The food and beverage market in Asia is going through an interesting and inventive evolution. The regional embrace for different diets, palates and ingredients, has meant that our food and beverage clients are having to constantly think of new and innovative ways to either combine, blend, or completely reinvent products.
The food and beverage market in Asia is going through an interesting and inventive evolution. The regional embrace for different diets, palates and ingredients, has meant that our food and beverage clients are having to constantly think of new and innovative ways to either combine, blend, or completely reinvent products.
From botanical ingredients to spices, Asia has a large variety of flavours at their disposal, which can be used together to create new combinations that have rarely been explored before. There has been a rise in the Chinese ‘salted egg yolk’ flavours being blended into items like ice creams and even used to make martinis, according to Edelman’s 2019 Food and Beverage report. Similarly, a new type of tea from Taiwan has been made with pink cactus leaves.
Additionally, younger generations are also looking towards more plant-based and ‘healthier’ options, creating a similarly tasting substitute using completely different ingredients. According to the ‘Global Food and Drink Trends 2019’ report by Mintel, a rise in the use of ginger, green tea extract, and turmeric have been predicted as methods of reducing inflammation.
Similarly, with the growing populations and changing climate, there has been a movement towards more sustainable options that satisfy the demand without risking the future of the environment.
There has long been the development of finding new sources of protein, however recently there has been more of a commercial focus on insect-based products and insects themselves. Products like insect pasta, cricket flour and even insect protein powder have all become more commercially available globally, and have been flying across Asia more prominently in recent years.
In order to continuously evolve in the food and beverage market, businesses must look towards innovation and acting as a catalyst towards creating trends, rather than following them. Whether it is an ingredients company that is looking to find alternative sweeteners to sugar, beverage companies that are focusing on combining different cultural flavours, or confectionary companies aiming to find more vegan and plant-based alternatives, new talent will generate new ideas and new ways of work so help continue the journey of that business so it can continually evolve.
As a specialist search and recruitment business, Proco aim to keep abreast of the latest trends in talent and the need of our clients. Like any business, we too need to evolve and truly become an extension of our clients and their businesses. Whilst the core element of finding the right person for the right role remains unchanged, we use market knowledge to understand the evolving job roles and to decide who the ideal candidate would be.
As such, we go to extra lengths to understand our client’s journey and thus their hiring needs. To be able to find the right candidate, we need to be able to map out the future trajectory of our client’s requirements – having a strong relationship with both the client and future candidates is essential to finding the perfect fit for the role. Whilst there has always been good fluidity between markets, we are looking at a wider pool of candidates with transferable skills more than ever before.
More than anything, we are embracing the challenge of a continuously evolving market that, in order for us to keep up, we need to be in tune with what our clients are looking for – not only at the present time but also for the future – as well as how best to utilise our candidates’ best value add to a business.
Proco Group are in a unique position, our size allows us to be nimble and adapt, whilst also providing us with the capacity to deliver at the highest level we can and constantly evolving simultaneously.
References:
FIA | Sustainability, Health & Wellness, and Convenience to Reshape the Food & Beverage Industry in 2019
Edelman | Food & Beverage Trends 2019
