PepsiCo expands nutrition portfolio, launching Quaker Nutri Foods & Tropicana Essentials

MUMBAI: PepsiCo India is introducing a set of new healthy products as part of its nutrition portfolio furthering it's global commitment to reduce its alliance on sugar, salt and saturated fat and boost nutritional content in its products.

As part of their flagship brands Quaker Oats and Tropicana, PepsiCo is launching Quaker Nutri Foods and Tropicana Essentials, respectively in the breakfast space.

“The lifestyles of millennials today is increasingly rushed and they are looking at nutrition solutions in the morning because that's the only time of the day that they have control over,” said Deepika Warrier, vice president nutrition category, India region.

Nutri foods range consists of everyday breakfast options like idli, Dosa, Upma and Khichdi that are very familiar to Indian palates. However, each product will have 40% oats content along with real vegetables which will make them a more healthier option.

With Tropicana Essentials, the company is offering juices that are a blend of fruits and vegetables fortified with important nutrients.
“You know WHO recommends that one should consume 5-6 servings of fruits and vegetables everyday while an average Indian consumes only three to three and a half,” explained Warrier.

The aim of the company is to provide healthy breakfast options while also maintaining local relevance in terms of taste.

While Tropicana Essentials has already been launched through e-commerce in January this year, the Nutri foods range will be on the shelves by next month.

Acvording to Nielsen breakfast cereals is a Rs 9.8 billion market India and is growing at 2% year-on-year.

Whereas the Juice category (for 20%-100% juice content) market size is Rs 10.7 billion and is growing at 11% year-on-year.

In October last year PepsiCo's US parent has said that by 2025, three-quarters of its global foods portfolio will restrict sodium to 1.3 milligrams per calorie. Also, three-fourths won’t exceed 1.1grams of saturated fat per 100 calories. The company's nutrition category that includes products like healthier snacks now contributes 25% to the overall sales of the company globally.

Warrier said the company has similar ambitions in India and that the mandate for the nutrition part of the portfolio is to grow faster than the core portfolio since there is a lot of traction for these kind of products. “For me I think the target is to grow nutrition 2-2.5 times faster than the core business of PepsiCo,” she added.

PepsiCo will launch a new range under the Nutri foods brand by the end of this year and four more for variants this April and two more at the beginning of 2018 under the Tropicana Essentials brand. They are also considering introducing products from their global portfolio in India in the future.

“We are looking at right partnerships and right tie-ups to build out this portfolio in the next 2-3 years. We have a pipeline in development,’ said Warrier.