Raising the bar on cocoa flavour in the affordable luxury segment

Interview with AAK Southeast Asia Regional Director Nikesh Hindocha offers insights on the chocolate market and how AAK enhances the chocolate taste profile.

A POPULAR quote goes: a day without chocolate is like a day without sunshine.

Even if the chocolate market experienced a dip in previous years, and continues to be beset with challenges, the outlook remains generally positive.

The global chocolate market is projected to expand at a 4.7% CAGR between 2022 and 2027 and hit USD160.9 billion at the end of the forecast period, a rather huge increase from USD127.9 billion last year.[i] In the Asia Pacific, the cocoa and chocolate market is poised to grow by 5.2% CAGR from 2020 through 2027. The market will reach USD8.9 billion by 2027.[ii]

Indulgence, particularly in new and exotic flavours, is one of the major driving forces behind this strong demand for chocolates worldwide. In developing countries such as those in Southeast Asia, manufacturers are seeing the shift toward premium, high-quality chocolates.

AAK, a market leader in plant-based oils and fats for use in a wide range of products, notes the same trend. It is to match this trend that the co-development company underscores constant innovation in order to offer new solutions that will enable chocolate and confectionery manufacturers to deliver on consumer expectations.

In an exclusive interview with FoodPacific Manufacturing Journal, Nikesh Hindocha, Southeast Asia regional director for AAK, shared how the leading co-development company continues to work closely with its customers to deliver on market needs and preferences.  “We do see the trend toward more premiumisation, especially after COVID-19. More and more consumers want to have better quality and indulgence in the food products, chocolates in particular, that they buy, and it is these specific market preferences that we address with our innovations at AAK,” he said.

Nikesh Hindocha, Southeast Asia regional director for AAK  

But while this premiumisation trend provides an idea or vision for the way forward for manufacturers, it can also create various challenges. One of these is how to improve the taste profile and create that rich, chocolatey flavour or experience without raising costs. Amid increasing raw materials costs due to sourcing problems, particularly of cacao, manufacturers of chocolates and confectionery have been combatting hiking production costs. Still, they need to continue to innovate to keep up with the competitive market.

For that chocolate indulgence  

AAK’s CEBES™ Choco 15 lets manufacturers walk this tightrope, enabling them to deliver on that indulgence that consumers want and still manage their costs.

Part of the company’s CEBES™ range of premium compound solutions for enrobed or moulded confectionery and baked products, the CEBES™ Choco 15 enhances the cocoa flavour as it allows for more cocoa ingredients in the recipe. This plant-based solution has three times more cocoa butter tolerance than a regular CBS, which means manufacturers can optimise the taste and improve overall product quality whilst still maintaining a cost-efficient production.

“CEBES™ Choco 15 bridges that gap between a compound chocolate and chocolate. With it, manufacturers can offer their consumers compound chocolate products with more intense cocoa sensory experience,” said Hindocha.

CEBES™ Choco 15, a plant-based CBS compound, has three times more cocoa butter tolerance than a regular CBS, which means manufacturers can optimise the taste and improve overall product quality while still maintaining a cost-efficient production.

In Southeast Asia and Asia, Hindocha added, many manufacturers would use a compound fat to make a compound chocolate. “They can use CEBES™ Choco 15 as they would normally use compound fats and get that additional benefit of more cocoa ingredients included in the recipe for that enhanced chocolate taste.”

The CEBES™ Choco 15 has been designed to make it efficient for manufacturers of chocolates or compounds to adopt the solution in their new product development and would not require any additional or new equipment. “It will really be quite an easy transition for those manufacturers looking to use the CEBES™ Choco 15. They won’t have to implement or introduce a lot of changes,” Hindocha added.

Many of the compound solutions available today have been able to address challenges such as heat stability and shelf life, according to Hindocha. But to enhance the sensory experience, manufacturers generally turn to alternatives that require a tempering process, which may not always be feasible. The CEBES™ Choco 15 provides an answer – it lets manufacturers enhance the cocoa profile and thereby boost the overall flavour of the product but without the need for tempering.

“The main advantage with CEBES™ Choco 15 is that it allows more cocoa ingredients without causing blooming, a common problem with conventional CBS, where obvious bloom develops with increased cocoa butter content in the recipe,” he said. 

As with the other products in AAK’s CEBES™ range, the CEBES™ Choco 15 can be used with other AAK ingredients. “If, for example, a manufacturer wants to make a praline with CEBES™ Choco 15 and add a filling, we can also combine our other ingredients to make that final product. This is what we support with in our innovation centres and what our principle of Making Better Happen is all about: We combine different solutions to create a prototype, and in this case, a really nice, indulgent treat for the consumer.”

Hindocha noted positive response to the CEBES™ Choco 15. “There has been a shift to more premium, more innovative products, and in Southeast Asia, with its strong economy and expanding middle class the trend is strong. More and more consumers want to try different and higher quality products, and this is where we want to make an impact. Before it was either a compound or a chocolate, right? We are broadening the opportunities, if not opening new ones, for manufacturers with the CEBES™ Choco 15.”

Nurturing other segments

AAK also continues to grow its other product categories, in particular the special nutrition segment. For its solutions for infant and elderly nutrition, the company is emphasising food safety and sustainability.

“Special nutrition is a very important segment for AAK and for us in the region,” Hindocha stated. “We want to introduce even more innovations into the health space. We work, as an example with various omegas, to create more nutrition products. We have also started on a few products that we believe can fit both into the infant and elderly nutrition segments but can also be used in other segments like even the traditional ones such as dairy, for example.” 

With the ageing population in Asia expanding, AAK acknowledges the importance of elderly nutrition products. Top of mind in this category for AAK is ensuring the health of the elderly, according to Hindocha.

 For its line of solutions for infant nutrition, AAK underscores food safety. “With the baby’s health being the main consideration for parents, we have solutions that bring the formula closer to mother’s milk and stricter control on contamination,” he said.

AAK expects its traditional segments such as chocolate, dairy, bakery and nutrition to remain on an upbeat track but also sees new growth areas such as plant-based foods. The company’s plant-based ingredients can be applied to alternative meat, dairy and even dessert.

“This shift to what is natural and healthy is happening fast, and so we are constantly trying to see where we as AAK can really add value. Candles, for example, is another sunrise category,” Hindocha added. AAK’s current range of premium candle waxes adopts plant-based fats and pure stearic acid.

Making better happen

Its sights set to doubling the value creation per kilo by 2030, AAK is investing in new segments and products to develop new categories and applications while bolstering existing ones. At the same time, the company is expanding into other markets around the world. 

AAK has for many years enjoyed strong support from Europe, the US, Australia, and other developed markets. The company will continue to look to these markets for growth and it hopes to broaden its footprint in Asia as well. Hindocha said AAK has seen significant growth in Asia and Southeast Asia markets and wants to leverage the shift in consumer preferences in countries such as the Philippines, Vietnam or Indonesia to further broaden its reach in said region.

AAK’s multi-oil and multi-process expertise with strong sustainability value has been key in unlocking product diversification and addressing dynamic marketplace demands. “This is what Making Better Happen is about, to really use our full co-development approach and work with customers to create solutions that the consumers want. We at AAK always see the opportunity to develop innovative products and we’ve been doing this for more than 150 years. It’s been a good journey for us together with our customers, and we look forward to the years ahead,” Hindocha stated.

[i] https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/cocoa-chocolate-market-226179290.html

[ii] https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/asia-pacific-cocoa-and-chocolate-market-104205