Foodservice market trends of 2017-2018
It was early February when the rain and low temperatures forced us to wear several layers of clothing beneath our thick jackets to keep ourselves warm. Taipei 101 had covered a fraction of our view as we tilted our heads to look up the sky from where we stood in Taipei city. People around us appeared busy, fast pacing through the streets with a smartphone on one hand and an umbrella on the other while going about their regular routines. In order to adapt to the busy and demanding lifestyle of Taiwanese consumers, the food trends in Taiwan have shifted to ready-made and easy-to-use food products, bringing to light the soaring popularity of convenient products due to its time saving properties.
Rich Products Taiwan (RPT) has responded to this trend with the All-Purpose Avoset Cream, a multipurpose non-dairy cream that can be used in a myriad of toppings, fillings, bakery and culinary applications. In fact, Rich’s Taiwan has successfully ventured into the CVS channel with Avoset Cream’s applications of ready-to-eat packaged bakery products.
RPT’s ready-made sauce (crafted from Versatié by a co-packer) has also become a part of the daily consumption for many local restaurants that use it as a core ingredient in many of their culinary dishes.
All-Purpose Avoset Cream is designed to be utilised for innovative TCCS applications on bread as a response to the rapidly growing market trends of premium unpackaged/artisanal breads within Taiwan. The Non-dairy property of All-Purpose Avoset Cream acts as an agent that extends product shelf life and an enhancer for bread texture to eliminate the tough challenges of achieving longer storage duration and attractive presentations for on-shelf bakery products. Its high stability in ambient temperature enables for much easier handling, while its health concept which bases itself on the ZTF (zero trans fat) formula along with its better mouth feel undoubtedly make it the number one replacement for shortening.
All-Purpose Avoset Cream will spark the desire to innovate with its appealing versatility of applications due to its high acidity tolerance. This means that it can be paired and mixed with a diverse selection of fruit pastes, jams and purees, giving our customers the power to always stay ahead in their markets because they can now focus on innovation rather than solving mixing restrictions.
With over 20 years of experience in the baking industry, Chef Ivan of Rich’s Taiwan masterfully worked magic on the stage as he juggled between demonstrating the various applications of All-Purpose Avoset Cream, all while diligently handcrafting his personalised mouth-wateringly delicious bread.
Chef Ivan commented: “In ambient room temperatures, Rich’s All-Purpose Avoset Cream guarantees stability and extended shelf-life duration when used as an application for my bread, all while enhancing its already great texture.”
Rich’s Taiwan successfully demonstrated All-Purpose Avoset Cream’s outstanding performance with its fast selling application of the 4-day shelf life cream filled pancakes that come in three main flavors, Cherry Blossom Leaf Strawberry, Mucha Red Bean and Chocolate. This product is available at one of Taiwan’s biggests CVS customers, Family Mart, a CVS store with approximately 3,000 retail outlets nationwide.
Doreen, a receptive and passionate marketer from Rich’s Taiwan, shared her observation of the current food trends in Taiwan: “The Taiwanese consumers within the food industry are currently shifting towards a more health-conscious mindset. This signifies the importance of healthier ingredient requirements for both large and small businesses within the culinary and bakery sectors.”
Addressing this market trend, RPT launched a ready-made sauce made from Versatié that is tailored for culinary dishes. This sauce provides a consistent and creamy texture to menus of soups, hot pots and sauces in coffee and breakfast chains, small and medium businesses as well as big brunch restaurant chains in Taiwan. This ready-made sauce acts as the ideal ingredient for its convenience and ease of application, which enables for faster preparation time for operators while shortening waiting time for hungry customers.
We had the opportunity to sample various delicious trendy Taiwanese breads prepared by Chef Ivan as well as great hot pots, soups, pita, tortilla, spaghetti, etc., prepared by our customers using RPC’s speed-scratch products. There is also an existing trend that leans the market towards a western influence of bread artistry. Notable breads currently in trend are baguettes, whole wheat breads, country breads, pitas, and many others from the western world.
Aside from the western influence, the local culture and lifestyle of the Taiwanese have also shaped these products to better suit to the tastes of the local Taiwanese consumers. Being a hybrid of both western and local influence, Taiwan is the epicenter for new and emerging food trends within Asia. In relations to the Vietnam market, it is anticipated that Vietnam will catch onto these trends in the near future but with a little cultural twist, just like the adaptation of milk tea that is currently booming in Vietnam.
For more information, please contact ChamSocKhachHang@rich.com
