It’s not plant-based, It’s delicious taste!
18 Oct 2022 | ofi
Creating new plant-based recipes that will grow your business and appeal to modern consumers can be quite a challenge! Whether fully vegetarian or vegan, or just flexitarian, taste still rules for all consumers. In this webinar, Innova will present new insights for the plant-based beverages space and ofi will take you along on an exploration of innovation opportunities for indulgent plant-based milk alternatives, coffee drinks, and chocolate drinks. Discover the full nutritional and flavor potential of our ingredients portfolio - across nuts, cocoa, coffee and spices - to create your next indulgent, nutritious or hybrid success recipe!
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Good afternoon and welcome to this OFI webinar.
Today, we're going to be talking about plant-based beverages.
We'll be sharing insights and talking about opportunities in this fast-growing space.
My name is Daphne Sarra, and I'm the head of sales for the Imana region, and it's my pleasure to introduce this session.
Before we dive into the topic, I'd like to lay down some house rules for this webinar.
What we share is company proprietary.
We're aware that some of the participants might be competitors and therefore, we will not be discussing market, supply and demand or pricing topics.
Please make sure you ask your questions in the chat.
You can do this at any point in the webinar and we'll be answering these in the latter part of this session.
Lastly, please be aware that the session is being recorded.
It's my pleasure to introduce today's main speakers.
Mirta de Boolar from Enova Market Insights will speak first, and she'll be sharing the latest research, trends, and inspirations we have in plant-based beverages.
Mirta will then be followed by my colleague, Pilar Dare, who leads beverages, dairy, and desserts innovation for OFI.
You can see that we work cross-functionally across sales, innovation, and marketing to bring customers relevant and specific solutions.
We're able to design those specific sessions for your company to deep dive into your needs and your category projects.
We'll share our contact info at the end of the session so that we can be in touch.
Let me share a little bit about OFI.
OFI is the new name for Olam food ingredients.
We introduced our new look and positioning in the fourth quarter last year in 2021, building on the heritage of the Olam Group.
Our product portfolio consists of natural, sustainable, plant-based food ingredients and solutions.
We're focusing on end-use categories that are large, attractive, and high growth, and we're directing our innovation capabilities from plant to plate to palate to develop fresh concepts for our customers.
Our product portfolio consists of natural, sustainable plant-based food ingredients and solutions in coffee, cocoa, dairy, nuts, and spices.
Here, you've got a map showing our global footprint spanning all continents in both sourcing and in processing.
This snapshot of key figures of OFI shows that in 2021, we achieved a revenue of $10.9 billion US dollars.
We operate in over 49 countries and have over 110 manufacturing facilities where we bring our natural ingredients together, sourced from 2.6 million farmers, both direct employees and indirect collaborators.
We are very present in the fast-growing and market categories of bakery, beverages, confectionery, snacking, and culinary with our product portfolio.
In today's session, we'll be focusing on our cocoa, coffee, and nuts platforms in the beverage space, but please stay tuned for more webinars where we will showcase other products and categories.
You may not know us, but we are a B2B ingredients supplier behind many household names.
1 in 5 chocolate bars in the world contains our cocoa beans and cocoa ingredients.
And in the nut space, we are the 2nd largest supplier in almonds, and in the volumes that we supply, we can make over 350 million cupcakes a year.
That was it for the introduction of OFI and it's now my pleasure to transition over to Mirta from Innova Market Insights.
Thank you very much, Daphne.
I'm very excited to partner with OFI today and take you along in the world of plant-based beverages.
So I hope you'll come away from this webinar with a better idea of plant-based market trends and innovation opportunities for nut-based beverages.
So our topics of today will include key trends in plant-based to start with.
Then we'll look at the impact of this evolving space on the beverage market, and we'll end with a more targeted deep dive into nut-based beverages.
And we're going to look at the plant-based trend through the lens of Enova's annual top 10 trends.
So if you're not familiar with Enova's top 10 trends, every year we release a range of reports that are dedicated to the top 10 food and beverage trends identified for each upcoming year.
And it's basically our key selection of trends to be aware of and providing forward looking insights on what's impacting the food and beverage industry.
It's probably one of the most anticipated things we do every year.
And I can, I can say I always get super excited by all the potential that we can identify for, for a creative segment like Plant-based.
So key trends in plant-based.
And as you can see, we've identified plant-based decanvass for innovation as our number two trend for 2022.
And watching the trend evolve over time, there's, there's really no question it's going to stay on our radar for 2023 and beyond.
And when you look at technological developments for Plant-based alone, you can really tell it's setting the pace for a wider industry innovation as.
So through our annual consumer surveys, we can, for example, spotlight that 2 in 5 consumers globally say that they are more open to new technologies.
Now that I have seen where it has brought plant-based innovation.
And that's a change in mindset that is worth remembering and a sign of how consumers are are further shaping the canvas for innovation.
And you also got to be aware of consumer drivers.
And and a major shift we see for consumers globally is the growing role of environmental sustainability in what's driving them to to consider plant-based alternatives.
And health is a top reason, but, a product that stands out with efforts to improve planetary health and that is backed up with tangible information that consumers can trust.
That, that really has the potential of becoming the tiebreaker in consumers' decisions.
And that's, that is really something that we can see from a macro level as.
So we see that 2 28% of consumers globally are saying they include environmental -being when thinking about holistic health.
So health includes a healthy planet when you think from a consumer perspective.
And also when you look at general concerns that consumers can have around global issues.
So a major shift that we're seeing is health of the planet becoming the top global issue for consumers, even surpassing health of the population in 2021.
And of course, if we look into country differences, that's also something that we that we consider when doing our consumer research.
We see some differences between countries, but it's interesting to see the shift through a global average, at least here.
And as an example of how the industry is responding to to this insights, we see that for example the German brand Grow is stepping into the, the space combining both health, plant-based, and planetary health.
And they are positioning, for example, by saying, because if you keep it plant-based more often, Mother Nature will be happy.
So they're positioning around happiness and health and and and and the environment.
So we see that nutrition and sustainability both play a bigger role as brands refine the next generation of plant-based foods.
And this is resulting in the plant-based sector becoming more than an alternative.
So this is also why we consider the canvas for innovation.
But we also see that consumers are are looking for quality alternatives.
So there's an increasing need for plant-based food optimization.
And this is something that we also identified through our consumer survey.
So we asked consumers what reasons would keep you from buying plant-based alternatives.
And then some key answers included poor taste and texture with 1 in 3 consumers globally saying this.
And we had price and value for money, which is interesting to highlight, but also to process and artificial ingredients.
Or some consumers don't know enough about plant-based alternatives to to give an answer.
So that poor taste and texture, but also to processed and artificial ingredients are are key challenges to, to, to tap into when it's when it comes to plant-based beverages.
And this is really an opportunity to optimize across different beverage categories, for example, for example.
So we see a lot of interesting innovation going on in the markets when it comes to plant-based beverages, whether it's plant-based tea.
So we have a matcha latte example on this slide, for example, or more of a an oat-based, dairy alternative drink, like Benacle here.
Or something super indulgent with a specific focus on flavors like this cookie and vanilla offering.
So how are plant-based trends really impacting the beverage space in the West European markets?
So let's have a look at some consumer insights to to find out.
So we asked consumers in West Europe for which categories they would like to see more plant-based alternatives in supermarkets in both 2021 and 2022.
And note here on this slide how alternatives to milk are in highest demand after a big shift compared to 2021.
It's also interesting to see when diving into product launches, we see that the industry is clearly responding to that.
So milk represents 49% of launches of selected categories with a plant-based positioning in West Europe in the first half of 2022.
And within that plant-based beverage base, and we're talking about beverages with a plant-based positioning here, we see that coffee mixes are are growing fast.
And since they are growing from a small base, so that's less than 5 launches in a time frame combining the second half of 2017 and the first half of 2018.
We can really say it's a space to watch out for compared to other beverage categories.
And we can also see on this slide how these categories compare to each other when it comes to their market share in the past 5 years.
So the, the bigger the the plant bubble here, the, the, the bigger this market in comparison to the other, categories.
So we see that dairy alternative drinks is the most established space when it comes to to plant-based beverages.
And again, coffee mixes is very niche, as you can tell, but fast growing with a +32% average annual growth.
And interesting to spotlight, an example of a coffee mix on the market.
So vegan Leben, they have an offering that are positioning on plant-based enjoyments.
It's a cappuccino mix with a caramel flavor.
And I'm really interested in seeing how this, this market will develop even further.
So now what do ingredients tell us?
From a consumer perspective, we learned that nuts are a key alternative protein source for consumers in West Europe.
So this is what we see here.
Almost half of consumers in West Europe say that they are most interested in nuts, with other alternate protein sources of interest being lentils, chickpeas, peas, and oats.
So this is an average of France, Germany, Spain and UK consumer data, but perhaps good to point out some differences between countries as.
So we saw that only for consumers from France, they do not list nuts as being the first preferred alternative protein source.
But for all the other countries, so Germany, Spain, UK, nuts is really the top one chosen source across ages and across, differences in income level as.
And overall, on average, for consumers in West Europe, consumers with either low or high income, nut ingredients are really on top, for this average.
An interesting example again to highlight the potential for nuts on the market, we have a breakfast drink here on the right, launched in Germany in September 2022.
It's a feel good feel food breakfast drink with roasted hazelnuts.
So interesting also that the position on how the hazelnuts are being applied in this drink, with a roasted claim.
So with consumers in West Europe expressing most interest in nuts, let's have a look at how this ingredient performs in market launches as.
And when looking at the top product bases tracked in different plant-based beverage types launched in West Europe over the past year, we see that oat is currently on top.
And now this is really interesting because we just saw in our previous slide that consumers are most interested in nuts, but nuts are currently not the most represented in the markets.
So that really tells us that there's a big opportunity here for nuts in plant-based beverages and especially in in chocolate drinks here where nuts are only ranking 5th as attract product base.
Another interesting differences, between, , plant-based categories included in coffee mixes.
Nuts share a first ranking position with oats, , currently.
But as mentioned before, this is still a niche market, so there's definitely enough opportunity still in this space to grow.
And then in iced coffee and in dairy alternative drinks, nuts ranks 2nd, after, after oats.
And we can really tell here on this slide.
I, I spotlighted some examples, , that include nuts as a a product base.
We have some, some key brands here, from Nescafe, for example, they have an almond latte, mix, on the market, but also plenish, has, a position on, , a cashew as an ingredient, which will be interesting to look at, in our, in our next slide as.
So again, how to tap into this opportunity for nuts.
So to start with, it's good to think from a a consumer perspective.
We know that they're interested in nuts, but how familiar are they with them and how do they perceive them in terms of healthiness?
Now there's a lot of information on this slide, but I will guide you through it so you can understand the full value of it.
And this graph shows on one side consumer familiarity.
So, how familiar are consumers in West Europe with the following plant-based dairy alternative basis.
And the higher up the bubble, the more familiar people are with them.
And this is compared with how these product bases are perceived compared to regular dairy in terms of healthiness.
So almonds, for example, is perceived as both familiar and healthy.
And when you look at the bubble size, the number of plant-based beverage launches tracked with this product base in West Europe over the past year is also considerable compared to other product bases.
So now you may ask, where's the opportunity here?
So first of all, there is P, which shows strong growth in terms of launches.
So it is expected that familiarity will also increase then a lot for consumers.
But when it comes to nut ingredients like cashew and hazelnut, there's a lot of untapped potential.
So both ingredients show opportunity to score to score higher in perceived healthiness when familiarity increases.
So it's kind of following Almond's example, but with different benefits.
So, especially for cashew, if consumers become more familiar on the nutritional opportunities, this can really be a game changer for that ingredient.
And another way of looking at opportunities is by identifying consumers' reasons against consuming dairy alternatives.
So we asked consumers, what are your key health related reasons against consuming dairy alternatives in West Europe.
And the top answers were artificial, too much sugar, and then digestive health.
So with these, these, these reasons, there is again opportunity to to to solve this and to, to create launches on the market that's that are, for example, natural or low sugar.
So I have a spotlight here on on how hazelnut-based beverages can avoid these challenges.
So VLI, they have a very interesting product launched in Germany and launched in June 2022.
And they are using technology, so this is why I also spotlighted our tech to table trend here.
They're using technology to leverage the best of both worlds, let's say.
So because they're in the end, ultimately they're offering a natural product.
They say that they're 100% natural, they have a roasted hazelnuts from Spain and with the sweetness of dates and persimmon juice concentrates.
And they also position on no added sugar, which, which according to the product helps to cover your daily needs, stabilizes your blood sugar levels and makes you pleasantly full.
So there's a full story around that, which is backed up by this tech technology angle.
So when we look at taste and texture approaches for plant-based milk because we saw that this was also a challenge for consumers, for them not to to to buy dairy alternative drinks.
There are different strategies you can, you can look into, and One question that we ask consumers is, how would you like the taste and texture properties of plant milk, plant-based milk to be in West Europe?
And one of the answers would be to mimic the original products in taste and texture.
So there are a lot of strategies around this.
And on the other hand, we have taste and texture of the alternative ingredients.
So really positioning on one of these product bases, for example.
And this is something that this products, product example on the right, , does.
So positioning on almonds being creamy, delicious, in this plant-based alternative drink.
And not necessarily trying to mimic, the taste and texture of, of traditional milk.
Now another way of of tapping into into this potential when it comes to, for example, mimicking er er dairy dairy milk.
Would be to look into hybrids.
So this is a, a strategy that could be useful for targeting a flexitarian consumer, that, that does want to reduce some, of its dairy consumption, but also really is looking into that, that, the taste and texture, , that is, that should be just as good as the, the, the normal product that they would consume.
So this is an example of a product that has been seen first in the shelves of Carrefour in France, but also in the Inmarche in 2021.
And it's from Paquire E Company, and they are combining almond milk for 50% with dairy milk for 50%.
And positioning it toward then textual properties like, , soft, , softness, they are really targeting that, , flexitarian consumer.
And what's next for plant-based beverages?
It's all about finding the innovation sweet spots.
So we ask consumers to what extent would you compromise the naturalness of food ingredients for better taste and texture.
And 39% of consumers in West Europe said, , very much or rather much.
So there's actually, consumers are actually OK, with, , having, for example, technology, enhance, the taste and texture in a product.
And, and this is really interesting to, to look into also when we, when we, when we look into news articles.
So, an interesting development is also in 2022, September, scientists at Denmark Technical University National Food Institute obtained the butter aroma by converting sugar in plant-based beverages.
So they are having this buttery texture elevated thanks to a bacteria technology here.
And then another untapped potential here would be when we ask consumers about costs.
So we had this statement in a survey.
I would pay more for plant-based alternatives if they came with added health benefits and 32% of consumers in West Europe strongly agreed or agreed to that statement.
So, added health benefits can also be a particular strategy for certain consumers.
So we have a spotlight here on a plant-based drink innovation in the US just to highlight what the opportunities are.
And this is a drink that is 100% plant-based, but that also includes almond milk, blue spirulina, MCT oil, maca, and prebiotics, all contributing to an added health benefits.
And if you think of it and combining technology and added health benefits in such a, in such a launch, this could be a potential for sweet spot innovation right here.
So ultimately, there are many facets you you need to consider when deciding where to place your bets on.
But I hope that all these insights can already give you a bit of a direction of where the market currently is going.
And just some final key takeaways to share and summarize the past 20 minutes.
So when tracking plant-based developments, nutrition and sustainability both play a bigger role as brands refine the next generation of plant-based foods.
And this is resulting in a in a plant-based sector becoming more than an alternative, so de-canvass for innovation, and there's also an increasing need for plant-based food optimization to improve on those aspects, as as taste and texture.
So we saw that alternatives to milk are higher in demand compared to 2021 and that plant-based beverage innovation shows no signs of slowing down, with growth across different plant-based beverage types.
And fastest growth that we tracked was in in coffee mixes over the past 5 years.
And what's next?
There's definitely an untapped potential for nut-based beverages.
Oat is currently on top as a product base in West Europe, but we saw that nuts can be the next game changer when looking at both market developments and consumer insights.
And we saw that, for example, cashew and hazelnuts show opportunity to score higher in perceived healthiness when familiarity increases.
And other innovation opportunities lie within that potential for improved taste, texture, and health benefits.
And, and today's next speaker, Pilar, she will be able to share more on the full nutritional and flavor potential of OFI's ingredients portfolio.
So, over to you, Pillar.
I'm really looking forward to, what you have to say.
Thank you, Mirte, for such valuable insights, for our works.
So, good afternoon, everybody.
I'm Pilar Dare from OFI Innovation, and in the next 10 minutes, I will talk about the great potential of inclusion of nuts into plant-based beverages.
So after having a deep dive into the key trends, we have got very interesting insight on what consumers are looking after, not being surprised to see that they are aiming for products that are good for the planet and good for their health, but also at the same time, having a high standard on taste and texture er expectations.
On the other hand, researchers are showing that the amount of plant-based protein is on the rise, with nearly 40% sales increase over the past two years.
Setting nuts are the right choice when developing plant-based beverages.
So being nuts the center of attention, the attention allowed me to say that it's all about nuts.
Nuts are attractive as key ingredients for plant-based beverages products due to their nutritional profile.
Beer by nature, low in sugar, rich in fiber, they provide healthy fats and plant proteins, and depending on the nut type, they can be a good source of minerals and vitamins, and of course being gluten-free by nature.
But nuts provide not only nutrition but a clean and pleasant taste that is often lacking in other plant-based proteins such as pea, soy, or oats, for example.
And thanks to the versatile range of nuts ingredients and formats, they can bring great, great functionality to plant-based formulations.
For example, nut protein powders acting as a binding agent.
And in addition, nuts are the perfect complement of other products in our portfolio, such as cocoa powder, spices, and soluble coffee, which enables the creation of a wide range of plant-based beverages formulations.
In summary, we clearly see an untapped potential for nut-based beverages, and this is how we have got the inspiration to come up with different concept ideas.
To tackle the most relevant challenges while bringing solutions and formulation ideas that can be tailored depending on the needs, on the needs.
So I'm very excited to share with you different product ideas for three relevant product categories when talking about plant-based beverages, which are coffee beverages, cocoa beverages, and nut-based, beverages.
So talking about coffee beverages, according to Consumer Insight.
There an urgent rules on the decision making, especially for European consumers, but being equally important as nutrition, sustainability and environmental concerns.
It is also very known that the key challenges while developing plant-based beverages are flavor and texture acceptance by consumers, and the addition of nuts can bring a clear improvement while compared with other plant-based sources such as pea, soy, or oat.
Providing nuts, creaminess, and a very diverse flavor notes from neutral to nutty taste, depending on the source and roasted profile.
Having the right pairing with our specialty coffees to build a wide range of products.
So now, it's a good time to show you some of the concepts we developed after testing all types of nuts and coffee combination.
Believe me, we literally went nuts about coffee.
So the most important attribute from a consumer perspective when we talk about ready to make or ready to drink solutions are indulgence and convenience.
So we decided to work on two product propositions.
The first is a ready to make coffee, that is in fact one of the categories that is growing fast with + 30% according to to IOA figures.
That's why we thought this concept as a range of coffee drinks such as macchiato.
Cappuccino and mocha.
Being the perfect combination of soluble coffee, nut protein powder, and began creamer for a tasty and foamy 3 in one, mixed, to be mixed with warm water, bringing convenience together with a moment of, of enjoyment and, and indulgence for any occasion such as camping, easy and quick breakfast at home or at the office.
And the second concept is an on the go, a ready to drink coffee, finding in this case, the right combination of nuts and coffee extract to have a creamy, smooth, and an indulgent, ready to drink coffee beverage.
Offer again as a, also as a range, such as macchiato, cappuccino and mocha that can also be adapted depending on, on the customer needs.
I, honestly, I would like to say that nuts combined with coffee are giving a really new flavor variety and a pleasant and creamy, creamy taste.
One additional fact, having seen that nuts are one of the most chosen sources for coffee drinks.
And we have also seen that almond has a higher position of familiarity, but while looking at cashew and hazelnuts, the healthiness it's also, and, and it's perception is also there.
Reaffirming that once consumers get more familiarity, these nuts will be a key source to be considered.
So when Mirte said.
Nuts are the next changer, I can only agree that makes a lot of sense.
And based on our formulation experience, I can share that cashews have a great fit with coffee in all types of formulations.
In each case, you can see underneath of each concept which are the OFI ingredients that we use, as key for each formulation complemented, of course, by other ingredients to have a complete, a complete formulation.
Now, while moving to the second category, when we talk about cocoa or chocolate beverages, we know that consumers.
And looking for products that are better for them and better, better for the environment, but without giving up on taste.
Therefore, expecting to find a truly indulgent cocoa beverage with the right creaminess and smoothness and a pleasant chocolatey taste.
If I now ask you, what do you expect in a cocoa drink, I'm sure that you will agree with this, with this statement.
And listening to these needs, we are certain that nuts, a flavor profile and nutrition can bring the needed added value that can perfectly complement cocoa ingredients to build a balanced and tasty tasty cocoa drink, allowing a versatile taste variety to win consumer preference for all different targets.
And because we have a wide er cocoa portfolio, we can go from really intense cocoa to milder or more chocolate taste depending on the consumer expectations.
And this versatility can also cover a wider spectrum of, of product concepts and emerging trends such as hybrid propositions as also Milte mentioned in her presentation, which allows nutrition diversification and taste variety while reducing dairy consumption, having nuts, a perfect fit also to still mimic milk profile and nutrition if that's the, the consumer desires.
So I hope that you are now curious er to know more about our products ideas.
Coming to the first, we thought about developing a ready to drink or on the go a proposition, built on the combination of cocoa and nuts ingredients to have a perfect balance, to have a rich, smooth and creamy texture and indulgent chocolate tea or cocoa taste.
The second one is a ready to make a cocoa drink as a perfect combination of cocoa powder, nut protein powders, and vegan creamer for a tasty, a foamy 3 in 1 powder to mix with warm butter, that can also represent a very convenient consumer proposition.
In this solution, we prioritize the incorporation of cashew and, and almond protein powder with a great taste of cocoa powder, and as mentioned before in the presentation, both nuts have great potential and awareness with consumers having this on the rise.
And last but not least, we have a 3rd proposition, so answering to new emerging trends such as hybrid concepts, we decided to work on a ready to drink proposition, being the perfect combination of dairy and nuts for consumers that are not willing to fully give away a dairy, but looking for nutrition and taste diversification.
Again, in every case you can see underneath every concept which were the OFI ingredients that we use for each formulation complemented, of course, by, by other ingredients.
So now, coming to the last concept, I'm sure that you would like to hear more about nuts, so let's have a look to nut-based plain beverages.
Coming back to Enova trends in sights on alternative protein sources, nuts are showing the highest interest versus er other plant sources, which again position nuts as a very good choice er to move forward.
This category is very versatile because consumers are looking for good tasting plant-based beverages to fit various applications, so not only for one use.
So to be consume a seed to complement their meals, being also suitable for food preparations and baking.
In a nutshell, they want to introduce taste variety to the diet with nutrition and great taste.
We are not magicians, of course, but we have in our hands ingredient solutions to bring great tasting plant-based products to life.
You will think how?
The combination of nuts creates a unique and unpleasant taste profile and mouth feel, bringing an added value versus other offerings in the market.
And depending on the source and type of nuts, can also bring a balanced and rich nutrition.
On the other hand, this taste variety is for sure a good fit for higher proposition to attract a flexitarian consumers.
So now let me present to you our two product propositions, but of course with the same level of importance.
The first one is an ondego fully plant-based beverage, working with different approaches.
One combining nuts and another having single nut formulations.
We, we have seen that while combining cashew and almond, we were surprised on the generous synergies between both, building a unique and pleasant profile with great criminals and, and mouthful.
But also, both nuts and also hazelnuts are functioning very for single nut formulation, bringing again, again, great taste, texture, and, and creaminess.
And one additional fact I would like to bring as relevant and with great potential for application, depending on your needs, of course, is that both cashew and almond can optimize, for example, pea protein formulations on with regards to taste and texture.
They work very in combination, and nuts are acting as good maskers for a great tasting and nutritious plant-based drink.
And then when we talk about hybrid variants or hybrid proposition, we develop a fifty-fifty mix of dairy and nuts to bring also the best nutrition, taste and mouth feel being a very good proposition for flexitarian consumers.
Again, as the previous concept, you can see underneath, which were the other ingredients that we use for the formulation of all complemented by other ingredients to have a full, a full recipe.
So now, coming to the end, to make sure that you get to know our portfolio stars, please have a look through their pictures.
As you can see, we have a wide range of possibilities by combining ingredients and, and formats.
Starting with coffee and our range, for, for example, for RTD formulation, we focus on the use of coffee extract, and then we use spray dry or freeze dried coffee for powder formulation.
And in, in every format we have a wide range of variety depending, of course, on, on your needs, depending on origin and roasting profile.
When we talk about nuts, Again, the possibilities are very diverse.
We have all types of nuts and formats, and particularly for beverages, we focus on the use of nut protein powders for almond and cashew, and paste for, for, also cashew, almond, and, and hazelnut.
But within these types, there are also different variants depending on the needs.
We have different roasting profile, we can offer natural products, blanche as examples.
So we can always tailor the products to, to the customer needs.
And if we look at cocoa, of course, we are known thanks to our range of options and, and high quality of our, of our ingredients.
So we can go from natural to low and high alkalis, from low fat to high fat, with a specialty such as organic, single origin, and segregation, among others.
So, basically having a specific ingredients and solutions to answer and to be tailored depending on, on the customer needs.
So now it's time to give back the stage to Daphne who will guide us through the opportunity we have for you before closing the session.
So thank you and back to you, Daphne.
Thanks so much, Pilar, for walking us through these exciting concepts that represent some of the applications we can co-develop with our customers.
I would like to mention at this point, some of the value propositions that we have that we feel are unique to OFI.
Firstly, we are able to offer end to end traceability, sustainability, and quality across all of our diverse supply chains.
You can see that we are target-oriented in driving our progress, improving our transparency and value chain information back to farmer group through OSource Plus, and we include also third-party verification.
You can see some of the logos of the, third parties that we work with across the world.
Last but not least, all of our products have a strict quality and food safety compliance and standard, and you can see all of the protocols that we are, and all of the procedures that we have, for all of our products and their logos as.
So in summary, our value proposition, as you see it, how we can make it real with you is we can provide you natural, nutritious and delicious ingredients that are solutions for your beverage applications.
We can provide reliable, traceable, and tailored information and ingredients on our supply chains.
And lastly, we're sustainable, collaborative, and transparent in how we share that information and make sure that we are enabling you with our ingredients to delight your consumers.
We're very much looking forward to working with you on your next project.
And the way we'll work is we'll assemble a cross-functional team from sales, innovation and marketing.
Here you can see that all of us are based in Amsterdam at our Customer Solution Center for Europe, and our emails are on the slide now for ease of us being able to be reached.
I'd now like to open the floor for the Q&A session.
Thank you so much for having listened to our particular session and for having heard from our different speakers.
Before we go into the Q&A session, and, and I know we've got a lot of questions queued up, just wanted to make sure that, we want to start with a poll and get you engaged, right?
So we will have a polling question that will come up on screen shortly.
And I would really appreciate if you would take a moment to answer on behalf of yourself and your company, which of the applications that we shared would you like to learn more about?
Are you interested in the coffee beverages, in the cocoa beverages, and the dairy alternatives, or is it something else?
One of the things that we've wanted to do is, showcase concrete examples of what it is, that we can offer, but we also wanna make sure that you're aware of, our broad breadth in, applications and innovation capability development, and we're looking to co-create with you.
I can see that answers are coming on screen now.
I do wanna give everyone a little bit of a time to be able to answer cause we really appreciate this feedback.
It gives us a direction on where to go with our work and also what kind of samples to be getting ready.
So, What we're hoping at the end of this, session is that many of you will reach out to us, through our emails.
There will also be an email sent to you after this.
Will you be able to fill in and say, I'd like to work with you on this particular project or I have questions here.
So I'll just take a few more moments, as it's coming in, and I'll wait for, the tech team to tell me when we're done with the poll.
It's not moving as big as I thought anymore.
So just a couple more sections, or a couple more sessions.
Please go ahead and fill in your answer.
This is anonymous at this point, so you're not giving away anything.
But it really, really helps, us to gear up.
So, Excellent.
Looks like the poll, we're about to close it.
So thank you so much for your answers, and we're ready to switch to the Q&A.
And I saw that we had some questions coming in the chat and might ask to the technical team if they would allow us to be able to see those questions a little bit bigger.
I'm wearing my glasses today, but I sometimes need some more help.
Right.
I think they're telling me resize my panel.
There we go.
That's what I need to do.
All right.
Let's begin with the questions that we've received.
Thank you so much for these.
The first question that we got is, Plant-based beverages growth has been cooling down in Western Europe.
What do you think are the drivers for this?
And perhaps, you know, Mirte, you're the one who shared the consumer insights.
Perhaps you can engage and answer this question, , from your point of view of what you see.
Hi, thank you for your question.
So the, the, so the plant-based beverage is cooling down in growth in West Europe?
That is the that is the question, right?
That's what the person was saying.
So first of all, would you refute that claim that plant-based beverages are cooling down?
That is would you agree with that.
That is indeed a first thing to to look at for sure, , because we do indeed some stabilization when it comes to, growth in, , dairy, alternative drinks.
But I wouldn't say that it's a, it's a space that, doesn't show, innovation anymore.
A slowdown in new product launches doesn't mean that there are no innovation opportunities.
It can just mean that the market is becoming more mainstream.
So in that sense it, it can even mean that this, this, this white space is becoming more familiar to consumers, and that, that gives even more opportunity to widen up that space even more into potential new subcategories.
So think of indeed those those coffee mixes or chocolate beverages.
So I think that that that in that sense, a more mainstream markets can have much more opportunity from this point and beyond.
I hope that that answers your question.
You know, when you were sharing.
I hope it answers the question for the person asking it.
I think I was also intrigued by your hybrid, beverages comment and how that I think will be growing the space as.
So from going from pure plant-based to also mixes.
Let me take the next question, that was being asked, and, and Pilar, maybe you can help me here is, says, what are the ways that, consumers can find it more, you know, more acceptable to have more processed beverages through technology?
And I was wondering whether the question is being asked about processing, understanding of how much the ingredients are being processed, what kind of information is shared, and I think that's more from the manufacturer's side.
Yeah, I think it's a really good question.
Sure.
Can you hear me now?
Good.
Yeah, so I think it's a really good, yes, good.
It's a really good question.
So, of course, at some point, most of the plant-based, sources require, of course, further process when you compare, for example, to, to the way we obtain milk, but of course, consumers are really looking after.
The environment and also products that are better for their health.
So at some point, I believe, and, and maybe Mirta can also confirm on her side, they are also a bit more open on looking after this type of solutions.
Even if they require a further process, because one thing is the process, but another point is the sustainability behind and the carbon footprint that is required to produce these, these products.
So, I think there are different ways to explain this, this positioning.
So, even if there is more process behind, at the end the impact into the environment, it's being minimized.
So, it, it's more the way we can position this type of products versus the, the, the animal source er ingredients.
Mm Yeah, I can actually complete that answer from the, from my side.
I think it's interesting to see also a trend in how this type of processing can be communicated on PC.
You probably heard about ingredient provenance already, so talking about where ingredients come from.
But I think the next step is also for consumers to know how does this ingredient benefit me or how does, what part of the process behind these ingredients, , how does that benefit me?
How are these healthy for me?
And I think that communicating on that aspect is about hyper provenance and that is, that goes even beyond what we, what we saw in, in, in earlier communications on PC.
Yeah, yeah.
Thank you both for your complete answers.
You know, it's very helpful.
I know that we have several customers asking us about processing versus natural and where does that stand.
And speaking of natural, there's a question here about, organic, right?
Somebody here is saying that their business, their family are all about organic and health.
They're also concerned with post-harvest, storage and transport.
So, one of the things I did want to share, with you all is all of the ingredients that we have talked about.
So when it comes to cocoa powder, we do have an organic cocoa powder in our range.
So that is clear.
When it comes to coffee, we do have organic coffee options as , depending on the origin and who we work with.
And then for our nuts portfolio, we definitely have organic offerings in cashews, and almonds, and hazelnuts.
Our organic, almonds come from the OFI operated certified orchards in California.
So for those looking for that origin, And then in hazelnuts, we can't supply all the different formats, like all the different paste and things, but when it comes to whole or broken or nuts, we definitely have a broad range that's available there.
So, to, answer that for all of these, ingredients, we do have organic formula organic options that are available.
We got a next technical question.
Pillar, I'd like to perhaps guide that one to you.
And it was a question on, the nutritional, amino acid profile of a combination of almond and cashew protein.
The person was specifically asking, what about Picass?
Yeah.
So, again, really good question.
So of course, on, on nutrition, all, all the nuts have a different profile.
We have certainly a lot of information behind that we can share further with, with customers, and, and we, in, in this case, I don't have the right or the perfect calculation done for all the recipes, but this can be tailored depending on.
On the needs, and of course, if we need to compare, almonds with cashew, we know that cashew has a, a better er PDAs compared to almonds, but it's always what you can do complementing the profile of the different plant based sources to reach the specific needs, depending on the consumer target there also.
But, but I think this is more a question that will need to be answered, er depending on the specific needs and, and for the product type, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, as you said, the actual formulation itself makes a big difference, right, in terms of the combinations.
So, so it's it's related to the have a question on, yeah.
Mm.
Good.
Yeah.
We had, someone online was asking, and Amir to this would be more for you, is, does this information exist for the Scandinavian region, right?
And, I'm sure you can answer that, whether this kind of insights, you would have available on, Scandinavia.
Perhaps that should be the next focus geographic area for us.
That's an interesting question.
I know that during the webinar, I, showcased data on Western Europe, more generally speaking, but we definitely also can deep dive into different countries.
There are a lot of country differences to be considered and, Scandinavia is an interesting region to look into and we do have , Eno has capabilities to help you with that.
So, for that, I would just, suggest to contact me and, , hopefully we can, we can help you with that.
For Brilliant.
We had another question that was asking whether the coffee mix, whether iced coffee would be an application that's possible.
Pilar, I wanted to maybe hand that one over to you.
Yeah, of, of course, the, we, the, the, let's say that the, the range of applications that we can do, it's, it's endless.
We focus on the ones that we were clearly seeing, a potential growth, as, as Mirte was, was saying, but we are really open to work on, on new applications for sure, yeah.
Yeah, I can see iced coffee is growing, particularly in Southern Europe.
It's a big favorite, isn't it?
So.
Let me just say that we have a couple of questions of people asking whether we can have the webinar pages, the presentation afterwards.
Let me confirm to all that, you will receive an email, at the end of this webinar, and you will receive a link to be able to watch, the webinar over again, and you'll be able to see the slides and our Voices, together in combination.
So, so definitely we'll be sharing the content.
We'll also be sharing a link, to be able to, reach out to us at OFI directly and, begin, you know, answering more of your questions in detail, looking at a particular project.
There's also one question here about, manufacturing.
Of the ingredients and where they're going to be made and in which countries.
And, and perhaps I'll take that one myself.
We work with a variety of companies and some of the companies are able to manufacture the final formulation themselves because they have their own steel in the ground.
That's easy for us to go in and work with them and optimize.
We have other companies that come to us saying, we can't make this stuff ourselves.
How can we work with you?
We do not manufacture final formulations, but what we do is work with a, a list of manufacturers or commands, in short, around Europe, Middle East, Africa, in order to be able to provide that final, formulation.
And sometimes our customers have their own list of preferred manufacturing partners and sometimes they rely on us for the ones that we have worked with already in the past and there's a, a little bit of a guarantee of working someone familiar.
There's one more question asked about, nuts as an allergen, you know, and how we handle that.
And, and it is true that there is, you know, nuts do have an allergen component to them, but in the same way as we handle, these products in any of our formulations, we're able to talk transparently about what those are, whether the production facility has nuts, can be incorporated or not, and we go through that, very detailed with our QA, and food safety team.
So , and then, I think there's also a follow-up question here on, formulation of plant-based ingredients.
Does it go against naturalists, right?
Is the technology perceived as something as natural?
And I think that's sort of adding on to the question that we had before, The ingredients that we're using are natural.
The formulations themselves, I think are very straightforward for consumers to understand.
There aren't strange ingredients or names in them.
So I think they're able to understand very clearly, how a nut is ground into a nut paste and included.
In a liquid.
I think they're able to understand how cocoa powder dissolves in liquids.
And coffee, same thing, how it dissolves in liquids.
So we're able to provide some more information if people want to understand more about the naturalness or the level of processing that comes from these particular products.
If I look at the screen, I know that we are very close to time and I did want to say that we've, we'd like to be able to wrap up this session before, you know, the end of the hour, make sure that we give you the time that we had allocated, but as I said, please be aware that you'll be receiving an email from us which gives the link to this presentation, and the The recording, but also a form for you to fill in, which explicitly is, you know, confidential to you, asking the kinds of questions you'd like to do and the kinds of, projects you'd like to work on with us, and that way you'd reach out to the OFI team and we would assemble a cross-functional team between sales, innovation and marketing to work with you on what your particular area and your need is.
So with that, I would like to thank you for your time.
We know it's valuable in the 4th quarter, everyone is really busy, but, to learn about plant-based beverages, how they are working, what's growing in Europe, and how OFI can collaborate with you on your particular need and solution, and, we look forward to your questions and engagement.
So please do not hesitate to reach out to us.
Thank you so much for joining.
