Sunquick Lanka brings home best country award

By Cheranka Mendis

Sunquick Sri Lanka, the much loved super concentrated fruit quash will today bring home the prestigious Co-Ro Best country award also known as the Global Sunquick best awards. The award is an annual presentation by the brand owners of Sunquick, Co-Ro Food A/S, a Danish Company awarded for the country that marks the best volume growth over a three year period.

The award will be brought home by Scan Products Division of C.W. Mackie Plc, the local partner for bottling, distribution and marketing of Sunquick (SQ) products in Sri Lanka. The business partnership between the two entities dates back to over 33 years.  Scan Products Chief Operating Officer Mangala Perera joined Daily FT for a quick chat on the award, production of Sunquick and the future of the cordial and squash sector in Sri Lanka.

 Q: Tell us a bit about the award and how you came to achieve it?

A: Scan Products Division of C.W. Mackie been awarded the prestigious award for its excellent performance in sales and marketing for the period 2008-2010.  According to Co-Ro Food A/s Denmark selection criteria, it is compulsory to maintain continues volume growth momentum for three consecutive years to be recognized for this award.

Scan Products Sri Lanka was chosen out of over 100 Sunquick distributing countries for the award.

Leading to the win, our growth during the period cumulatively was around 40% YoY.

Q: Where does SQ stand in the local market?

A: According to research carried out by Nielson, we are the market leaders in the cordial and squash category of the food and beverage sector in Sri Lanka enjoying nearly 59% of the market share.

During the last three years we are growing at a very high rate in terms of both top line and bottom line, and year 2010 was the best year ever for Scan Products in terms of sales and profitability. We have maintained the same growth momentum in the first half of this financial year with a 23% revenue growth. We have clearly defined our business objectives in terms of business growth in the coming years and is moving forward to achieving this.

Q: How would you describe present FMCG market trends?

A: It is a very competitive market with a high growth potential simply because most of the people living in rural areas are up grading their living standards, changing their purchasing behaviour patterns and shifting from commodity to branded products. As a country we are growing at a rate of 8% GDP and per capita income has also increased. Accordingly, consumer spending is high than in the past. This industry clearly has a very good potential.

 Q: How is the performance of the food and beverage category in Sri Lanka?

A: The food and beverage industry in Sri Lanka has become a thriving sector in the economy with the post war optimism and reaping maximum benefits from peace dividends.  Contribution to the GDP by this industry is approximately 7.5%.

The Food and beverage industry witness a staggering growth rate of 39% during the period of 2009 to 2011.  Unfortunately the industry which we are in (cordial and squash) is experiencing category de-growth for the last three years. We are now beginning to see a recovery pattern happening.

 Q: What in your view is the reason for the growth in the f&b sector?

A: Penetrating in to the untapped market in North has largely helped the industry to record such a higher growth rate. Post crisis buoyancy in the tourism industry also facilitated in expanding the Food and beverage industry on a substantial scale. Consistent and improved macro economic fundamentals in the country have also played a part in achieving this growth.

Low Interest rates, stable exchange rate regime, changing consumer buying behavioural pattern, changing life styles of the consumers, trend in consumer commodity shifting to branded items, increased per capita income and consumer spending, improved living standards and international marketing trends and its influence have also played its part.

Q: You said the cordial and squash category experienced a degrowth. What are the reasons for that?

A: Like I said before Sri Lankan consumers are upgrading their living standards and changing lifestyles. Cordial people are shifting towards ready to go drinks. Also no one in the industry is investing for the communication to grow in the category.

Q: How do you differentiate SQ from the competition?

A: When it comes to marketing and branding we have practiced a localized approach to our marketing communication and positioned SQ brand as the best item somebody can give for their loved ones as a gift; this is our positing platform. This local adaptation was very well accepted as it played in line with SriLankan cultural values, and was very well received by the Sri Lankan consumers. This was the turning point for the brand in the recent past to achieve such excellent performance.

Q: What is the local adaptation done to the global brand?

A: We did a number of local adaptation to meet Scan consumers’ expectation but without changing the original and traditional Danish recipe. We did a ‘taste grid analysis’ and found out consumer expectations in terms of various aspects such as taste, colour, smell, sour etc and worked to meet those expectation.

We do ‘brand funnel analysis’ annually to understand the consumer awareness and brand conversion ratios. As per the findings of this analysis we do our localized communication campaign to touch the Scan consumers mind and heart. For example the campaign ‘Thegi dena saasthare’ launched several years back during the New Year season was well received by the local consumers.

Q: What is the brands value proposition against competition?

A: High quality unmatchable secret recipe, high tech product processing and filling technology, high dilution ratio of 1+ 9 that assure value for money and a wide range of fruit flavours gives freedom of choice for the consumers.

Q: What are your quality standards and how do you maintain this?

A: The company’s internal quality assurance programme ensures analysis required by applicable regulatory bodies becomes a part of our regular testing programmers. Being an ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 22,000 certified company we ensure that our products meet the most stringent international and national quality standards. In addition we have employed a HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) inspection plan in our manufacturing facility to ensure food safety for our consumers. As you know HACCP is recognized worldwide as the leading food safety program for the food and pharmaceutical industry. It is also pertinent to mention that our entire manufacturing operation is carried out according to certified GMP guidelines and most of our products are SLS certified assuring the quality of our product.

Our testing laboratories are equipped with state of the art testing equipments and staffed with skilled and experienced personal. Comparative analyses are performed on products in accordance with local and international regulatory standards. It is only after every single bottle meets our internal quality standards and fully conforms to international standards that it leaves the plant for consumers.

Q: What would you say is the reason for your success?

A: Our success depends on the knowledge and strength of our people operating in our plants. We have therefore made it mandatory that all our plant personal are on continuous training on quality and food safety. A well structured staff development program is in place to develop and upgrade the skills of operating staff.   

Our manufacturing operation is carried out under strictly controlled hygienic conditions using state of the art machinery, and the entire manufacturing operation is monitored and checked during filling capping, labelling and packing to control and prevent contamination from the environment. In the production line each bottle is given a specific batch number and date of production, in order to facilitate and establish the traceability of products for later complaints. All incoming materials are carefully checked and monitored for purity and quality before taken them for production and material that do not meet required material specifications are rejected.

Q: Describe your commitment for the consumers?

A: Our commitment is to strive to continue as the market leader in manufacture and sale of fruit squash concentrate and make our products competitive and cost effective while complying statutory and regulatory requirements in the country. Hence our objective is to maintain a sustainable manufacturing process for our products and systems, so we have set measurable regret to control resource wastages through different ways and continue to review these targets in line with industry best practices.