Page 25 - Food&Drink September 2019

SNACKS & CONFECTIONERY
Monkeying around
When Freedom Foods Group launched its Messy Monkeys snack brand, it was the only one of its kind in the health food aisle. Kim Berry spoke with its chief commercial officer, Matt Vince, about what happened next.
✷ SUBLIME BREAK SINGLE FINGER
SENSATIONS
Nestlé has introduced three new flavours to its KitKat single finger range, the Sublime Volcanic collection. KitKat Chocolatory head chocolatier, Connie Yuen says the three flavours are crafted from some of the world’s rarest cocoas, sources from volcanic islands in Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines.
The cocoa is “so scarce
that it accounts for less than 0.2 per cent of global production,” Yuen says. The fingers are all 70 per cent cocoa with Vanuatu tasting “robustly earthy and bitter”, Papua New Guinea “fresh and fruity” and the Philippines “intensely spicy with aromatic notes”.
Being paired with KitKat’s wafer means the bitterness is tempered so the flavours are spicier and more aromatic, she says. Other products in the single finger Sublime range are Ruby, White, Green Tea and Milk.
Nestlé has also developed a packaging solution that allows it to deliver chocolate to most parts of Australia without impacting the product’s integrity. Created for the ecommerce arm of its KitKat Chocolatory, customers can order chocolate online and for a $15 flat rate have product delivered within two to three days.
MESSY Monkeys arrived in the health food aisle two years ago and has been shaking up the shelf ever since.
The brand is now worth $12 million and the product range has expanded from the original ‘bites’ to include popcorn, milks, cereals and this month, rice puff bars.
Its growth has been impressive. At the end of FY19, the brand had increased in value sales by 115 per cent compared to FY18.
Chief commercial officer Matt Vince told Food & Drink Business that within the health aisle, Messy Monkeys is the sixth largest brand. It also contributes the second highest actual dollar growth to the health foods category, excluding private label brands.
“Messy Monkeys Burger Bites are the ninth highest selling product in the health aisle, with more than 1000 products in that space,” Vince says.
The brand’s share of kids lunch box snacking (popcorn, chips, bites) is up 21 per cent on FY18, he says.
Since Freedom Foods launched the brand, Vince says they have seen a “real blending” of health and mainstream products.
“What we are seeing is that
COMPARED TO 2018
depending on the retailer and consumer demand, the range can be in the health food or mainstream aisle equivalent.
“Some retailers tell us the product drives consumers down the health food aisle, so they want the products stocked there. Others get pressure to have healthier options in
mainstream aisles, so it can end up in the chip aisle.
“We are agnostic as to where it sits, so long as the brand is still clearly visible,” he says.
The Messy Monkeys Rice Puff Bars come in three flavours: Chocolate, Berry and Vanilla. The bars are a 16 gram children’s size with a four star health rating.
Its main competitor will be Kellogg’s LCM bars. “When the two are compared at an equal serving size, Messy Monkeys have half the sugar, about tenfold the dietary fibre and only a third of the sodium,” Vince says.
This is important for Freedom Foods, Vince says. Its goal was to create a brand that appealed to kids and parents.
“We are leveraging our capabilities with the brand – there’s cereals, snacks, milks and now bars, but it is a kid’s brand first and foremost. It will always staytruetoitscredentials.” ✷
GROWTH OF
115%
www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au | September 2019 | Food&Drink business | 25