DI BELLA is set to become the second largest roast and ground coffee enterprise in Australia as it brings three related coffee brands from the Retail Food Group portfolio into the fold: Roasting Australia, Di Bella USA and Evolution Roasters

Di Bella Coffee, created in 2002 by Australian coffee trailblazer Philip Di Bella, has developed into the country’s largest speciality coffee roaster and is renowned for its ‘crop to cup’ program of ethical sourcing of specialty coffee beans.

According to Di Bella CEO, Darren Dench, the company decided to restructure and consolidate so that it was better positioned to continue its growth trajectory. He said the new model allowed Di Bella to scale up for new markets, opportunities and partnerships without losing their core focus on craft roasting. 

A combined Di Bella, he said, would be able to continue offering clients their bespoke customised blending services and micro-roasting capabilities across the company’s key channels: independent food service, office market and in-home market.

“Di Bella has always been a coffee-of-choice for discerning coffee drinkers,” Mr Dench said. “As a brand, our unique selling proposition has been both our Crop to Cup philosophy and our bespoke roasting capabilities.

“Bringing these together into one larger entity means we can leverage larger roasting capabilities from our different plants, as well as ensuring that the product and service, the true star of our brand, is more widely available as we expand into new markets and new market segments,” Mr Dench said.

Phil Di Bella, founder of Di Bella Coffee in 2002, supported Mr Dench’s announcement, re-iterating that it would boost the brand he fostered.

“I am excited about the new possibilities that this merger offers and I believe that the integrity of the bean and the authenticity of the Di Bella coffee range will create exceptional opportunities for this new unified and integrated coffee company to grow, expand and diversify,” Mr Di Bella said.

Mr Dench said the company continues to work hand-in-hand with a number of communities sourcing the pure green beans from leading growers around the world that deliver beans farmed under ethical and sustainable conditions.

“We know that coffee is similar to wine in that individual characteristics work together to create blends with different notes and tones. Without skilled roasting, the coffee bean doesn’t shine and flavour complexities collapse or disintegrate,” Mr Dench said.

“For us at Di Bella, our focus is on bringing these different blends to the discerning consumer whether at home, at work, or when out dining at restaurants and cafes.”

Di Bella currently produces 3,480 tonnes of coffee a year which equates to about 150 million cups of coffee served.

https://dibellacoffee.com/

ends

FROSTY BOY Australia is now conquering the giant market considered the ‘holy grail’ for global food and beverage manufacturers: India.

Gold Coast-based Frosty Boy has successfully penetrated the India market, after a four-year project to build relationships throughout the sub-continent.

According to Frosty Boy managing director, Dirk Pretorius, cracking the market should mean a significant boost for the company, ensuring it continues its record of 20 percent year-on-year growth.

The solution to navigating the challenging market – which includes coping with import duties of up to 50 percent – was Frosty Boy deciding to complete manufacturing processes locally in India, while maintaining control of product quality and intellectual property. 

Frosty Boy products manufactured through this method are gaining traction across India, Mr Pretorius said.  A recent major win was with one of India’s largest coffee chains, Café Coffee Day, now serving milk shakes using Frosty Boy’s formulated milk shake blend.

As one of the fastest growing food industry markets in the world, valued at US $50 billion according to Technopak’s 2017 research publication, Indian Food Service Industry, India was the perfect target for Frosty Boy according to Mr Pretorius.

In India, ice cream has also been forecast to achieve a compound annual growth rate of 17 percent until 2021, according to Tech Sci Research’s 2016 and 2018 reports.

“Since Frosty Boy began exporting in 2001, there’s never been a country more difficult to crack than India,” Mr Pretorius said.

“The main challenges have been import duties, which can be up to 50 percent, a very different business culture to us, plus they are understandably very protective of their own industry.”

Mr Pretorius said the decision to complete manufacturing locally came after intensive knowledge building to ensure the decision would make importing into India viable for Frosty Boy.

“This included our leadership team spending quality time in India to build knowledge of the local QSR industry and how our products could best be implemented, and we have full-time personnel on the ground to support this ongoing,” Mr Pretorius said.

He said Frosty Boy’s passion for innovation in its existing and new markets will only encourage its sustainable growth, as the company continues to seek opportunities to add value to clients through solutions-driven dessert and beverage base offerings. 

Established in 1976 in Queensland, Frosty Boy Australia produces versatile dessert and beverage powder base solutions for local and international markets. In many cases it can be the innovations developed by Frosty Boy that power successful new food and beverage products created by brands including Hungry Jack’s, KFC, Burger King and Pizza Hut, along with boutique coffee shops and restaurants.

Frosty Boy is already one of Australia’s great success stories in food manufacturing and exporting, with its soft serve ice cream blends, frozen yoghurts, slushies and flavoured syrups popular across many South East Asian countries.

www.frostyboy.com.au

ends

THE Media Store’s 2018 Trend Forecast has identified  major changes in interactions between companies, brands and consumers and found many brands are becoming ‘borderless’.

The timbre of the forecast, launched at the recent Brand Forum in Sydney, is that consumers want brands ‘to stand for something that matters’. The forecast also acted as a warning that consumers wanted brands ‘to know there are more social groups than just millennials’. 

The Media Store head of research and insights, Helen Karabassis said, “2018 is a year without borders for true leading brands. Consumers expect so much more from the brands they buy from and are a lot more loyal if a brand shares the same values as they do.

“Australians are no longer interested in seeing #soblessed influencers tagging hundreds of brands through sponsored content.

“Consumers have shifted and want their favourite brands to be presented by real humans with real values that they can relate to – aspiration is out, honesty is in.”

With technological advancements the main driver for changing interactions between brands and consumers, The Media Store’s trend forecast has identified the characteristics of the emerging generation of consumers who are driven by their creative instincts and desire to make a difference.

Other insights within the 2018 Trend Forecast include the visual companion to voice technology, creative disintermediation by brands wanting to own the customer relationship, and emerging ‘e-sport’ opportunities.

Ms Karabassis worked with The Media Store’s insights team to identify global shifts in brand marketing and psychology, presenting her learnings to Australian marketing managers via a presentation on the Forecast at this year’s Brand Forum on February 21-22.

“By not pigeon-holing themselves, brands have the opportunity to expand across consumer interests and reach new audiences,” Ms Karabassis said.

The Media Store’s 2018 Trend Forecast includes:

Hyper-personalisation: The perpetually self-monitoring consumer is expecting brands to show they care by personalising the entire customer experience to meet their needs and dreams.

Focus on the Digital Lens: Voice controlled devices are getting eyes to complement their ears. Embedded cameras will become platforms for personalization and ‘point and learn’ search. 

Three’s a crowd: Retailers beware. Static loyalty programs are losing potency and brands are choosing to control the customer relationship directly.

Making a ‘brandstand’: The world is in peak anxiety, so brands will offer consumers a safe haven – even if only to make them feel supported in a complicated world. Peace, diversity and health of the planet will come first.

Native creators: Move over Millennial snowflakes. The next generation of consumers is driven by their creative instincts and the need to make a difference.

Democratised influence: The few gatekeepers will be overtaken by the many micro-influencers as consumers reach peak influencer fatigue. Consumers will be able to tell – and boycott – those brands who work purely in pay-to-play (#spon) influencer space.

Power partnerships: Heritage brands are partnering with start-ups to leverage innovation credentials and capture the attention of consumers who are constantly chasing the new.

E-sports fire up: E-sport leagues offer more than just passionate Millennial males. Loyal, highly engaged communities are mainstreaming and opening up for brands.

AR steps forward: Advances in augmented reality (AR) tech meets the growing proliferation of mobile phones calibrated to supercharge the experience. Fuel creative creators, offer try-before-they-buy reassurance, or use AR to draw a crowd IRL.

Trust in the chain: Bots and fraud are persistent concerns in adland. The transparent, unmodifiable nature of blockchain technology could be the trust tool we’ve been waiting for.

www.themediastore.com.au

ends