https://news.mixi.jp/view_news.pl?id=7059901&media_id=54
August 04, 2022 07:30 ORICON NEWS
View Tweets( 11 )Read Diary( 1 )Limited Publication( 5 )
Check tweetTweet your diaryShare on facebook
ORICON NEWS
PhotoThe "soft and fluffy omelette rice" developed by the company is similar to the kind served at Western-style restaurants. Both the rice and eggs are plant-based food. The eggs are made from carrots and green beans.
The "soft and thick omelette rice" developed by the company, similar to the kind served at Western-style restaurants. Both the rice and eggs are plant-based food. The eggs are made from carrots and green beans.
Kagome is a major integrated manufacturer of beverages, foods, and seasonings. In 2016, the company announced its vision of "changing from a tomato company to a vegetable company," and is now working to expand into the plant-based food field. The company is now working on expanding into the plant-based area. In today's health-conscious world, the "plant-based" angle is becoming more popular, but there is also a challenge: "Wouldn't it be cheaper and tastier to just eat regular food?" However, there is also the issue of "Wouldn't it be cheaper and tastier to just eat regular food? How do they deal with various aspects such as price, taste, and technology? We interviewed a spokesperson.
Atsuko Maeda, who 11 years ago transformed herself into the overly cute star of the show, the tomato.
From Tomatoes to Vegetables, KAGOME has shifted to a product strategy that broadens the range of its products.
Many people think of tomato ketchup and tomato juice when they think of Kagome. At the same time, however, the company has been developing products using a variety of "vegetables," including the vegetable drink "Vegetable Seikatsu 100. We will continue to focus on tomatoes. However, in 2015, our business performance became very difficult, and we seriously discussed what we should be as a company and what we want Kagome to be in 10 years' time. We drew up a long-term vision of "Kagome" as a "vegetable company instead of a tomato company," with the year 2025 as the target.
The vision was the result of serious consideration of how to grow "Kagome" as a company, and the idea was that in order to survive as a company, we should aim for "sustainable contribution to society" and "enhancement of corporate value" by expanding our business domain to include vegetables, with tomatoes as the core. The company's goal was to "contribute to society in a sustainable manner" and "increase corporate value. In order to solve these issues, we have broadened the scope of our business to include vegetables as a whole, and have shifted our focus to a variety of ingredients.
In addition to the vegetable juices mentioned above, "Kagome" had a broad lineup of vegetable ingredients, including frozen grilled vegetables in its commercial-use business. While making use of this know-how, the company began to develop plant-based foods. An alternative to animal-based food made from plant-based ingredients; the company began developing this product for commercial use in 2019.
■Substitutes are not something you have to put up with, which is why we pursue taste thoroughly.
The Tokyo Olympics were also behind this. At the time, inbound demand was also expanding, so we developed this product for vegetarians and vegans, which are common overseas. Before Corona, we had many group visitors from overseas, and we heard from many food service providers that they could not make reservations at hotels and restaurants if they could not accommodate vegans and vegetarians, or that they would be cancelled. We hoped that Kagome would be able to help in this situation, so we started to sell individual retort pouch pasta sauces and curries for business use.
While the SDGs, diversity, and other socially beneficial initiatives are all great, the problem, if we look at it in a more condescending way, is taste. Meat lovers want to eat meat, and egg lovers want to eat eggs.
We also believe that plant-based food is not something you have to endure. We are also a company whose theme is "making nature tasty and enjoyable," so we are very particular about product development and thoroughly pursue taste. We are proud of the fact that we are a "vegetable company," and we are proud of the products we have created. In the first place, we have a unique ingredient called "vegetable broth," which is made from only vegetables and has been recognized by Chef Seizo Mikuni, owner of the Hotel de Mikuni, who is known as the "Mikuni of the world. It was a great opportunity for me to study how I could apply such technology.
Using soybeans and other vegetable ingredients, the company will revamp its Plant Base series for home use in 2021 and begin selling it at commercial supermarkets and other outlets. In addition to pasta sauces such as "Bolognese," the series includes keema curry and sauce for gapao. All of them contain zero animal-derived ingredients. The company conducted a questionnaire survey of its general customers, not including vegetarians and vegans, and "received a high evaluation," says the person in charge of the project.
One of the products they are proud of is "Plant-Based Omelette Rice," which went on sale in March of this year. The company teamed up with TWO, a company that produces the "2foods" plant-based food brand, to develop this product. It took a year of development to figure out how to bring out the flavor and fluffy texture of eggs without using eggs. After experimenting with more than 100 ingredients, carrots and white kidney beans were chosen as the base ingredients. The product was named "Ever Egg" because it would be an egg, but not an egg, and would overturn conventional wisdom.
By using the advantages and disadvantages of the product, it can become an everyday choice.
What advantages do plant-based foods offer to the general public? First of all, it is a health benefit. In an ordinary omelette rice dish, there are only a few vegetables in it, such as chopped carrots and green peppers. This product, however, contains more than one-third of the amount of vegetables needed in a day. It is also ideal for those who are concerned about cholesterol. And it is low in calories. Recently, the number of Halal food restaurants where Muslims can eat has been increasing. This will also make it possible to deal with religious issues such as these.
We launched the product on March 9 of this year, and within four hours of the start of orders, we had reached our goal of 1,100 purchases. However, we believe that awareness of the product is still insufficient, so we would like to put more effort into future development.
Of course, the development of this product was done with the environment in mind, but the company hopes that these products will become a part of the daily food choices. At times, they are plant-based rather than animal-based, for health and diet reasons. When you want to eat without worrying about it, you can eat meat and eggs with gusto. Even plant-based milks, such as the company's "Hatake Umare no Yasashii Milk," are blended with other vegetables and fruits as a secret ingredient using Kagome's vegetable juice technology. While these products are easy to drink and delicious, they do not provide the calcium that is available in regular milk. There are both advantages and disadvantages, which is why it is good if you can use them differently.
Kagome" is trying to show its appreciation to consumers through healthy & tasty products. For example, the company is famous for sending products to job hunters, regardless of whether they pass or fail, to thank them for their hard work in writing the entry sheet. Also, when paper-packaged vegetable beverages are folded tightly after drinking, the message "Thank you for folding them" appears. The person in charge says that gratitude is Kagome's corporate philosophy.
In Japan, there is a culture of saying "Itadakimasu" and "Gochisososama," expressing gratitude to the animals and plants that gave life and to the people who prepared the food. It is easy to forget to be thankful for food. It is easy to forget this in our daily lives, but if we become more conscious of our gratitude, the world will become a better place to live in.
(Text by Shinichi Korowa)
0 コメント:
コメントを投稿