Chewing Gum Consultant

Professional Chewing gum industry meeting point

The Humble – Sweden 18/04/2018

Filed under: Market & Fairs,New product — Joan Mestres @ 10:00 AM
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This is a new company in the field of chewing gum. They exhibited at last ISM for the first time.

Based in Sweden, they focus on oral care products (toothpaste and toothbrush are their stars) with a natural and evironmentally friendy approach. Their chewing gum completes this oral care range and it claims to be compeltely natural: Natural gum base, no sugar, etc. Even the packaging is eco-friendly. The gum comes in three different flavors: Mint, Lemon, Topical Fruits and Salty Liquorice (to honour their Scandinavian origin!).

More and more companies jump on this trend for natural products. Sometimes the legislation is not clear about what can be claimed or not (the words “eco”, “organic”, “natural”, “bio”, … have sometimes blurred borders and change depending on the legislation of each country) so I think it is a very tricky field, althougb for sure one that will take more and more share in the near future.

Check their web-site to learn more.

 

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Yummy Sand – PISSA / DULICREA (Mexico) 17/04/2018

Filed under: Market & Fairs,New product — Joan Mestres @ 10:00 AM
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This is a product that I discovered last ISM in Cologne /Germany.

It is gum in powder form, which ressembles sand. It is intended for the children to play with it and form sand castles (which eventually can be eated becasue the product is bubble gum).

It is produced by the mexican company PISSA. I already wrote about them in the past because they are specialized increating funny products. In fact, their brand DELICREA covers a range of special products with the “fun” dimension. Thier motto is “edible toys”, and they have, besides “Yummy Sand”, also “Emotipaint”, “Lollipop maker”, “Candy dough” and “Candy bricks”. Check their website for more info:  www.delicreacandy.com  There is even a video about this novelty.

This is the picture that I took in ISM:

 

 

 

 

SCENTED GUM – Choward’s (USA) 16/04/2018

Filed under: Market & Fairs — Joan Mestres @ 10:10 AM
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Here is a classic: Choward’s Gum has been in the market for a long time in the US, but is a bramd that does not appear in the statistics, overshadowed by the giants Wrigley, Mondelez, Hershey and Perfetti.

Interestingly, it is a gum with sugar, which is not common at all. Still some classics with sugar stay in the market (i am thinking “Doublemint”, “Big Red”, …), but as you know, it is a segment that has been showing a steady decrease for many years.

 

I invite you to visit the web of the company: www.chowardcompany.com  and I leave you with a photo of the product:

 

 

CHEW POD – USA/Canada 13/04/2018

Filed under: Market & Fairs,New product — Joan Mestres @ 10:10 AM
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One more information about functional gum.

I wrote about this company about a year ago (link).

Now it seems that they decided to target the US market. Of course, with such an interesting functional gum for sure there is an opportunity. I attach the article fom Confectiomery News (link) so you can read the full information. It seems that the current formulation has changed slightly from the one I mentioned one year ago (e.g. In the “Energy on Demand” version the guaraná has disappeared and there is vitamin B5 instead). What has not changed is that the article still mentions the same two products that I described: “energy on Demand” and ” Sleep on demand”. The third product of the range “Focus on demand” is not mentioned.

 

What I find interesting in the article is the specific mention to the e-commerce and the intention of the company to fully develop this sales channel.

Also, it mentions the trend of “sugarfree” and “aspartamefree”, which is useful to keep in mind.

 

Wrigley case study 27/03/2017

Filed under: Market & Fairs — Joan Mestres @ 4:12 PM
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I found this interesting article about how Wrigley started and developed. It is written more from the point of view of business strategy, rather than “chewing gum” itself, but I think it is well written and wanted to share it with you:

 

http://yourstory.com/2016/03/wrigley-case-study/

 

Simply Gum (and Wrigley). 23/03/2017

Filed under: Market & Fairs — Joan Mestres @ 3:58 PM
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Today I wanted to “replicate” an interview with the CEO of SIMPLY GUM, from the USA, which has been published by www.confectionerynews.com (see link to the article).

Mr Caron Proschan declares his intention to compete for shelf space with Wrigley. When it comes to the issue of shelf space, I cannot avoid to tell you how frustrating it is for us, people at the technical (R&D and production) side of the chain, to see that all our efforts in developing a great product, with right the flavor profile that we want, the packaging that appeals the most, the shape, size and appearance that has been stated in the definition of the product, do not lead to a successful sales record because of the wrong positioning at the sales point. This parameter is so important (and so difficult to obtain) that we might think that all the other are insignificant.

I leave you with the article by Douglas Yu, although I do not agree compeltely with all what is mentioned there… but that would be too long to discuss here…

 

Progum – Turkey 21/02/2017

Filed under: Market & Fairs,New product — Joan Mestres @ 11:33 AM
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Another Turkish exhibitor, this one from Istambul, who presents gum. In this case the sometimes forgotten BUBBLE GUM.

In this blog I discuss many times about functional gum, stylish chewing gum with exzcellent designs, sophisticated products and innovations but I do not get many chance to talk about the gum that we all liked to chew when we were kids: the bubble gum. Even better when it comes with a sticker in it! It seems that this type of product (sometimes called “Bazooka style” because that was the first famous brand offering the format) is not interesting or trendy anymore. It is true that market figures have been showing a consistent decline of such products in Europe and North America, but it is good to remember that there are many brands in the world producing bubble gum for children and that this type still accounts for a significant share of the market.

So I am glad to talk today about PROGUM and their extensive range of bubble gums (also chewing gum), with different brands: Kango (5 chunck pack), You&me (5 chunck with tatoo), Powergum (jelly filled), Turbo (individual piece or multipack) and Safari (individual piece). You can see all their products in the link to their website. Have fun!

 

powergum-progum       turbo-progum

 

Ceremony – Turkey 20/02/2017

Filed under: Market & Fairs,New product — Joan Mestres @ 11:30 AM
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Another interesting company that exhibits in ISM for the second time is the Turkish “CEREMONY”.

They present sugarfree chewing gums with a very stylish and modern desing. Their main brand is “ 7 STICK” and also “CHIVITO”.

This new gum uses no aspartame, so it follows the trend of “clean label”, trying to avoid ingredients than may have a bad image in the general public. Maybe one day I should write a post about aspartame collecting all the data (positive and negative) that has been published about this intensive sweetener… and then another one about Stevia, which is quite an interesting case!

Congratulations to CEREMONY for the goodlooking product they have!

 

dynamic-stiock-ceremony              melon-7-stick-ceremony

 

Masterfoodeh – Iran 17/02/2017

Filed under: Market & Fairs,New product — Joan Mestres @ 10:23 AM
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This new player in the Iranian chewing gum scene is the first time that exhibits in ISM. They produce different brands of chewing gum: Biodent, Nature Dent, Action.

The presentations are also diverse (dragees in fliptop box or ministicks in multipack), as the range of flavors, including some really excetional like “mojito”, “camomile”, “walnut oil” and “frankincense”!

Following my post from yesterday, I’d like to mention the “Nature Dent” brand, which claims to contain natural gum base (it is not clear to me what they mean by this) and no atificial flavors and colors, no aspartame or sucralose. No additives or preservatives and GMO Free. The gum base is “of course biodegradable”, which is very interesting. So the product is claimed to be 100% natural and organic.

This follows the trend already mentioned of “clean label”. More and more consumers worldwide don’t like to have those “weird” names of ingredients written  the label of the product (antioxidant, artificial sweetener, …) and the manufacturers, of course, need to adapt their products to this demand.

Diffeent varieties of Nature Dent also claim to “improve your memory”.

کرافت

 

“Action” brand turns around the idea of Energy, Excitement and Dynamism.

“Biodent” is the widest brand, sugarfree and with many flavors and packagings. There are two sub-brands named “Stardent” and “Vitadent” and all them claim oral care properties. The presentation of those products is really impressive, with a very smart design and bright colors. Special mention to the printing in Braile in the “Biodent mojito”

 

biodent-masterfoodeh

 

Organic Chewing Gum 16/02/2017

Filed under: Market & Fairs,New product — Joan Mestres @ 9:57 AM
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One of the big trends in the food industry (not only in chewing gum) is the “natural” claim. The legislation about what can be claimed as “natural”, or other terms as “organic”, “bio”, … differs from country to country. This makes the tasks involved in the development of those products more tricky.

In any case, during last ISM was presented what is claimed to be “the first organic gum ever”. The claim is supported by the USDA organic certificate and also the European one.

 

usda_organic

organic_fethar

The chewing gum, presented in coated dragees (17 pieces in a zipperbag, 24 grams) and uses natural chicle from the sapotilla trees in Central America. It contains to no synthetics, no artificial colors or flavors and no preservatives. Of course, it is sugarfree. It is produced in Tunisia, but the company that commercializes it is a Danish one, named Ökolife. (for more info go to the link to their website).

zipperbags-samlet