As part of a new initiative aimed at reviving sales pressured by increased competition in the bread market, Consolidated Baking Company, which trades as Purity, has expanded its product portfolio by adding a new line of snack bars.
The protein product, called Vybez Bar, was launched under the Miss Birdie brand earlier this year and is one of several products the company has recently launched, including Miss Birdie Rock Cake and Miss Birdie Amaaazin Cinnamon Raisin Loaf.
Chairman and managing director Anthony Chan told the Jamaica Observer that the company would continue to leverage the value of the Miss Birdie brand as it works to reposition its product portfolio towards more promising areas in response to competitive pressures and changing markets.
“What will change is that people want value for money, but the taste profile may change. Jamaica today is a little different than it was five or 10 years ago. That doesn’t mean that bras and doughnuts and the like won’t sell. So, we are still in the baked goods business, but we have to look at other products that have more room to grow,” Chan said.
Made primarily from almonds, the Vybez Bar competes directly with Nature Valley, an imported brand owned by US-based food processor General Mills that has built a reputation as a go-to protein snack locally.
Consolidated Bakeries has launched bread in different sizes, nutritional values and flavours to meet consumer demand and is poised to enter the import business amid an increasingly competitive bread market.
For example, Consolidated Bakeries’ biggest rival, Honey Bun, achieved record sales with the launch of its 32-ounce Shorty Bread, half the size of its traditional hard dough bread. National Bakery and HTB, makers of the Yummy brands, also introduced National Short Week Bread and Yummy Recle Bread, respectively.
“I think these companies are seeing what we’re seeing, which is the bread market is mature and in mature markets the growth phase is not necessarily robust – gaining market share. And how do you gain market share? It’s a matter of pricing, offering more for less and so on,” Chan said.
“But it’s a low-margin business, so what we want to do is look for things we can do well now and in the future,” he added.
Chan said the Vibes Bar is the first of many snacks the company will roll out, but declined to provide further details for competitive reasons.
The company, which produces bread, biscuits, rolls, pastries and snacks, has been working to grow profits year-on-year after sales plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Revenue rose 11% year-on-year in fiscal 2023, but profits fell. Fiscal 2024 started strong, with the company making a profit of $20.1 million in the first quarter ended in March and revenue rising to $525 million.
