“ from ugly bananas to the perfect transformation of the industry upstart, what has barnana done? ”
Text: Ruby
Source: foodaily daily food (id:foodaily)
At present, coconut has become the mainstream of popular products, and it can be seen in the popular products of major manufacturers. In the first half of 2021, more than 130 coconut flavor drinks were launched, and only five brands, including Xicha, Naixue tea, Lele tea, Ruixing coffee and KFC, launched more than 20 coconut series products. Not only that, the application of coconut has penetrated from the field of new tea drinks to the field of packaged food and beverage, across all categories. There is no doubt that coconut has become the most popular super ingredient of fruits at that time. Source: Ruixing official, KFC officialUnder the background that coconut is favored by major manufacturers and consumers, foodaily found that banana, as a tropical fruit with special genes, has its own popular attributes such as health, nature, rich in vitamins and plant base, but no one has been interested in it. Under the influence of the current strong momentum of domestic coconuts, bananas, which originally had no large number of loyal fans, not only could not compete with popular fruits such as mango and peach, but also were preempted by niche fruits with topic attributes such as oil Mandarin and yellow peel fruit, gradually fading out of the vision of consumers.In the current market environment, compared with other fruits, bananas may seem a little ordinary and even uninteresting. However, as a super fruit, bananas are rich in nutrition, dietary fiber, large output and can be obtained in all seasons. They are a very good fruit that can be used for food processing and have good innovation potential.Faced with the “inner roll” and “whole life” of many fruits, how can bananas jump out of the comfort zone and strive to become the next popular fruit worth looking forward to? Foodaily found that innovation using bananas as raw materials is not uncommon in overseas markets. Moreover, compared with the only snacks such as crisps in China, bananas have cultivated quite mature consumption scenes and more leading brand concepts in overseas markets. What wonderful story can a little banana have? Next, join foodaily in this issue of [new Xiu] – Banana snack brand barnana from the United States.Inspired by coconut, the founder bet on bananasBarnana, founded in 2012 and headquartered in Santa Monica, California, USA, is an environment-friendly company that aims to provide consumers with healthy snacks while reducing resource waste. It mainly produces all kinds of healthy snacks made of “imperfect” organic bananas and plantains.As a sports enthusiast and triathlon professional athlete, caue supply, the founder of barnana, has used banana slices as a small snack to supplement energy after sports since childhood. He is concerned that there are many bananas in banana producing areas every year because their appearance does not meet the listing standards or the supply chain does not meet the requirementsAs the first product of barnana brand, “banana bites” series products have experienced many upgrading iterations, and expanded product branches: from the original chewy banana slices, to the coconut flavored chewy banana slices mixed with coconut paste, and chewy banana slices wrapped with various coatings. These breakthrough changes all show barnana’s innovative strength and love for banana products.“Banana bites” series products, image source minimart usBarnana coconut flavored chewy organic banana slices, tuyuan good eggs2) Health + flavor, achieving popular banana chipsBarnana’s popular series is a series of crispy banana chips, and the core secret to stand out is very simple: first, flavor, second, health. Most of the traditional banana slices in the market are fried without seasoning or simply seasoned with salt, and the taste is relatively single. Under such a market background, barnana banana slices with innovative flavors stand out. Salt vinegar flavor, Himalayan sea salt flavor, lime flavor, spicy Mango Salad flavor and other novel flavors provide consumers with more choices, and also inject new vitality into the unchanging track.On the other hand, barnana banana slices are crisp and salty, without added sugar and gluten. They are only made of banana, natural seasoning and 100% coconut oil. They are naturally healthy and can bring the same satisfaction as potato chips, perfectly meeting the healthy needs of contemporary consumers for snacks.Barnana’s innovative snack, official source3) Category expansion and innovationInnovation around bananas has not stopped. On the basis of the success of banana chips, barnana brought a new product to consumers in February 2022, and launched crispy banana blocks, innovative cube crisps, which bring consumers a healthy and novel experience, without added sugar and cholesterol, and each package contains 4G dietary fiber.Barnana’s new product, organic crispy banana block, was launched in 2022Source officialUp to now, barnana’s innovative banana snack product line mainly focuses on sweet and salty flavors.The sweet product line includes: healthy dehydrated and chewy banana slices that are different from the hard and crisp taste of fried banana slices in the past, with less oil and sugar; A series of chewy banana snacks wrapped with a coating on the basis of chewy banana slices.Salty product lines include: organic banana chips made of healthy coconut oil, gluten free corn chips made of innovative banana powder instead of traditional corn powder, and organic banana blocks with the size of popcorn, which make the taste more three-dimensional and crisp.Barnana’s various productsFrom top to bottom: coated chewy banana slices, chewy banana slices, organic banana chipsAll barnana products are free of artificial additives and glutenSince 2013, barnana has reused more than 50million bananas and plantains that cannot be put on shelves, and acquired agroapoyo, a Latin American supply and manufacturing partner in Quito, Ecuador, in September 2021 to create a “farm to shelf” supply. With its excellent innovation ability and sustainable and win-win brand concept and vision, barnana has always maintained a special position in the highly competitive fruit snack market.How to make bananas into popular fruits?1) Identify characteristics and expand core consumption scenariosBarnana is known as a “super potassium” snack, which also suggests that a core reason for its emergence in the U.S. market is that banana snacks have a typical consumption scenario here, that is, sports and fitness.Banana is rich in nutrition and is recognized as a beauty and weight loss and sports energy supplement food. It is rich in sugar, pectin, calcium, phosphorus, iron, potassium, vitamins, crude fiber and other nutrients, especially potassium.At present, the main consumption scenario of bananas in China is still relatively limited, and they are mostly enjoyed directly as daily fruits. As the main importer of bananas, the United States accounts for 18% of global banana imports, and the per capita banana consumption in the United States is maintained at 27 pounds (about 12.2kg) throughout the year.Banana is high in sugar and potassium, which helps to maintain nerve and muscle function during exercise. It is a good snack before and after exercise. Therefore, many fitness people will take bananas as a “tonic” to the gym or enjoy in various outdoor scenes. Many food manufacturers in the United States will also use bananas as raw materials to develop various sports snacks, and barnana is one of them.In fact, among the domestic fitness crowd, there has long been the habit of eating oneortwo bananas before and after exercise, but more in the form of fruit. Therefore, does it mean that bananas actually have more room for development, which can not only be used as fruits or snacks that simply provide taste enjoyment, but also develop into functional snacks and expand new consumption scenarios?Barnana products can be used as snacks to supplement physical fitness after outdoor sportsFigure source barnana official twitter2) Break the routine and create new taste and textureAt present, the categories of banana snacks in China are still limited to fried banana slices, banana flavored snacks and banana flavored drinks. The innovation of banana products is only to add banana flavor to various products.In contrast, banana products in overseas markets have been diverse. For example, barnana’s Coated chewy banana snack is a popular chewy snack made by combining bananas with peanuts and chocolate sauce, and banana milk in South Korea is a perfect combination of bananas and milk. Japan also has many snacks with banana chocolate combination, and we have also observed new texture products such as ice cream made of bananas.Therefore, the inspiration for domestic manufacturers is that the innovation focus of banana products may beWith an “imperfect” banana, this brand actually received $18million in financing| New Xiu1）伴随着可持续基因诞生Barnana的诞生就伴随着对于可持续理念的关注。其创始人注意到，多达 20% 的香蕉在离开农场之前就被丢弃了。尽管这些香蕉的品质并没有问题，但由于严格的出口标准，它们被认为是“不完美的”，并因小肿块、瘀伤或太熟而被拒收，并且有许多在产地种植有机香蕉的小农们，因为供应链技术较落后导致他们的香蕉无法被推向更大的市场，因此每年都有大量品质不错的有机香蕉被丢弃。Barnana决心改变香蕉供应链这种糟糕且浪费的循环，因此便向亚马逊的小型有机农场收购那些品质完好但却因外形和物流原因导致无人问津的香蕉和芭蕉，利用这些原料生产创新产品，为偏远的家庭农场提供了一个可靠的市场来销售他们的香蕉原料。Barnana耐嚼香蕉片，图源Forbes官网2）积极发展再生农业，与农业伙伴合作共赢Barnana致力于改善土壤健康和水质，重视土壤再生问题、保护自然资源，促进生物多样性并使用久经考验的再生农业以应对全球气候变化。同时，Barnana 还帮助原产地的小佃农以及农民，帮助他们从普通农场过渡到有机认证农场，并定期以高于市场价30%的价格收购他们的农作物，以确保公平的工资、稳定的收入和更少的食物浪费，并且确保那些“不完美的”有机水果，经过非常短的行程就能够到达Barnana在当地的加工工厂，制作成消费者喜欢的零食。Barnana品牌的slogan，传达环保与友好的概念，图源官方自2013 年以来，Barnana 已经再利用了超过 5000 万根无法上架的香蕉和芭蕉，并于2021年9月收购了位于厄瓜多尔基多的拉丁美洲供应和制造合作伙伴 Agroapoyo，以创建“从农场到货架”的供应。凭借出色的创新能力和可持续共赢的品牌理念和愿景，Barnana在竞争激烈的水果零食市场，始终保持着特殊的地位。如何将香蕉打造成爆款水果？1）找准特质，拓宽核心消费场景Barnana被誉为“超级钾”零食，这其实也暗示了，其在美国市场出圈的一个核心原因是，香蕉零食在这里有一个典型的消费场景，那就是运动健身场景。香蕉营养丰富，是公认的美容减肥和运动能量补充食品，含有丰富的糖类、果胶、钙、磷、铁、钾、维生素、粗纤维等营养成分，尤其钾元素含量较高。国内目前香蕉的主要消费场景还是比较局限，多是作为日常水果直接享用，而美国作为香蕉的主要进口国，占全球香蕉进口量的 18%，美国人均香蕉消费量则常年维持在27磅（约12.2kg）。由于香蕉含糖量高且富含钾，有助于在锻炼期间维持神经和肌肉功能，是很好的锻炼前后零食，因此很多健身人士会将香蕉作为“补剂”带去健身房或在各种户外场景享用，美国有很多食品厂商也会以香蕉为原材料研发各类运动零食，Barnana便是其中之一。事实上在国内的健身人群中，也早有锻炼前后吃一两根香蕉的习惯，只不过更多是以水果形态。也因此，是不是意味着，香蕉其实有更大的发展空间，可以不只是作为水果或单纯提供味觉享受的零食，还可以往功能性零食发展，拓展新的消费场景？Barnana产品可作为户外运动后补充体能的小零食图源Barnana官方推特2）打破常规，创造新口味与新质感目前国内香蕉零食的品类还局限于油炸香蕉片、香蕉味零食与香蕉味饮品中，香蕉产品的创新仅仅是将香蕉口味添加进各类产品中。反观海外市场香蕉产品已经五花八门，比如：Barnana的涂层耐嚼香蕉零食便是将香蕉与花生、巧克力酱结合制成的备受消费者欢迎的耐嚼小零食，以及韩国的香蕉牛奶是香蕉与牛奶的完美结合，日本也有许多香蕉巧克力复合搭配的零食，我们也观察到了以香蕉制成的冰淇淋等新颖质感的产品。因此对于国内厂商的启发是，对香蕉产品的创新重点或许可以放在香蕉与其他食材的结合上，从而创造新的口味或者新的质感，牛奶、巧克力都是不错的研发方向。同时如今的消费者口味喜好渐渐向清新、多层次靠拢，或许今后香蕉产品的创新也可以在弱化香蕉的浓烈风味，使其能够与更多食材融合等方面进行研究创新。韩国香蕉牛奶，图源网络日本各口味香蕉零食，图源网络3）重视品牌理念，吸引超前的新知青年品牌理念：简单、可持续、美味，图源官方作为有态度的千禧一代，现在的年轻人不仅通过消费更可持续的产品表明对环保的支持， 还会选择更加环保的生活方式，让“可持续”、“回收”、“循环”融入日常生活中并有所行动，比如节水节电、拒绝一次性餐具、拒绝消费主义等。基于此，目前各大厂商都非常关注环境友好，环保低碳、碳中和等都已成为各企业的重点关注方向。作为自然友好型企业，Barnana以续性农业以及再生农业计划对自然环境贡献自己的力量，同时从拉丁美洲的许多较小、且偏远的土著农场采购有机香蕉和大蕉，这样消费者在购买产品的同时也能帮助农民获得收益，Barnana自然友好、可持续的品牌理念与思考也值得国内厂商进行研究和借鉴。参考资料：Soocial：美国国人均香蕉消费量转载授权及媒体商务合作：Amy（微信号：13701559246）； 加入社群：Cherry（微信号：15262433826）。 相关阅读 食品人都“在看”
