PETpla.net Insider 11 / 2013

BEVERAGES / INGREDIENTS 32 PET planet insider Vol. 14 No. 11/13 www.petpla.net Beverage trends according to Wild Coming to fruition Drinktec closed its doors on Friday, September 20. On show were the big suppliers of beverage ingredients who pre- sented their products to the beverage industry. We seized the opportunity of discussing with Jochen Heininger, Direc- tor of Strategic Marketing and EMEA Product Management the latest trends from Wild. What are the key trends emerging in the global food and drinks ingre- dients industry? One of the main drivers is the trend towards naturalness. More and more consumers are insisting on natural and healthy ingredients, be it colours, flavours or sweeteners such as stevia. Accordingly, natural concepts are influencing all bever- age categories, from still drinks and tea drinks to adult soft drinks. Wild has been focusing on the production of natural ingredients ever since the company was founded in 1931 and continues to expand its natural ingre- dients portfolio with new products and trend concepts. What are the most interesting and innovative products launched recently by your company? The energy drink boom is far from over. Wild is seen as one of the major manufacturers of ingredients for these drinks. In addition to classic flavours, our portfolio also includes developments such as energy plus juice, energy plus tea, and no calorie concepts. We have also developed a number of functional varieties. On top of today’s trends are pre- mium RTD teas - a powerful growth category. The latest addition to our portfolio is brewed tea, which offers new standards in terms of quality and flavour, and these products can be labelled as “brewed tea.” However, Wild can also supply classic products based on tea extracts or tea infusions. In the juice segment, our portfo- lio features fruit juice concentrates which bear the certified seal of the international environmental protection institute Rainforest Alliance. This qual- ity seal is given to products with raw material that meet specially defined criteria for sustainable farming. Wild currently offers Rainforest Alliance certified juice concentrates based on orange, pineapple and banana. We have, in addition, developed a fermentation technology that enables us to offer soft drinks featuring a “grown- up” taste profile. This process gives beverages a distinctive flavour and allows manufacturers to position prod- ucts naturally. For soft drinks in general, our Wild portfolio includes more flavours – everything from fruity to spicy, with mint ingredients or sweetened with stevia for low calorie concepts. In the field of beer-mix drinks, we have created highlights with in vogue products such as cloudy variants with juice. As for non-alcoholic malt bever- ages - which are extremely promising for breweries as well as producers of soft drinks - we feature a variety of options in terms of malt content and numerous innovative fruity flavours, aimed at meeting the many different taste preferences around the world. Which geographical markets are you increasingly focusing on? Wild as a global player is focus- ing on markets worldwide: besides its core business in Europe and North America, we are targeting emerg- ing markets such as the Middle East, North Africa, Brazil, India and China. The latter in particular are extremely interesting. They are very populous, with a growing middle-class that demands high-quality processed food. Hence, they offer enormous potential. For this reason, in July this year, Jochen Heininger, Director of Strategic Marketing and EMEA Product Manage- ment, Wild