PEPSICO LAUNCHES CHOCOLATE CROISSANTS

Yes, apparently. In Spain and Portugal. They are quite premium, with an adult profile, The brand is Benard. I saw details in the October issue of Revista Super Market.

There has been a lot of comment about market opportunities for nostalgic reassurance in the current economic downturn and this is certainly a good example of comfort eating appeal.

FROM CLOUD JUICE TO FOG WATER

How many types of drinking water can you think of ? Beyond tap water, spring water and mineral water, I mean.

There are now lots of table waters, artesian waters and glacial waters. But a combination of world shortage and marketing ingenuity has ensured a constant flow of ever zanier initiatives. I’ve seen several machines that capture humidity. A particular favourite of mine is Cloud Juice from Tasmania.

Then, last week, I read about large nets to catch fog in Peru. It’s a rather sad story, really, since it’s the result of inadequate local supplies and severe poverty. Yet some German biologists have recently helped a neighbourhood of Lima collect up to 60 litres of water a night from a single panel of netting up on a hilltop.

You can find out more on the project at watertechonline.com. I’d be fascinated if any of you know of other unusual water sourcing stories.

HIGHLAND SPRING TO ENTER WORLD TOP 25

Highland Spring’s agreement to purchase Greencore’s Campsie Springs and Blaen Twyni operations, should put it in the world top 25 packaged water producers by volume. This is a fitting accomplishment for a business celebrating its 30th anniversary in a market that is returning to growth. It is all the more remarkable, given the early scepticism of British consumers about paying for bottled water at all.

Having previously bought the Gleneagles and Speyside Glenlivet brands, Highland Spring will also gain UK market leadership by volume and stronger relationships with many of the leading UK supermarket groups.

At Zenith, we are especially pleased because Highland Spring will be our host at next year’s Global Bottled Water Congress and UK Bottled Water Industry Conference from 1-4 November at Gleneagles.

HEALTH CRAZE GONE CRAZY

Talk about crossed wires.

The objectives are undoubtedly sound. The British Government’s Department of Health is proposing an English Healthier Food Mark. Restaurants would be awarded a Gold, Silver or Bronze level by meeting certain conditions.

One of the Bronze level criteria, however, is the exclusion of bottled water from the menu.

So the Department of Health, as part of its mission to reduce obesity, is seeking to restrict availability of the only packaged drink containing no calories and no added ingredients.

Promoting tap water is fine, but tap water has to be treated with chemicals. When you eat out, surely you are entitled to choose an all natural product with zero calories ?

And what about sparkling water ?

It seems to me the health craze has gone health crazy here.

28 ACQUISITIONS IN SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

Out of 28 transactions recorded in September and October, 12 were in soft drinks, 7 in dairy and 6 in alcoholic drinks.

The biggest was Suntory’s €2.6 billion deal to buy Orangina Schweppes.  The other main story was Anheuser-Busch InBev’s disposal of its central European operations to private equity firm CVC Capital Partners for US $2.2-3.0 billion.

26 countries were involved, with France being the most active.  14 were single country affairs.

Sep 09	Cheese	New Zealand’s Kaimai buys Te Mata
	Wine	KWV from South Africa buys outstanding 50% of Golden Kaan brand from Racke of Germany
	Soft drinks	US Coca-Cola buys less than 20% of Zico coconut water producer	$15m
	Soft drinks	SABMiller from UK to buy Maheu non-alcoholic maize drink in Zambia from Trade Kings	$19m
	Dairy	China’s Heilongjiang Wondersun Dairy to buy farms and processing plants from Synutra	$29m
	Fruit juice	France’s La Martiniquaise buys Caraïbos
	Beer	Carlsberg from Denmark to increase stake from 16% to 30% in Habeco of Vietnam
	Fruit juice	Serbia’s Knjaz Milos, part of Danube Foods Group, buys Moc Prirode juice brand from Agroeconomik
	Soft drinks	Russia’s Decka to buy Stepan Timofeyevich kvas brand from Heineken of Netherlands
	Soft drinks	Suntory from Japan to buy Orangina Schweppes in France from Blackstone and Lion Capital private equity firms	€2.6bn
	Soft drinks	US Pepsi Bottling Group and Catterton Partners make equity investment in ONE coconut water producer
	Dairy	Andros from France to buy Cantabria dairy plant from Leche Pascual of Spain
	Bottled water	Advent International private equity firm from Luxembourg to buy 75% of Devin in Bulgaria from Soravia property company of Austria
	Spirits	Poland’s CEDC buys Parliament Vodka
	Wine	France’s Boisset buys Antonin Rodet from Sequana
	Dairy	Agropur from Canada buys Michigan operations of Farmland Dairies in United States
	Dairy	Lala from Mexico to buy Farmland Dairies and Promised Land of United States
	Soft drinks	Japan’s Sapporo to buy 22% of Pokka from Advantage Partners and other investors	$111m
	Wine	Australia’s Oatley Wines to buy Cumbandry Vineyard from Foster’s
	Bottled water	Wahaha from China to buy out remaining 51% of joint venture with Danone of France
	Dairy	Netherlands’ DeltaMilk to buy Bleskensgraaf cheese plant from FrieslandCampina
	Dairy	France’s Alsace Lait buys Savoie Yaourt	€15 m sales
Oct 09	Soft drinks	Germany’s Radeberger, part of Oetker group, buys 51% of Bionade from Egon Schindel	€20 m est
	Ingredients	Dairygold from Ireland to buy Solailoire of France
	Beer	CVC Capital Partners private equity firm from UK to buy central European operations of Anheuser-Busch InBev from Belgium	$2.2- 3.0 bn
	Soft drinks	France’s Laiterie de Saint-Denis-de-l’Hôtel buys L’Abeille from Duke Street Capital	€40 m sales
	Coffee	SLAP from Canada to buy coffee processor in China
	Sugar	Savola from Saudi Arabia to buy outstanding minority stakes in Egyptian and Saudi sugar units of Tate & Lyle from United Kingdom	$64 m

STEVIA VIABILITY

Stevia is important. That’s for sure. But how important ?

It’s still too soon to tell, though there are early signs. The pioneering US products seem to be doing well. Both Coke and Pepsi appear to be considering launches under even bigger brand names.

Stevia’s main drawback is that it isn’t sufficient as an all natural intense sweetener when used by itself. It works best when blended with other sweeteners, but can’t use the all natural claim if blended with so called artificial sweeteners.

This, it turns out, could be a blessing. Consumers don’t yet quite believe that they can have an all natural zero calorie drink. They do believe that regular products can be naturally improved to give a lower calorie content.

This emphatically wasn’t the case a few years ago when various companies tried mid calorie products. At the time, however, they had to depend on artificial sweeteners.

I wonder if it is possible that regular carbonates could migrate to lower calorie positions over the next few years. Or will the scientists have come up with a competitive natural sweetener that works as well without any calories at all ?

Viable, certainly. Enviable, probably.