Australia’s largest café group The Coffee Club has finalised its 2010 financial year results, announcing a 16.6% increase in sales, taking global sales to $264 million for the year. The company attributed its strong Australian performance – almost 32% growth in annual profits – to streamlined business operations and strong consumer demand. The company also described its operations in as perfoming “exceptionally well”, with 300% sales growth for 2010, fuelled by the opening... ...Read more »

Consumer research group Datamonitor today released a new report on sports nutrition, saying that sports nutrition food and drink brands have the potential for tremendous growth if they can encourage mass consumption by widening the appeal of their products. However, the group says they risk losing their loyal core customer base if they over-market their products. According to Datamonitor, although sports nutrition brands have already made progress in the mainstream market, there is still room for... ...Read more »

Schweppes Australia has added two new flavours to its family-favourite line, Schweppes Lemonade. Schweppes Limeade and Orangeade have no artificial colours or flavours and are sweetened with stevia, a natural plant extract, in addition to sugar, so contain absolutely no artificial sweetener. Schweppes said that using stevia as part of the sweetening of carbonated beverages is a “really exciting development”, representing “true innovation” in the beverages category. “Orangeade... ...Read more »

Coca-Cola Amatil, the Australian-based bottler and distributor for Coca Cola across Oceania, has announced plans to invest A$100 million in Indonesia over three years, doubling the company’s investment in the country. The announcement was made at Coca-Cola Amatil’s annual investor presentation in Indonesia yesterday. “The opportunity for CCA in the Indonesian market is to participate in the growth in the consumption per capita of commercial beverages through increasing theavailability... ...Read more »

The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Coca-Cola Company, Mr. Muhtar Kent, announced in Inner Mongolia last week the opening and near completion of three new bottling plants in China worth a combined 1.6 billion RMB (USD 240 million), continuing its rapid expansion in one of the world’s largest and fastest growing beverage markets.The new investments are a part of Coca-Cola’s 3-year USD 2 billion accelerated investment in China and the latest phase of Coca-Cola’s long-term... ...Read more »

Symrise is presenting its new beverage concepts at the Brau Beviale trade fair in Nuremberg. The focus this year is on NATURALLY CITRUS!®, emphasizing citrus as a multi-facetted classic in water, juice, soda, blended beer and liqueur. Today’s beverage market has more dimensions than ever before. Consumers turn to different drinks, depending on the occasion, but their overall preferences shift more and more frequently. One thing remains constant, however: over half of the non-alcoholic drinks... ...Read more »

An independent study by the Harvart School of Public Health has found a clear link between the consumption of soft drink, and type II diabetes and metabolic syndrome. While type II diabetes has long been associated with poor diet and high sugar intake, the study suggests that as little as one to two sugary drinks per day can increase the risk of type II diabetes by 26%. “Many previous studies have examined the relationship between sugar-sweetened beverages and risk of diabetes, and most have... ...Read more »

Swiss-based global food giant, Nestlé, has announced plans to invest $17 million in the expansion of its Tongala production plant in north-east Victoria into a food manufacturing hub for Oceania, Asia and Africa. Victorian Regional and Rural Development Minister Jacinta Allan welcomed Nestle Australia’s investment. “Nestle is rapidly growing its nutritional food business in areas such as health care nutrition, performance nutrition and infant nutrition,” she said. “Tongala, near Echuca,... ...Read more »

More than 250 companies will take part in Australia’s largest-ever offshore trade promotion at the 7th China International Small and Medium Enterprises Fair (CISMEF) in Guangzhou, South China (Sept 15-18, 2010). Australia will be guest of honour and event co-host with a 10,000 square metre Pavilion, representing twice the area of Australia’s Shanghai World Expo presence. The Fair will include showcases for Australian wine, with over sixty companies exhibiting, and for food and beverages, with... ...Read more »

The first measurements of antioxidant levels in commercial bottled tea beverages has concluded that health-conscious consumers may not be getting what they pay for: healthful doses of polyphenol antioxidants, which may ward off a range of diseases. Dr Shiming Li analysed six bottled teas, and found that they contained significantly fewer polyphenols than a single cup of home-brewed green or black tea. Some contained such small amounts that consumers would have to drink 20 bottles to get the polyphenols... ...Read more »