FMCG Innovations and Trends by Sophia Nadur

My mother has Type 2 Diabetes. Like 20 million Brits, I am at risk to get it too if I don't lose weight and/or change what I eat and drink. But changing behaviour is really hard.  We all want that healthier food and drink to look good and taste good too. However, what we're seeing on store shelves are lots of drinks  being reformulated to take all/some sugar out and put instead lots of aspartame, sucralose and weird ingredients in that actually none of us want or need in our diet. We also see lots of healthier drinks are quite expensive and, even though health should have no price attached to it, we still have very tight wallets so we do want healthier food drink to be available at an accessible price. So the real " sweet spot " - the "holy grail" - is a drink that is  nutritionally sound, naturally functional and available at an affordable price. Like Tg green tea .  A drink that was inspired by ancient Chinese...

Tg Green Tea co-founder, Sophia Nadur, in Singapore discussing how to harness the goodness of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda wellness ingredients in creating beverages that folks want. Read her interview with Gary Scattergood, Editor-in-Chief at William Reed Business Media Ltd, Food Asia, in NutraIngredients Asia. http://www.nutraingredients-asia.com/Manufacturers/Functional-beverages-in-Asia-Start-ups-need-to-redress-the-health-balance For more info, please connect with me via LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophianadur/

I am pleased to be presenting at the Food Vision Asia conference in Singapore 26th April 2017, on the topic of "East meets West meets East. Tapping plant wellness for new beverage segments" which will also showcase Tg green teas  - considered a leading beverage platform for translating ancient TCM wellness traditions into mass-market drinks. East meets West meets East. Tapping plant wellness for new beverage segments People instinctively know the value of consuming plant-based food and drink; they feel it’s good for their health and for the planet, its animals, climate and the environment.  In recent years, however, increased availability of highly processed products, largely marketed by Western companies, has broken the connection with indigenous plant-based diets for Asia’s millennial consumers.  At the same time, on the other side of the world the West is experiencing a fundamental consumer shift towards vegetarian, vegan and other plant-based formulations. S...

The global ready-to-drink tea market reached 37 billion liters in 2016: up 40% since 2011, and market consultancy Zenith Global predicts this impressive growth is set to continue with global consumption expected to reach 45 billion liters by 2021 (growing 7% per annum). Increased consumption has been driven by consumers’ rising health awareness, with RTD teas offering an attractive alternative to carbonated soft drinks. In Asia – by far the biggest market for RTD teas – functional benefits are also a key characteristic of the market. RTD teas will continue to evolve with exotic flavors and more sophisticated offerings. But the category will also face increased scrutiny over its health positioning, with some RTD teas containing as much sugar as carbonated soft drinks. Tg green tea, a new British brew, is set to take on global behemoths in the race to healthify the category. www.drinktg.com

Hua  (my co-founder) and I have been crowdfunding on  Tesco Backit  for the past few weeks. It's been a great opportunity to share with folks who already know and love our innovative drink concept.....and loads of folks who never heard of Tg green tea - or us -before. The crowdfunding platform itself is new -  the first of its kind by a global retailer (Tesco) -  and focused on supporting emerging food & drink brands raise funds to scale up and get ready to list (hopefully) in a Top 5 global retailer! The campaign closes on  7th November  so please allow me to make a short, direct appeal to you to support our crowdfunding campaign. With every pledge we are able to deliver our drinks to more and more cafes, delis, workplaces and charities all across Britain - and to ensure sales support is on hand to fulfill orders once more folks have sampled our drinks. Please may I ask you to make a pledge of £25, £50, or £100 today.  We will say "tha...

My mission to fight for better food & drink on store shelves  drove me to create Tg. Getting the drink in-store with Tesco in the UK is just the start. This crowdfunding campaign has stirred up strong interest by another major retailer as well as a number of cafe chains. Enquiries have come in from the US, France, Germany, the UAE, China, Japan, Chile, the Netherlands, and the Caribbean regarding selling Tg in those markets. But I cannot make Tg a success on my own. I need your help which is why I am here, asking you to make a campaign pledge. Bob Beveridge , a former colleague at Mars, experienced NED & Chartered Accountant, made a sizeable pledge very early in the campaign. He then asked to try out Tg green teas. He thought the drinks were delicious and something really new and different (after doing his own in-store and other research). He was so moved by Tg's mission that he reached out to offer his help as an advisor and ...

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is one of the best “preventative medicine” steps we can take. The founder of medicine, Hippocrates, said in 400 B.C. “ Let medicine be thy food and let food be thy medicine ” and for centuries doctors,  dietitians, nutritionists, and nutritional therapists  everywhere have talked about the role that food plays in health and how you feel on a day to day basis. Dr Hua He  and I are two co-founders of a British based startup that is on a mission to encourage healthier lifestyles across Britain and the world. Hua has worked for many years in the medical field to research and develop new drugs that can make sick people better (or at least ease some of the symptoms of illness). She was born in China and grew up with the traditional health & wellness knowledge of Green tea and other fruit & botanicals that had become part of everyday life in the “Middle Kingdom” for over 4,000 years. Green tea was known since anc...

Today, store shelves are filled with drinks that entice us with sugar and empty calories.  Even drinks that claim to be good for us are all too often high in sugar or filled with artificial ingredients.  Worse, many “new age” drinks come from unfamiliar and unsustainable sources.  And as for the drinks that really are healthy? Sadly, many of them do not taste great. This is what drove Hua & I to create Tg green teas in London, in 2015.  With our own savings, a few grants and buckets of passion, knowledge and tenacity, we developed a range of drinks that are tasty and low in sugar, so low in sugar that each drink wears proudly a "green" nutritional traffic light.  We also based our drinks on green tea, a leaf that has been refreshing and nourishing folks for thousands of years. It's no surprise I guess that we have already won a number of UK & international innovation, quality, and design awards for our drink concept.  Awards are ni...

China a huge food & beverage market China is the world’s largest food & beverage market worth over £360 billion ($550 billion / €440 billion). Increasing disposable income and urbanization, an improving logistics system, growing concerns about food safety as well as an expanding taste for foreign foodstuffs are positive indicators for exporters wanting to capture a share of this exciting market. Of course its fragmented distribution infrastructure and growing local competition present a host of challenges to UK food & drink brands, however partnering with local experts and taking care to respect & nurture "guanxi" will go a long way to encouraging success.  Will the Great British Food Unit help turbo-charge UK exports? In 2015, UK food & drink brands exported £238 million ($357 million / €285 million) worth of tea, pork, processed milk and other food stuff to China, making the country a top 10 export market for the first time. Still, that o...