Signature of success

GLOBALLY, between 2013 and 2014, the snack food market represented $374 billion industry – a 2% year-on-year growth, according to Nielsen.  In its report, the Middle East and Africa region accounted for $7 billion, to achieve 5% y-o-y increase. Together with Asia Pacific and Latin America, MEA witnessed the fastest growth.

Signature Snacks Co. in Dubai is a new player in the snacks arena. Having commenced operations early this year, it is growing exponentially, targeting not only the local marketplace but simultaneously setting standards of global growth by exporting to over 60 countries in such a short span of time. The company’s distributor United Products was cited as saying that Signature holds expansion potential in Europe, thanks to favorable labor costs and a centralized location. United intends to rapidly grow its partner’s snacking products across Europe in the next two to three years.

In a recent interview with Food Manufacturing Journal - Middle East, Signature’s general manager Mazen Nabulsi tells us all about the company.

Mazen Nabuls, general manager of Dubai-based Signature Snacks

It’s not easy to set up a company, but you have created a successful one in quite a short time. Please tell us, how has the journey been?

Our journey started in 2013 where we built the factory from scratch. It has been a tough and long journey to establish a top notch manufacturing facility of around 86,000 square feet of all covered space, getting the approvals from the concerned authorities and achieving certifications to enable us to export our products internationally.

We commenced production in January 2015 and currently hold the following certifications HACCP, ISO 22000, BRC, IFS, HALAL and have been awarded +A grade from Dubai Municipality for operating one of the best manufacturing facilities.

At the time, what did Signature Snacks find particularly challenging?

Starting a new brand is always a challenge as B2C takes a long time, effort and planning to build and sustain it; sales and marketing need to be very strong and diverse to enforce the desired levels of brand awareness and achieve the desired market share. However, the toughest challenge of all was finding suitable space in very congested and over-crowded hypermarkets.

The company has been able to develop quite a number of products fast. Can you please tell us about these?

Signature Snacks produces premium snacks ranging from biscuits, cookies, crackers, chocolate enrobed biscuits, cream filled biscuits, wafers and chocolate enrobed wafers. Signature Snacks’ umbrella holds eleven categories/ sub-brands under the following descriptor names Wafer (Twinz, Cloud9 and Squarz) Biscuit & Crackers (Spinners, Chippers, Snaps, Essentials, Shortbread, Oatsies, Mini Digest, Sugar Heart and Pointers).

Products are free from artificial colors and flavors and trans-fat preservatives

From where do you procure the raw materials and ingredients?

Our raw materials are outsourced from several countries as we seek to buy only the best materials to be able to produce our premium products, as all our finished products do not contain artificial colors, artificial flavors and trans-fat preservatives, which is a clear indication of the quality of raw material we are purchasing.

On the other hand, some of our raw material is also being sourced locally as some excellent local raw materials suppliers exist who offer produce matching the quality that we seek.

How big is your export market to date? Which regional markets interest the company?

We have been able to penetrate around 60 countries so far which is a big achievement since we started production earlier this year only. However, our target is to export to around 100 countries by mid of 2016.

What is your main market?

Our main market is the Gulf Cooperation Council due to proximity reasons; other equally important markets are the Americas and Far East as we see a lot of potential for our products and services in these markets.

What potential does the UAE snack food market hold for the company?

UAE is our hometown and we have a full-fledged distribution company targeting all sales channels step by step. Our focus and targets remain to establish presence in all outlets across the United Arab Emirates.

Having accomplished much in just under a year, what is next for Signature Snacks?

Our expansion plans include adding more snacks to our existing range of biscuits, wafers and baked chips, so we are planning to launch dates and nuts mixed with fruits for our consumers. These will also be sub-classified as our premium snacks.

Are there new products to be launched in the next six to 12 months?

Products to be launched in 2016 are Zayna Dates which are premium dates filled with nuts and coated with chocolate, Skoops which is premium roasted nuts mixed with dried Fruits and coated in chocolate and finally Bakeos which is simply baked chips.

What is the thrust of the company’s research and development?

Signature Snacks has one of the biggest laboratories with the entire research and development team dedicated to continuous testing of raw materials and finished goods in addition to development of new flavors and products. Quality and food safety of consumers is our top priority. Our quality management system guarantees food safety, compliance and value creation. We have a dedicated quality assurance team striving for consumers to enjoy our products. The decision to not use any artificial preservatives, additives or hydrogenated fat is basically to provide our users a premium and natural product without any trans-fat.

Are consumers of today more aware of their health?

Absolutely! The Middle East might be a bit slower to react to health trends when compared to Europe or USA however, we are witnessing a growing health conscious audience who demands healthy products and is reflective in the products being offered in the market. This is one of the main reasons Signature Snacks has adopted the no artificial colors & flavors strategy. In addition we are concentrating on producing many healthy products such as Digestive, Oats, Sugar Free and Baked Chips.

In these times, what are the major hurdles in the region’s food and beverage industry?

Food and beverage operators are facing fierce price competition and congestive shelf-space in hypermarkets and supermarkets across all emirates. This is so far the toughest challenge being faced by firms that wish to achieve shelf space and recognition to give its products brand awareness.