With the new campaign, we are taking the Mountain Dew core brand’s philosophy of ‘Darr Ke Aage Jeet Hai’ and giving it an ‘Ice’ twist,” Sharma said.

He added, “We are confident that consumers will relate to the new campaign strongly and shower Mountain Dew Ice with the same love that our other campaigns for Mountain Dew have received over the years.”

The campaign will be amplified across TV, digital, outdoor, and PepsiCo India’s social media channels.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – BlackBixon, the food and beverage (F&B) arm of Ni Hsin Resources has partnered with redONE Network, a mobile virtual network operator, to market and retail Ni Hsin’s new energy coffee under the ‘BlackBixon’ brand name. 

The BlackBixon coffee is said to have been composed to provide the benefits of caffeine and the patented Bioenergy Ribose. It is aimed at strengthening the human body’s natural process of energy synthesis while at the same time lessening fatigue and boosting the mental alertness of an individual. 

The coffee product also contains a nutritional coffee variant enriched with acai berry extract for a good source of phytonutrients and antioxidants, which enhances immunity while providing anti-aging benefits.

Managing Director of BlackBixon, Khoo Chee Kong, said that they are delighted to have the collaboration with redONE as BlackBixon sees a lot of synergy in terms of how they can leverage redONE’s reach to market the products. Kong believes that redONE’s network can strengthen the coffee brand’s marketing efforts and reach the target consumers, both business-to-business and business-to-consumer.

“We see our entry into F&B as strategic for the future of Ni Hsin as this new business will enhance the earnings of the company given the interest in energy and coffee drinks, as well as the increased demands for home coffee consumption. As for convenience, we provide coffee machines for our consumers to use in their home or workplace without any charge subject to terms and conditions. Ni Hsin has other plans in the pipeline to grow the F&B business, with Malaysia being the initial market, and the regional market in our next step,” said Kong. 

Meanwhile, the Chief Sales Officer of redONE, Ben Teh, said, “redONE is proud to collaborate with Ni Hsin in a win-win partnership where our 100 Premier Shops nationwide will attract more footfall while letting our subscribers enjoy a refreshing cup of BlackBixon coffee as they are waiting to be served. This is a good gesture and adds value to our customer experience.”

The partnership comes after Ni Hsin’s collaboration agreement with Fiatec Biosystem last August 2020, which was for the development and formulation of health and bioenergy products, marking the company’s move into the F&B business. 

Meanwhile, in January 2021, the company has also entered into a ‘supply-and-technical-assistance’ agreement with Global Coffee Resources, being appointed as Ni Hsin’s coffee beans and coffee powders supplier.

Singapore – Airasia’s food delivery service airasia food has finally kicked off its Singapore operations with a special promo of unlimited free delivery perk for its first customers.

The unlimited free delivery service will be available March 2 to 16 from deliveries within 8km from the order point. Airasia food will be offering a long list of menu options from popular outlets like No Signboard Seafood, The Shepherd’s Pie, Swee Choon Tim Sum, Maki-san, Pizza Express.

For Tony Fernandes, CEO at airasia Group, their recent expansion hopes to help establish airasia food as a “notable player in the food delivery scene in Singapore,” noting that at least 50% of Singaporeans eating out every day and a staggering 2.7 million active online food delivery users in 2020 have been evident in the region.

“At airasia food, our mission has always been to help local food businesses keep their cost low by offering a much lower commission rate that can then be passed on to customers so they can enjoy even lower prices for their favorite dishes. Through airasia food, we are very proud to be able to contribute to the economy in general and at the same time help create more jobs as our merchants grow in their business and we are constantly on the lookout to expand our airasia delivery team in Singapore,” Fernandes said.

Meanwhile, Lim Ben-Jie, airasia super app’s head of e-commerce states that they are inviting other F&B outlets in Singapore to sign up to their platform, noting that “delivery riders can earn up to SGD700 a week on average.”

“We continue to welcome more F&B operators to join us, and airasia food will provide dedicated teams who will onboard merchants and enable them to go live within 48 hours with no registration or setup fees. Coupled with the lower commission rates for merchants and one of the most affordable delivery rates compared to market incumbents, we want to contribute positively towards the whole food delivery chain in Singapore and to further grow this segment,” Ben-Jie stated.

Singapore – Airasia’s food delivery platform, airasia food, which is part of the airline’s super-app,has now expanded to Singapore, starting off with a special offer for newly-signed food and beverage (F&B) merchants in the island.

Airasia food offers an online solution for merchants in maintaining their F&B business, as it runs on flat-rate plans and a fast turnaround, allowing merchants to go live within 48 hours upon registration, and at the same time offering a new alternative for consumers. 

For special sign-on rate, airasia food is offering those signing up in Singapore before 1 March, 2021 a commission rate from as low as 8% for the month of March, compared to the usual commission rate of 15% by airasia food. 

Furthermore, airasia food merchants will also receive support from a dedicated account manager who will assist in bringing the F&B business online, provide system support on data analytics and monitoring. Merchants can also leverage on airasia’s extensive marketing effort and periodic campaigns to drive publicity and sales. 

For Tony Fernandes, CEO of the airasia Group, their expansion to the Lion City responds to the ‘vibrant market’ in the region, and hopes that airasia food’s local presence will “democratize the food delivery industry by providing value, simplicity and inclusivity for everyone.”

“Airasia food offers the lowest commission rate in town, enabling merchants to earn more while having full control over their menu, pricing and easy access to data aside from being able to communicate directly with their customers. We look forward to serving the people of Lion City on ground with the delicious offerings from their favorite F&B outlets,” Fernandes said.

Manila, Philippines – GrabKitchen finally gets a second branch in the Philippines, which will be located in Sampaloc, Metro Manila, generally known as the ‘University Belt’, housing a number of top colleges and universities in the district. The branch adds to the overall 50 known GrabKitchen branches in the Southeast Asia region.

The concept of GrabKitchen revolves around a mix-and-match feature, which allows customers to satisfy their food orders from different merchants all in one order. 

The second GrabKitchen Philippine branch brings together eight brands to provide more food choices to consumers. It also aims to provide food entrepreneurs the opportunity to launch their brands in new locations with a lower setup cost and to reach a wider base of customers through GrabFood. 

The eight food chain brands include Conti’s, Sinangag Express, CoCo Fresh Tea and Juice, as well as Omakase, Mister Kabab, and Army Navy, and also Pizza Telefono, and Happilee. 

According to Grab Philippines Head of Deliveries EJ Dela Vega, GrabKitchen responds to both consumer demand and helping food and beverage entrepreneurs succeed in their digital business stints.

“Our first GrabKitchen has enabled merchants to establish their brands in Makati, where they didn’t use to have a physical store, with minimal upfront investments. At the same time, it has also provided food lovers the option to enjoy different cuisines they love in a single order and pay one delivery fee. We hope to bring the same benefits to consumers and businesses through the opening of our Sampaloc branch,” Dela Vega stated.

The country’s first branch was launched at shopping mall Glorietta 2 located in top business district, Makati City, where it facilitated six merchants.

Dela Vega also added that these merchants will add variety in terms of food choices in Manila. Omakase and Happilee are opening their kitchens in Manila for the first time, while the others hope to gain more customers through GrabKitchen. He further shared that Grab considered several factors in shortlisting the merchants, including identifying the in-demand food items in the area and leveraging data from historical orders to address cuisine gaps. 

“We are hopeful that our Sampaloc, Manila branch will give foodies more freedom to mix and match their orders. They can also take advantage of the fact that our GrabKitchen merchants offer long-distance deliveries up to 10 kilometers,” Dela Vega added.

GrabKitchen was a concept first introduced in Indonesia in 2018 and has since become the largest regional cloud kitchen operator in Southeast Asia. GrabKitchen’s branches expand in countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, and Malaysia, where it has also recently opened a first branch. 

To celebrate the launch of the newest GrabKitchen branch, Grab is offering free delivery to customers from February 9 to 28, 2021 for orders with a minimum price tag of ₱550.

Manila, Philippines – Local food and beverage company Universal Robina Corporation (URC) has been named by the country’s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) as the top exporter of processed foods and beverages in the Philippines.

Based on value transactions recorded by the Philippine Statistical Authority (PSA) for 2019, Universal Robina’s export transactions have reached more than USD 30M for the said  year.

In a press statement, URC Vice President for global exports and frontier markets Brian Go stated that exporters are moving forward despite constraints on trade during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, as more lockdowns are imposed.

“This recognition for our hard work and dedication to our customers is especially meaningful, given the challenges businesses, and our nation as a whole, are facing because of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Go stated.

Universal Robina’s Brian Go, Vice President for Global Exports and Frontier Markets

Furthermore, the recent announcement also aligns with the country’s Export Development Council goals,  to which they stated that ‘export companies navigated their way to adapt to the abrupt digital transformation.’

“We looked at those companies who took their chances by embracing the shift of the changing business landscape towards a post-COVID-19 world…we wanted to hear their stories – their stories of survival, recovery and resilience and what their plans are as the country now moves towards the resurgence phase,” the council said during this year’s National Export Congress.

Universal Robina, through its Exports Group, is distributing their brands such as Jack ‘n Jill snacks, Great Taste instant coffee, and C2 ready-to-drink tea across 38 market countries. 

At present, the Global Export business unit serves nations and territories in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Indian Ocean islands, North Asia, and Oceania, and the Pacific Islands. Its Philippine office also distributes its products to affiliate URC companies in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia.

Philippines – International chips brand Lay’s Chips, which has established a market in the country, has released a Christmas-themed video advertisement and puts a modern twist to the beloved Filipino Christmas lullaby “Christmas in our Hearts.”

Titled “Remix In Our Hearts,” the advertisement features the song’s original performerJose Mari Chan, and Nico Bolzico, the husband of actress Solenn Heusaff and a well-known online celebrity.

The video starts with Bolzico sitting down on a couch and eating chips. As he is listening to a Christmas melody, he comes across a ‘meme’ of Jose Mari Chan saying “Do Jose What I See?”, a play on Jose Mari Chan’s name.

As Bolzico dreams of a ‘wish duet’, Chan appears in the scene, and both perform the jingle ‘Remix in our Hearts’. The scene changes from the house setting, to a suit-and-tie performance and finally to a hip hop vibe.

The recent campaign promotes a “Double the Holiday Flavor” message, which is shown in the advertisement featuring Lay’s Chips Classic Flavor and Lay’s Chips Sour Cream & Onion.

Sydney, Australia – The Philippine Trade and Investment Center, based out of Sydney, announced the launch of the ‘Food Philippines’ movement in order to promote Filipino food to the Australian mainstream market.

The movement is made possible by two collectives aimed at promoting Filipino cuisine to a much larger consumer base. The first is Entree.pinays, a collective of Filipina entrepreneurs that educated the Australian public on Filipino produce value, while the second one is Filipino Food Movement, Inc., a group of Filipino individuals aiming to put Filipino cuisine on the global scene.

Originally started out as a B2B partnership with Australian buyers and Filipino exporters, the Food Philippines movement started running in September and will end in December this year.

Some of the featured products include the following: Mama Sita’s Sinamak and Suka’t Sili vinegar, Jimalie’s organic coconut milk, Roaster Juan’s Premium Coffee, Miki’s Purple Yam Powder, Soyuz Calamansi, and Mama Sita’s Barbeque sauce.

The movement is also supported by the Export Marketing Bureau, the Department of Trade and Industry’s export management arm in the Philippines.