Partnership makes business sweeter for BioVittoria
Date: 26 Jan 2012
You'll have to pardon the pun, but business really has been sweet for sugar-free, monk fruit-sourced sweetener manufacturer BioVittoria since gaining US FDA approval for its product in 2010.
Hamilton-based BioVittoria has seen revenue double each of the past three years to US$7.9 million ($9.8 million) last year but puts much of its recent success down to the partnership it secured in April last year with international food ingredient company Tate & Lyle.
Biovittoria is a finalist for best business in the less than $10m category in the 2012 New Zealand International Business Awards.
BioVittoria has developed a range of calorie free products from monk fruit, which is grown on steep mountainsides in small Chinese orchards. It distributed around one million seedlings to nearly 5000 farmers this year who are contracted to supply the fruit, which can only be grown in China.
Chief executive David Thorrold said the partnership with Tate & Lyle had allowed it to cut through the sales cycle more quickly because it brought the technical resources to solve problems as they occurred.
''The partnership is one that large food and beverage companies feel very comfortable about,'' Thorrold said.
He hoped that in three years from now, international food giants such as Kraft, Nestle, Pepsi and Coca Cola would be implementing BioVittoria's Fruit-Sweetness natural sweetener in their diet and sugar-free products.
''We've got product launches in the United States now in for example in sugar free ice creams and speciality beverages, and what we're looking to see launched in the next 12 months is some more mainstream beverages both in powdered mixes and ready to drink beverages.
''We're also seeing projects underway in dairy applications whether that be yoghurt, flavoured milk, and also in cereal and confectionary was well.''
So far the United States has been its key overseas client base, thanks to the product's FDA approval and the market's strong interest in sugar reduction due to rising obesity and diabetes levels.
BioVittoria also has a particular interest in some Asian countries where monk fruit already has regulatory clearance including China, Japan and Malaysia.
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