A fortnight ago, I had the privilege of chairing a conference session during Gulfood in Dubai. Four eminent speakers presented their views on the top trends in the industry.

After a lively discussion, I asked the audience to vote on the three most important trends. Three of the speakers highlighted food safety.

Two mentions each were given to convenience, value for money, health, naturalness, innovation, customer service and traceability.

The audience voted most strongly for food safety as the key issue, followed by value for money and health.

If a similar poll had taken place in Europe or North America, I imagine that the environment and product benefit would have been additional contenders.

BevBlog

Ric Horobin and Alex Milne from Zenith International talk to Shaun Weston about a series of webinars they're running called 'Water Management Best Practice'.

Click here to listen to the 3-minute interview with Ric Horobin and Alex Milne.

Alternatively, you can subscribe to the FoodBev.com podcast series via iTunes.

You can sign up for the free webinars from this link.

Podcast produced by Shaun Weston for FoodBev.com

The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) recently commissioned a Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) study to determine the environmental footprint of the US bottled water industry. The results indicate that bottled water has a very small environmental footprint.

The study found:

• Measurement based on British Thermal Units (BTUs) indicates that the energy consumed to produce small-pack bottled water containers (from 8oz to 2.5 gallons) amounted to only 0.067% of the total energy use in the US in 2007. Home and Office Delivery (HOD) bottled water (reusable bottles from 2.5 to 5 gallons) energy consumption only amounted to 0.003% of the total energy used in the US in 2007.
• The small-pack and HOD bottled water industries' combined greenhouse gas/CO2 emissions amounted to only 0.08% of total US greenhouse gas emissions.
• Bottled water packaging discards accounted for only 0.64% of the 169m tonnes of total US Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) discards in 2007.
• The process and transportation BTU energy use for the bottled water industry was only 0.07% of total US BTU primary energy consumption.
• Greenhouse gas emissions per half-gallon of single-serve bottled water came to 426.4g CO2 equivalent, which is 75% less CO2 eq per half-gallon than orange juice.
• Small-pack bottled water generates 46% less CO2 eq when compared to soft drinks also packaged in PET plastic.

Franklin Associates, a division of ERG, produced the LCI and prepared a report that quantified the energy requirements, solid waste generation and greenhouse gas emissions for the production, packaging, transport and end-of-life management for bottled water consumed in the US in 2007.

According to a 2008 Beverage Marketing Corporation report, total consumption of bottled water in the US in 2007 was 8.8bn gallons.

The environmentally aware actions of many bottled water companies – such as the use of more recycled PET (rPET) in their bottle production, increasing recycling rates, and enhanced lightweighting – have positively impacted the environmental footprint of the industry.

Another recent study confirms the bottled water industry's very small environmental footprint. On 2 March 2010, Nestlé Waters North America, an IBWA member, released peer-reviewed findings on its environmental footprint in a study conducted by Quantis International.

Key findings from the study include:

• Water is the least environmentally 'impactful' beverage option.
• Tap water has lightest footprint, followed by tap water consumed in reusable bottles (if used more than 10 times), and then by bottled water.
• Bottled water is the most environmentally responsible packaged drink choice.
• Sports drinks, enhanced waters and soda produce nearly 50% more carbon dioxide emissions per serving than bottled water.
• Juice, beer and milk produce nearly three times as many carbon dioxide emissions per serving than bottled water.
• Milk, coffee, beer, wine and juice together comprise 28% of a consumer's total beverage consumption, but represent 58% of climate change impact.

Source: International Bottled Water Association

Chocolatier Bruyerre has enjoyed success in the confectionery business since 1909, and probably celebrated its centenary last year with a bouquet of its very own chocolate roses.

Shaun Weston caught up with Nicolas Khedir and Bruno Lescut at Gulfood 2010 in Dubai, and somehow managed to fire off a few questions in between sampling the chocolate.

You're certainly not a new company, as you've been around since 1909, but what steps is the business taking to ensure its success in the 21st century?

Nicolas Khedir and Bruno Lescut: Nowadays, the common trend among chocolate companies is to set off on the export business. This is all the more true since the Belgian chocolate market is glutted and competition cut-throat. Bruyerre currently exports to more than 30 countries, yet our vision hasn't changed: to keep spreading Belgian chocolate culture to other continents by proposing high-quality and traditional products.

What's competition like in the 'quality chocolate' industry in various parts of the world, and what do you do to stay ahead?

Khedir & Lescut: Quality chocolate becomes more and more popular in various parts of the world among communities who had not been familiar with this commodity before. In the Middle East for instance, chocolate is literally booming and so is the competition.

To stay ahead, Bruyerre constantly develops innovative products and puts the stress on flexibility. As we don't manufacture industrial products but artisanal ones, we're able to quickly respond to our customers' specific demands – chocolates with dates for the Middle East, colourful items for Japan, chocolate with goose liver for VIP clients, etc.

Flexibility and innovation are definitely the key words.

Your packaging is beautiful. Is it difficult to find a balance between marketing a high-quality, well-packaged product and encouraging a sustainable approach to business?

Khedir & Lescut: In fact, the only sustainable approach to business is to propose both high-quality and well-packaged products. One without the other would just be nonsense. This is something Bruyerre carefully bears in mind.

In practice, it materialises in setting up quality controls in every step of the production, from the moulding to the packing. The packaging also receives our full attention. Our professional graphics and designers make sure the packaging not only appeals to clients by their originality, but also resists to transportation and climate conditions. And each situation requires one particular packaging – a two-chocolate box personalised for hotels, chocolate roses for Valentine's Day or weddings, destination packs for the tourism sector, etc.

The trend towards Fairtrade chocolate is hard to resist. What's your view on the chocolate industry falling under the spell of Fairtrade?

Khedir & Lescut: Farm workers deserve to be properly paid. Bruyerre is aware of this and therefore strives to select suppliers who respect Fairtrade. Besides, as the demand for more Fairtrade products is manifest and ever-growing, it is of utmost importance to take this parameter into account, especially since it helps contribute to develop small farmers' wellness.

What's your most successful product?

Khedir & Lescut: Our most successful product might be the chocolate roses. They come in four different flavours: white ganache, gianduja with dark chocolate cover, gianduja with milk chocolate cover and praline with red fruit.

Basically, it's a unique concept. We have developed this product to bring something new into the market. The chocolate roses can be used for all purposes. Event planners love the idea of making a splendid bouquet of decoration, Romeos can flatter their Juliets by offering them a delicious red rose, and hoteliers know their establishments will gain in prestige if their guests can find a nice box of two chocolate roses on the suite bed.

The success of our bouquet of chocolate roses at Gulfood, displayed for this special occasion, was simply amazing.

Do you still produce new products as much as you used to, before the recession kicked in?

Khedir & Lescut: In this sector, it's a necessity to approach every season with new products, recession or not. As a matter of fact, one needs to be even more imaginative in terms of product research and development when facing less thriving times. However, you cannot really talk about recession when it comes to chocolate, for the simple reason that people usually choose not to overlook this fantastic commodity reputed for fighting depression!

What's the most challenging aspect of global chocolate distribution, and how are you managing to overcome it?

Khedir & Lescut: Like wine, chocolate can be easily damaged by heat and humidity. The former can melt it while the latter whitens it. In addition, too much light oxidises the product, and it turns rancid. As you can imagine, it's not an easy business to ship chocolates to the UAE, for example, where the temperature reaches 50°C.

You must be certain that in every step of the whole process, the chocolates will be maintained at 15-18°C and in a dry place. That's the challenge about chocolate: it's a precious material that must be handled accordingly.

What's next for Bruyerre?

Khedir & Lescut: For one century on, Bruyerre's main objective has remained unchanged: to satisfy chocolate connoisseurs by proposing exquisite products, attractive packaging and unequalled service. Yet, because sometimes it's the chocolate that has to go to the mouth and not the other way around, Bruyerre will expand its activity to new markets ... for the pleasure of new chocolate lovers, we hope.

Nicolas Khedir is Middle East export manager for Bruyerre, and Bruno Lescut is export sales manager.

It's widely understood that an ecommerce channel can add valuable revenue streams, but too many food and beverage organisations fail to integrate this facility with their core ERP systems.

While many think this is just an added layer of technological nuisance, failure to integrate the two defeats the object of using the ERP system to manage the sales order processing.

It's all too common within the food and beverage industry to have the simplest possible websites, online catalogues and credit card processing capabilities designed by the lowest bidder. But more often than not, the web developer lacks the skill and ability to integrate the website with the ERP. This results in all the data for the orders arriving through the online channel sitting separate to your core sales and stock information.

By failing to integrate the web sales function with the remainder of the ERP system, there are two core business abilities that are instantly lost:

1. If your ERP system is your main source of business intelligence (which it arguably should be), then the data is immediately reduced in value as the entire online channel is not accounted for and you instantly lose the benefits of real-time stock information and sales ordering – a particular problem if yours is a high volume business.
2. The online function loses all the usual advantages enjoyed by other channels. This includes the customer service element of delivery tracking information being available to customers as the despatch function of the ERP isn't connected to the web sales.

In short, as tight integration as is possible between the online channel and the other business functions, via the ERP, is absolutely crucial to provide full overall visibility of the sales and stock activities. Without this holistic vision of stock levels and the popularity of individual items, the online and offline sales may as well be two different companies.

New statistics from Beverage Can Makers Europe reveal that the UK remains the largest market for drinks cans in Europe, with total shipments of empty cans in 2009 at 8,778m, up 250m or 2.9% on 2008.

This was a striking performance in a year when recession has had a major impact on so many markets. The CSD sector performed particularly well, with shipments of 4,315m cans, an increase of 471m cans or 12.3%.

Commenting on the UK figures, chairman of Beverage Can Makers Europe, Vince Major, said: "It's encouraging to see that the UK market continues to thrive despite a challenging economy. Cans continue to be a popular choice for consumers, as they offer good value and are 100% and infinitely recyclable.

"Forecasts for this year look encouraging, and by maximising opportunities such as this summer's World Cup, we hope that this healthy performance will continue in 2010."

In the rest of Europe, the market remained stable despite the economic crisis. Total can shipments reached 51.5bn, a decrease of 2.4% compared to 2008. This slight drop can largely be attributed to the unexpected decrease of one billion cans (17.5%) in the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) due to the impact of reduced disposable income in the region.

Western Europe was steady with a 0.3% decrease on 2008, while the Eastern European market experienced a 9.3% drop, or a 2.2% decrease excluding CIS figures. The UK market was followed closely by Iberia, the Benelux and the CIS. The UK and Iberia make up 30% of the European can market while the four regions combined represent a 50% share.

Beverage cans continued to be a popular packaging format for a wide range of drinks, showing their resilience during tough market conditions. In 2009, soft drink can volumes in Europe decreased 0.3% versus 2008 to 24.5bn, while beer can volumes decreased by 4.2% to 26.9bn.

The soft drink and beer markets look brighter when excluding the CIS figures, indicating an increase of 0.9% to 24bn for soft drink cans and a decrease of 2% to 23.2bn for beer cans. France and the UK drove growth in the soft drink market while beer market growth was mainly achieved by Scandinavian countries.

Source: Beverage Can Makers Europe

Can you describe, in one sentence or less, the difference between a brand and a commodity?

A survey was done recently on LinkedIn in one of the business marketing professional groups, and 60% of the people that were asked this question gave one sentence for an explanation to this question. Simply stated:

A brand is your differential in your market and a commodity is the standard (easily interchangeable).

Brand isn't a name or logo. A brand should be a desirable idea that manifests itself in the experience, product and/or service that you or your company can offer to your audience. It can change perception and diagnose expectations. It can build authentic relationships between you and your clients/consumers/patients/students/audience.

A successful brand is the culmination of images and messages that interpret the anticipated experience of a product, thus providing intrinsic value beyond the cost of the product itself.

A great product doesn't automatically sell itself, as just about any businessperson who has built a better mousetrap can attest. Effective marketing is a critical factor in priming the pump and selling the customer long before the product is actually in his or her hands.

Lynda Resnick, aka 'The Pom Queen', has authored a real gem in Rubies in the Orchard. The 'rubies' are the pomegranates that she and her husband have grown on 18,000 acres of orchards to produce their 100% pure pomegranate juice, Pom Wonderful. The title also refers to finding 'elements of intrinsic value' that consumers desire.

She says, "Every successful marketing campaign begins with uncovering these hidden gems and communicating their value honestly and transparently to the consumer".

Simple strategies

Lynda describes her very successful marketing plan for introducing an unusual, pricey juice that created an entirely new product category. She did it by promoting the health benefits to consumers and insisting on keeping the product pure. She laboured over the product name and the packaging.

While her strategies seem simple, they recognise above all that consumers aren't stupid. They're looking for value, honesty, respect and occasionally fun. Messages come at consumers from all directions, from billboards to print media to radio/TV to the internet (social media).

Products and businesses fail every day for all kinds of reasons, from inferior quality to poor promotion. Lynda's advice is useful to any business looking to avoid that fate. Find the value in your product/service, no matter how basic or simple, and capitalise on that feature. If your product is worth producing, figure out what makes it special.

"Success isn't a matter of throwing something against the wall in the hope that it will stick. It's the sum of research, focus, discipline and hard work," she writes. "It flows from a systematic approach to uncovering value that others have overlooked (perhaps because they were busy throwing stuff against a wall to see what would stick) and learning how to communicate that value in clever, effective, truthful ways."

Build your brand with desirable ideas that can manifest itself in the experience, product or service. Make it a "wow" experience.

What's your differential?

This blog is reproduced courtesy of Marsha Diamond.

2010 opened with a succession of huge food and drink transactions. Hot on the heels of Kraft buying Cadbury for £11.9bn came Coca-Cola acquiring the North American operations of Coca-Cola Enterprises for $12.6bn, and PepsiCo completing the purchase of its top two bottlers.

That wasn't all. Nestlé bought Kraft's frozen pizza business for $3.7bn, Heineken targeted Femsa in a €3.8bn deal, and Entremont agreed to merge with Sodiaal.

12 of the 36 deals recorded for January and February were in soft drinks, of which 6 were water, 9 were in alcohol (of which, 5 were beer) and 8 were in dairy. More than 25 countries were involved, the most active being the US, France, UK and China.

January 2010

• Soft drinks – China Marine buys 80% of Shishi Xianghe in China ($27.8m).
• Hot drinks – Italy's Lavazza buys Ercom (€25m sales).
• Beer – Damm from Spain buys former Drink In factory in Portugal (€15.5m).
• Water coolers – Eden Springs from Israel buys Hydropure of UK.
• Food – Nestlé from Switzerland to buy Kraft frozen pizza business in US and Canada ($3.7bn).
• Fruit juice – Saudi Arabia’s Jadwa investment fund buys substantial stake in Gulf Union Foods Company.
• Beer – Philippines’ San Miguel to buy 49% of Top Frontier.
• Dairy – Fonterra of New Zealand to buy 51% of Saudi New Zealand Dairy Products Co from Saudi Dairy & Foodstuff Co ($33m).
• Beer – Heineken from Netherlands to buy Femsa of Mexico, with Femsa gaining 20% stake in Heineken (€3.8bn).
• Food – Mizkan from Japan buys World Harbors Sauces of US.
• Dairy – France’s Entremont to merge with Sodiaal (€4.5bn sales).
• Dairy – Wexford Milk Producers of Ireland to buy 50% of Wexford Creamery from Dairy Crest of UK, increasing stake to 70% (€9m).
• Confectionery – Kraft from US to buy Cadbury of UK (£11.9bn).
• Soft drinks – UK Nichols buys Ben Shaws dispense business from Sunnyland of Belgium.
• Bottled water – France’s Crédit Agricole bank buys over 33% of St Amand (€100m sales).
• Flavours – Kohlberg Kravis Roberts private equity firm from US buys significant minority in Rudolf Wild of Germany.
• Cheese – Four dairy cooperatives in Northeastern France to merge.
• Cider – Crispin Cider buys Fox Barrel Cider.

February 2010

• Dairy – Arla Foods and North Milk Co-operative to sell Claymore Dairies to management team.
• Cheese – Lactalis from France buys Forlasa of Spain.
• Soft drinks – Pepsi Bottling Group to buy Pepsi-Cola drinks Bottling of Yuba City.
• Ice cream – Swedish businessman Anders Müntzing to buy Diplom-Is of Sweden from Tine of Norway.
• Water filtration – Catterton private equity firm buys Sun Water Systems.
• Bottled water – Nestlé from Switzerland buys 70% stake in Yunnan Dashan of China.
• Confectionery – Raisio from Finland to buy Glisten in UK (£19.8m).
• Dairy – China’s Rodobo completes purchase of three Beixue dairies.
• Beer – Asia Pacific Breweries completes purchase of 68% interest in Multi Bintang Indonesia and 87% interest in Grande Brasserie de Nouvelle Caledonie from Heineken of Netherlands.
• Beer – Heineken from Netherlands completes purchase of two Indian operations and Bintang brand from Asia Pacific Breweries.
• Malt – Axéréal from France buys malt business from Greencore of Ireland (€116m).
• Bottled water – SABMiller from South Africa buys Rwenzori of Uganda.
• Spirits – Mosaiq from Canada to buy Lemon Hart brand nights from Pernod Ricard of France.
• Wine/spirits – Altia to buy Danish and Swedish brands and facilities from Pernod Ricard of France (€82m).
• Bottled water – DS Waters buys Yosemite Waters.
• Soft drinks – Coca-Cola Enterprises to buy Norway and Sweden operations of Coca-Cola Company ($822m).
• Soft drinks – Coca-Cola Company to buy North American operations of Coca-Cola Enterprises ($12.6bn).
• Spirits – Diageo from UK to increase stake from 49% to 53% of Quanxing in China ($21m).

Source: BevBlog

Shaun Weston talks briefly to Riccardo Delle Coste, founder and MD of Barfresh Beverage Systems at Gulfood 2010.

Click here to listen to the Barfresh interview podcast.

Alternatively, you can subscribe to the FoodBev.com podcast series via iTunes.

If lobbying activities are successful, students across Canada will celebrate ‘Bottled Water Free Day’ on 11 March. Partnering with the Polaris Institute, the Canadian Federation of Students and the Sierra Youth Coalition are taking a stand against the bottled water industry and the privatisation of water.

According to the group, “Bottled water is an estimated $100bn a year industry that only 10 years ago was little more than a novelty market. Thanks to smart marketing, bottled water is now considered to be a necessity, replacing water fountains in community centres, schools and office buildings.

“Buying bottled water is increasingly the only way to quench your thirst in public. Fortunately, smart consumers are beginning to understand that they have been sold a bottle of goods.

“More than 70 municipalities, six school boards and three campuses across the country have phased out the sale of bottled water. That’s the spirit behind Bottled Water Free Day."

The organisers are urging students across Canada to “Join the global movement against bottled water. Visit bottledwaterfreeday.ca and take the pledge: ‘I pledge not to drink bottled water where public water is available’.”

So why would I draw attention to this on the channel of a website that regularly focuses on the packaged water industry?

Well, if you’re in the industry, it’s worth taking a few moments to visit the campaign site and see for yourself what you’re up against. You’ll recognise much of the distorted ‘evidence’ and misaligned facts – and frankly, there’s nothing there that we haven’t all seen or heard before.

I’m going to see what coverage the day actually receives and then I wish I could be a fly on the wall in any Canadian campus in the following weeks. The portability, convenience and great taste of bottled water is a good, low calorie, hydration habit.

My guess is that, on the day, a lot of students will join the campaign. In the days and weeks that follow, I’m also pretty sure that most will return to carrying their bottled water. The industry’s success is due in part to great products, high quality and smart marketing, but also to offering consumer choice, and loyal consumers hate being told what to do and how to behave.

While I'm sure a lot of tap water will be consumed in Canada next Thursday, I’d also guess that for those missing their bottled water, compensation will come in the form of increased consumption of soft drinks. Let’s hope they’re mostly zero calorie!