Chewing Gum Consultant

Professional Chewing gum industry meeting point

PISSA – Mexico 27/03/2013

Filed under: Market & Fairs,New product — Joan Mestres @ 2:19 PM
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

The name of this company, PISSA, stands for Productos Industrializados del Saltillo, SA. It is located in the city of Saltillo, north of Mexico. The company is partly owned by Pepsico. They are specialists on compressed dextrose products (world leader in this field, they claim) but they also make excellent chewing and bubble gum products, mainly for third parties (private label). You see it in their website: www.pissacorp.com

I saw three very interesting products this past ISM. All of them non-common gums, which show the innovation and spirit of the company. Let’s see if I can describe them (with the help of some pictures that I took with my iPhone, so excuse the quality…)

– DUO POP is a tabletted dextrose lollipop. This is already a bit exceptional in itself, but the interesting feature is that it contains pieces of chewing gum embedded in the dextrose. One can see the particles because they have different color.

IMG_1892

 

– GUM ART: It is not just a product, but a concept in itself. Mr Carlos Palomino (thanks for your time!) explained the concept “Fun to play, easy to share”. So it this case we have a sheet of gum (16 gram!) with a design painted on it. This design can be adapted to licenses. Then we have a pencil filled with syrup, in such a way that the child can “paint” the gum layer with the syrup of the pen. Then can be eaten or shared with other friends. The perception resembles the feeling of a syrup filled bubble gum (because we have a liquid and a gum as well) but with the characteristic that it can be repeated several times with the same item.

IMG_1891

 

– TAPE GUM: This format of gum is not strange but it is not extremely common in the market. A few companies produce it. In this case PISSA differentiates because of the packaging. They use a themoformed blister that helps deliver the tape gum as we wish.

img03b

So, in summary, three very interesting products developed by PISSA.

Finally I wanted to mention as well a product that I did not see in their stand in ISM but I saw when I visited their facilities some time ago and that I found in their website. It is a gum with a printed design on top of it. This makes it quite particular as well. Here is a photo from the website (same as the one above for the tape gum) so copyrighted:

img10c

Advertisement
 

Beneo 25/03/2013

Filed under: Market & Fairs,New product — Joan Mestres @ 4:53 PM
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today I will leave the presentation of chewing gum producers in ISM and talk a bit about a supplier.  There were a few suppliers presenting there, so I will discuss about their ingredients as well.

Today is time for BENEO. The group has many branches and deals with sugar beet, rice and wheat products. It is itself a branch of the big german Südzucker group and probably the part of Beneo which comes closer to the chewing gum field is Beneo-Palatinit (Others are Beneo-Orafti, Beneo-Remy, Beneo-BioBasedChemicals and Beneo-Animal Nutrition). The company has an excellent application laboratory where they can prepare and analyize samples of many confectionery products.

This company produces two main groups of products: Isomalt and Palatinose.

Isomalt includes a family of different grades. It can used as bulk swetener (Isomalt ST) in sugarfree gum, but mainly as coating agent (Isomalt GS) for the chewing gum pillows. It has other applications such as tabletting (Isomalt DC) and chocolate production (Isomalt LM).

Recent studies conducted by the company show, for instance, that isomalt can replace the Mannitol in the chewing gum formulation. Many producers use 5% of Mannitol in the formulation. The main objective of this, is to act as anticrystallizing agent for the main bulk sweetener (usually sorbitol).

See more in this link

Palatinose is a trade name for the ingredient Palatinose, a sugar substitute which is “the only low glycemic carbohydrate providing longer lasting energy in the form of glucose” and it has also its application as sweetener in chewing gum.

In ISM the company presented a chewing gum which includes Palatinose and Stevia as sweeteners and a candy with Isomalt and Stevia. This follows the trend noticed in the market of increased use of Stevia as intensive sweetener. I mentioned about this in previous postings.

Let me reproduce here a text supplied by the company itself discussing about one of my passions: “Innovative applications”. In this case about tabletted gum, which is interesting in itself:

“One of the most interesting uses of the multi-layer compressed gum technology is Procter and Gamble’s Wick Blau Icebergs Sugar Free Chewing Gum.  Launched late in 2008 in Germany, the chewing gum features a white layer of peppermint, with a special chewing gum layer.  Containing ISOMALT, this sugar free mint product has been designed to have two effects; to provide an immediate refreshing feeling, as well as prolonging the product’s overall taste with the chewing gum.  A more recent product brought to market featuring a similar two-layered mint/gum approach is Vivident’s Cool Shock Two-Layer Chewing Gum.  This strawberry flavoured gum contains no added sugar, thanks to the inclusion of ISOMALT, and has been reformulated into trianglular-shaped tablets for marketing impact.”

In the links below you can find more about the company and products:

www.beneo-group.com

www.beneo.com

www.beneonews.com

I thank Ms Ingrid Willibald-Ettle for her time and explanations during ISM.

 

LTK TRADING – Turkey 20/03/2013

Filed under: Market & Fairs,New product — Joan Mestres @ 1:19 PM
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

More about Turkish chewing gum producers!

Today LKT Trading, part of the huge Latek Holding, which contains many companies in many different fields (really impressive). But the one which is of our interest is the chewing gum branch of this Holding, which includes 2 factories in Istanbul area.

It has about 20 years experience and 300 employees. The owner is Mr Zekeriye Mete. You can read more in www.latekholding.com or www.ltktrading.com

The company has two main brands: “Happy Gum”, which is the “chewing gum part” and consists of dragees and sticks presented in different packagings (plastic bottles, flip top boxes….), and “Gum Babol” which is the “bubble gum part” and has cut & wrap products in multipack presentation. The new launch for ISM was a HAPPY GUM sugar free presented in an envelop and with 6 different flavors.

According to Euromonitor, Sugarfree chewing gum accounts for 72% in volume of the total gum sold in Turkey in 2011. The trend, of course is for positive growth of this segment,a s products become more and more sophisticated.

I thank Mr Cem Erman for his time and explanations during the fair.

 

SAADET – Turkey 19/03/2013

Filed under: Market & Fairs,New product — Joan Mestres @ 3:49 PM
Tags: , , , , ,

Let’s continue with Turkish companies and let me introduce today SAADET Confectionery Co.

This company was founded in 1996, has 4 factories in Istanbul and about 1000 employees. It is owned by Mr Subet. Its web site is www.saadet.com.tr

You will see that they produce not only chewing gum, but also jellies, marshmallow, licorice and others.

In terms of chewing gum the main brands are : NAZAR (sugafree ministick), OCEAN (dragees and sticks), PUNTO (bubble cut & wrap) and MISKET (ball). So they cover a very good range of products both chewing and bubble, both sugared and sugarfree, both coated and uncoated. There are also other brands that you can find in their website.

The big launch in ISM was NAZAR Istanbul, which is a double layer chewing gum ministick, presented in a nice envelope pack. Of course, mastic flavor is present in the products from Saadet! I attach a picture of this.

I thank Mr Suat Ecran for his time and explanations at his booth.

Nazar Saadet

 

ERSAY GIDA – Turkey 18/03/2013

Filed under: Market & Fairs — Joan Mestres @ 4:21 PM
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today I will take again the review of companies that were exhibiting in ISM. We are already well into March and I am still posting about ISM!! I should speed this up… but there were so many chewing gum producers in the show that it is taking me longer than expected.

A main market for chewing gum, not only for the local products but also for the importance of exports, is Turkey.

Turkey as a country is always well represented in ISM, and we find most of their companies under the umbrella of the “Turkish Confectionery & sweet Promotion Group” www.turkishconfectionery.org

During next days I will be presenting a few turkish companies and today I will start by ERSAY. This is a company based in Istambul, where they have three factories.

The company was founded 27 years ago and employes about 50 people. You can find more at www.frutsi.com.tr It is also known as ASPAK, and they are specialized in bubble gum (cut & wrap and balls). They also produce their own gum base.

Their main brand is FRUTSI (in fact the web site I mentioned before comes under that name). This edition of ISM, Ersay introduced Sour Shox extra and watermelon coming as single ball in a flow pack. Also “love gum” which are gum balls in a flip top bad, “soccer gum”, “Turbo”, and “girls” with a sticker. Finally, it is worth to mention the “Dino”, which is a cut&wrap product with mastic flavor. I always found this flavor quite peculiar…. maybe because I am not Turkish…

More about Turkish producers tomorrow… Then we will go for the mexicans…

 

Caffeine gum 13/03/2013

Filed under: New product — Joan Mestres @ 5:45 PM
Tags: , , ,

As you know, I have a special interest on functional chewing gums. The industry is venturing more and more into this field (basically driven by juicy margins) and every time I get news about one of these products I like to share it with you.

Today I read in Confectionerynews.com an article informing that Wrigley is planning to launch a gum with caffeine. It will be branded “Alert energy” and follow the path of energy drinks and the like. The product will contain 40mg of caffeine per piece, which is about half of the content of a cup of coffee (I wonder what size of coffee cup is considered a standard “cup”, but that’s another issue…). However the article points out potential problems from having this product consumed by children or teenagers. The article also reviews a number of chewing gums that are currently present in the market which also contain caffeine. Really interesting! Please have a look to this link:

Caffeinated Gum by Wrigley – confectionerynews.com 

 

Indaco – Italy 06/03/2013

Filed under: Market & Fairs,New product — Joan Mestres @ 11:29 AM
Tags: , , ,

INDACO is an Italian company founded in 1999 and owned by the Cola family. In ISM I talked to Mr Silvio Cola, to whom I thank for his time.

The company has about 50 employees and is located near Napoli. They produce, of course chewing gum but also hard candy, chocolate lentils and some hazelnut, almonds and similar products coated with chocolate. www.indacocandy.com 

It must be very difficult to play in the italian chewing gum market, considering the dominant position of Perfetti. Or maybe is because of this that there are opportunities! Indaco is selling not only in Italy, but also in about 20 countries mainly in North Africa, Middle East and Southern Europe. They are looking for expansion into other areas. Indaco’s own brand for chewing gum ins COLFRESH, which represents about 60% of their production, and then they produce for private label which takes the remaining 40%. In this ISM’13 they presented a 10 stick (6 flavors) zipper pack for private label.

According to Mr Cola during recent years there has been an excess of innovation which has confused the consumers with too many product launches. Many products in Italy are above the 1,5 Eur and consumers, due to the current crisis, are looking for products below this price, so Indaco intends to focus on that and also in the private label sector. They have an eye on emerging markets like India, China and others where the sugar free is slowly increasing the market share. Indaco produces 90% of their chewing gum as sugar free, so this is one of their strong points.

 

ZED CANDY – IRELAND 05/03/2013

Filed under: Market & Fairs,New product — Joan Mestres @ 10:25 AM
Tags: , , , , , ,

I had the chance to talk to Mr Brendan Roantree, Managing Director of Zed Candy, during ISM.

This Irish company was established in 1998 and has been growing and expanding since then. Now employes more than 270 people and has production facilities in China and in UK. Even if they produce hard and soft candy, chocolate and jelly beans, what is interesting to us is their production of bubble gum. They are real specialists in hollow ball production. Their designs and powerful image has always surprised me, since I met this company many years ago. I invite you to visit their web-site: www.zedcandy.com

They have one big brand:; JAWBREAKERS which includes hollow balls in different designs and sizes (Mammooth Jawbreaker, Monster jawbreaker, etc). The hollow balls have funny designs, like the ones that resemble an eye (Terror eyes) or a golf ball. There are other brands of bubble gum, such as GUM POWDER (in this case consists on coated nuggets of gum) or ZAPPERS  (small gum squares). All the products from Zed Candy move away from the traditional, conventional, well-known styles and are able to present an innovative and striking look.

During ISM’13 Zed Candy presented a world first, which is a ball with 4 colour print (the logo of the company) on it. Also very powerful is the lollipop consisting on a liquid center, with bubble gum around it and then coated with 3 different layers (colours) of candy. This sophisticated product is called TORNADO POPS.

According to Brendan during last years he feels that the market is asking for higher quality products and that low price/low quality is not selling as much as before. Children are more and more novelty driven. About the future, he is worried about volatile raw material prices, currencies and legislations. As in international business manager he has to deal with those variables and it is a tough challenge. He also feels (and I fully agree with him, but I will discuss about this in another post) that ISM is getting smaller.

Thank you, Brendan, for your time and explanations!