Salada to launch new coffee brand - Mountain Bliss to target millennials
Published:Thursday | February 22, 2018 | 12:00 AMNeville Graham
Salada Foods Jamaica Limited gave shareholders a sneak peek on Wednesday of a new brand of coffee that is meant to tease the taste buds of millennials.
The Mountain Bliss 876 line will be on the shelves in a about a week, said General Manager Dianna Blake-Bennett at Salada's annual general meeting.
"Our Mountain Peak brands have been around for 50 years and we want to keep those that have been faithful. At the same time, we want to engage with a new demographic or better yet a new group of coffee drinkers and we decided that best way to do that is to launch a new brand," Blake-Bennett told the Financial Gleaner after the meeting.
The primary target is college students and young professionals who are emergent coffee consumers, but Salada is hoping even its brand-loyal Mountain Peak market will buy the new product.
"It's really a different consumer base, because there may be older persons who may want to consume the product so that will give us a bigger market share when it comes to the coffee beverage market," Blake-Bennett said.
Mountain Bliss is being launched after extensive engagement with tertiary-level institutions last year. Salada chairman, Patrick Williams, said the company reached out to students at University of the West Indies, University of Technology Jamaica, Edna Manley College and Caribbean Maritime University.
The trendy new packaging is a clear departure from the decades-old Mountain Peak brand. Mountain Bliss 876 comes in two offerings - Classic and Gold.
BURST OF FLAVOUR
"The Classic is an agglomerated product so what we have is a product that is different from our Mountain Peak product. It gives a burst of flavour with that big coffee aroma coming out," said Blake-Bennett.
"Our Gold, which we are especially proud of, is a product that has freeze-dried coffee. There are a few companies with it on the market and we feel that it is our time to replicate the roasted and ground taste present in brewed coffee that true connoisseurs will appreciate," she said.
Salada recently became one of the few Caribbean countries to attain the hard to get and much sought after, Safe Quality Foods or SQF designation. Blake-Bennett says she will be using the new tools in her kit as the company pushes to attain the so-far elusive goal of $1 billion in revenues, as well as increased exports.
Last year, Salada's revenue topped $870 million, which was a new record for the company, and needs to grow sales by at least 15 per cent to hit the billion-dollar mark.
"Armed with the SQF qualification and this brand-new brand, we can grow sales through this line," Blake-Bennett said.
Pressed about performance of exports, Blake-Bennett said she would not pre-empt the release of Salada's half-year earnings report for the period ending March, but noted that the signs seem positive.
"In a preliminary way, the overseas effort is a good look. I can't say much at this time, but the numbers are telling me that New York, for example, is headed in a positive direction," the GM said.