The French-based nutritional firm’s soya crisps were developed two years ago and can be found in North America and Europe under niche nutritional brands. Each 30g pack contains around 13-15 g of protein.
Aurélie De Schuyteneer, marketing manager at Laboratoire PYC, said the company had started flavor development for expansion into Asian.
“I went to Hong Kong last year and I bought back some products. So, some flavors are very close to ours like barbecue, sour cream and onion or salt and vinegar; these are mainstreams, universal flavors. But some of the flavors like seaweeds are very typical of Asia, so we’d have to adapt,” she told BakeryandSnacks.com.
Laboratoire PYC’s parent group Solina is specialized in flavors and the teams there are working on this flavor R&D, she said.
While the flavor R&D remained under wraps, she said they were working with both savory and sweet.
She said that flavor innovation for the soya crisps would continue to take into account the natural vegetal taste of soy protein and work to cover this. “Not all consumers are used to eating such products, and especially for the snack market you expect spicy and tasty flavors.”
High-protein snacking
While high-protein savory snacks remained a niche, De Schuyteneer said the level of interest coming from North America and Europe was indicative that this trend could take off into the mainstream.
“There are some high-protein snacks but mainly sweet, like bars and biscuits in the mainstream. But high-protein savory snacks haven’t hit mainstream yet, that was the interest behind this innovation – to develop something savory,” she said.
Asked if there was a strong understanding of protein in Asia, she said: “They are familiar with proteins, but mainly for children’s foods; protein powders for kids. For adults, it’s not as developed as North America and Europe.”
Distribution by end of 2014
De Schuyteneer said the company would like to secure distribution of the crisps in Asia by the end of this year.
“We already have some contacts in Asia, so the idea is to go on introducing the product to these contacts and through the group we’d like to get some distributors,” she said.