DSM
INTERVIEWEE: Todd L. Sitkowski, Senior Marketing Manager, and Gus Castro, Technical Marketing Manager, Beverages
Could you please supply some basic information about your company?
DSM Nutritional Products is the industry’s premier supplier of fat and water soluble vitamins, carotenoids for coloration and fortification and custom nutrient blends, as well as Omega-3 & 6 Long Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids, and nutraceuticals. DSM Nutritional Products has global research and development, manufacturing, distribution, clinical research and marketing capabilities. DSM Nutritional Products had annual sales of $3.15 M USD in 2007 (which includes Animal Nutrition, Personal Care, Dietary Supplements as well as Food and Beverage). Worldwide, DSM Nutritional Products employs 6,384 persons and has 40 sales offices.
Currently, what kinds of beverage premix offerings do you specialize in? If there is a specific area of nutrition, function, or materials type, can you please describe it?
Virtually an unlimited array of offerings. The vast majority of premixes we develop are unique to our customers based on their goals and objectives and our market insight, nutritional knowledge and technical expertise in developing nutrient blends. Many of our blends contain vitamins, minerals, carotenoids, nutraceuticals and other third-party raw materials for unique functional blends based on nutrition science and market research information.
DSM Nutritional Products is the world’s leading supplier of vitamins, carotenoids and nutraceutical ingredients as well as premixes. We maintain our tradition as a pioneer in the development of scientifically based products, new formulations and attractive application for the industry segments we serve of which the beverage segment is one of the biggest.
What are the most popular kinds of blends you offer?
DSM provides blends that range from a simple A-C-E antioxidant blend (Vitamins A, C and E) to the other extreme, which are energy drink blends containing vitamins at high RDI levels and some minerals but also herbal extracts such as guarana and ginseng, as well as other functional ingredients like caffeine, taurine, d-ribose, inositol and amino acids. At present, we see functional waters, sports and energy drinks and RTD teas as sub-segments of the beverage industry that are growing at the highest rate. Recent trends in the launching of new products in these sub-segments are related to condition-specific beverages, natural and organic drinks and functional or fortified teas, coffees and enhanced waters.
Are there any new innovations in product types or else evolutions of existing products that your company has brought to market recently? Which of your products are having the most impact on the market?
DSM has a number of new innovative products that have energized the beverage market recently. Our Dry Vitamin E 15% CC is our Crystal Clear product form for beverage applications. It is an easy-to-use powder which disperses in cold water and provides a clear and colorless emulsion with good stability and no ringing. The product is ideal for fortifying waters and clear juice-based beverages with Vitamin E. Caffeine-free Teavigo is fast becoming a popular source of EGCG and green tea extract for beverage manufacturers worldwide. Teavigo is highly purified EGCG isolated from green tea extract. PeptoPro has been an extremely interesting addition to the Sports Drink arena. PeptoPro acts like a “predigested” protein and is therefore well tolerated before, during and after exercise. Several Olympic teams, including the Dutch Olympic Team have made it their drink of choice.
Where do you see the demands from beverage companies heading in the future with regard to the types of premix products they want? What are the greatest challenges when it comes to filling those kinds of needs?
DSM believes that as the beverage market becomes saturated with ‘me-too’ type products that marketers will have to find ways to differentiate their products – beyond packaging and labeling - by the addition of clinically proven functional ingredients into their products that appeal to the consumer market they are targeting. This will require premix providers to not only provide safety data for the products they include in their blends, but also substantiate that those functional ingredients are clinically proven to work.
The challenge will be rationalizing the added cost per serving with the delivered benefits and differentiation to a beverage product.
How do most beverage companies go about doing business with you?
DSM Nutritional Products has a sales team that covers the US and Canadian markets. We also have Technical Marketing Managers that assist with product application opportunities and Technical Premix Managers that specialize in formulating premixes for our customers. In addition, we also have for support our Account Management Center which handles customer orders and inquiries. We can be reached at 1-800-526-0189 or visit us at our website www.unlimitednutrition-na.dsm.com. Beverage companies may visit www.pourontheprofits.com for more information on DSM’s beverage capabilities.
DSM
DSM Food Specialties USA, Inc
45 Waterview BLVD.
PARSIPPANY, NJ 07054
Watson, Inc.
INTERVIEWEE: Vanessa Teter, Food Technologist
Could you please supply some basic information about your company?
It’s about 250 employees; a small company. We started as a baking supply company.
Currently, what kinds of beverage premix offerings do you have? If there is a specific area of nutrition, function, or materials type that your company specializes in, can you please describe it?
We’re in a variety of products ranging from infant formula to Ensure, to energy beverages. You name something, we’re in it. We also do capsules and bars.
What are the most popular kinds of blends you offer?
A lot of our premixes for the beverage industry today are targeting energy beverages. We get request after request for Red Bull and Monster-type products. Now we get Vitaminwater as well, and even a few of the Slim-Fast types.
The energy market has not slowed down at all – some people have seen some slowing – but we’re still getting questions about B-vitamins and caffeine.
The other thing we’ve also seen is everyone keeps saying “natural.” We don’t really have any of that – it’s hard to when you produce nutritional additives – but the people who try to go the natural route ask for ginseng, guarana and teas.
Are there any new innovations in product type or existing product evolutions that your company has brought to market recently? Which of your products are having the most impact on the market?
A lot of times we hear ‘we want a clear beverage, no cloud, a tint of color is okay, but we want clear.’ So we’ve designed a beta carotene that’s pretty much clear and colorless. It’s pink, but there’s no cloud to the beverage. We also have a vitamin E powder and a vitamin E gel. I think people are scared to use the gel, but it’s so concentrated – they’ve had very high success in putting them both into beverages.
Where do you see the demands from beverage companies heading in the future with regard to the types of premix products they want? What are the greatest challenges facing you when it comes to filling those kinds of needs?
Everybody, at least lately, wants to fortify their beverages to at least 50 percent of the recommended daily allowance. And it’s like, thiamine tastes horrible. So taste is the biggest obstacle – the higher the concentration, the harder it is to mask. That’s the biggest difficulty.
How do most beverage companies go about doing business with you?
People will come to IFT, or people will come to different suppliers, and we’ll formulate a premix that’s suitable to an application – we’re more than happy to tweak things. We have a lot of sales reps and a strong reputation.
Watson, Inc.
301 Heffernan Drive
West Haven CT 06516