Consumer giant IFF’s Nourish unit hopes to cook up a storm in Asia

FRESH from the oven - so to speak - Nourish, a division created more than a year ago by food flavours and fragrances giant IFF following a big merger with Dupont’s nutrition & biosciences (N&B) unit, is cooking up a storm in Asia where the group has long been present.

And it’s got no time to lose as the pandemic-led travel curbs through much of the region last year had challenged Nourish’s ability to engage its teams and partners across the region to capture the full potential of a complex and enlarged portfolio.

This is more so following the group’s reset of its brand identity to entrench itself as a key player in the global value chain for consumer goods and commercial products in February last year. That is after the US$26 billion merger with Dupont’s unit was done and dusted. The merger brought together IFF’s expertise in food flavours and fragrances and the former DuPont division’s leading positions in probiotics, enzymes and food protection. 

President of IFF’s Nourish Nicolas Mirzayantz remarked: “You know, we are a new company. How do we ensure that our teams are fully engaged with that potential - the new reality. Last year, given the pandemic challenges...we were not able to be physically together. (But) now, we can.”

He added: “The No 1 focus is to ensure that everybody in the company is at the same level of expertise and knowledge to make the impact with our partners.” 

Under the “new IFF”’s, Nourish was created by combining IFF’s taste division - the group’s largest segment - and N&B’s food & beverage (F&B) segment; scent, health and biosciences and pharma solutions made up the other three key divisions.

There is one thing working in Nourish’s favour - while its packaging may be new, it is one of the leading players in the consumer goods space. Of the four divisions, Nourish is the biggest contributor to IFF’s topline. For the third quarter ended September 2022, the division contributed US$1.7 billion to the group’s sales of US$3.1 billion. For the nine-month period, IFF made US$9.6 billion in sales.

“We are starting with not just a wider portfolio but our portfolio is No 1 or No 2 everywhere. So, it (Nourish) is like a startup, but it’s starting from a leadership position,” Mirzayantz explained.

As consumption recovered as well as evolved from the pandemic, Nourish is eager to meet the changing needs and tap the gargantuan Asian consumer market that is expected to account for US$2.4 trillion in incremental food spending by 2030.

Indeed, there is much ground to cover and Nourish has hit the ground running this year as curbs ease. The latest move by Beijing to ease some restrictions could also hit the right spot.

The lingering pandemic, a war, recession woes and rising inflation are not thwarting the group’s Asian goals. “it’s not business as usual, by any stretch of the imagination. But the more partners I meet, the more we recognise the opportunities. We already have some very exciting and meaningful early successes where this portfolio is coming together (but) we’re only scratching the surface, because of the limitations last year,” enthused Mirzayantz.

Amid heightened fear of infection during the pandemic, the need for health and well-being solutions such as probiotics saw a sharp uptick. This saw the firm, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and has a market capitalisation of US$26 billion, leveraging on its the health and biosciences portfolio to support its customers to meet consumer demand. The other big change, he said, was the acceleration in digital transformation.

“It (the pandemic) accelerated the need for digital solutions in terms of brand engagement with consumers, supply chain and what is the role we can play to help the brands talk digitally about their product and communicate the benefits of the experience. How do we articulate the stories and storytelling - that was a fascinating journey...what would have taken 15 years, happened in one year,” he remarked.  

One of the key blocks for its regional ambitions was laid in Singapore by Nourish only last month with the opening of a new innovation centre - the first centre to integrate the technologies, capabilities and expertise of all four business divisions. Located in the city-state’s biomedical research hub in Biopolis in One-North, Buona Vista and spanning nearly 11,000 square metres, it is also IFF’s largest centre in the region.

This launch also follows a newly operational manufacturing facility or flexiblend plant in Tuas in October and marks the latest endeavour in some US$30 million investments which IFF has ploughed into Singapore, where it has 500 employees.

Mirzayantz is quick to point out that the “deliberate and very targeted focus in terms of investments” in Singapore was already in place even before the IFF-Dupont’s unit merger. A big draw is the rise of Singapore as a centre for the plant-based protein industry; some are even calling it the world’s food-tech capital. IFF is also keen to be part of the city state’s “30 by 30” initiative, a plan aimed at locally producing 30 per cent of its nutritional needs by the year 2030. 

IFF has presence in 14 countries in Asia (excluding India) with 3,600 employees. Over the past decade, apart from Singapore, the consumer giant has made several investments in the region, namely China, India, and Indonesia. It opened a manufacturing facility for flavours production in Guangzhou, China in 2013; a flavours creative facility the following year in Jakarta, Indonesia; and four years ago, it broke ground for a flavours and fragrances plant in Andhra Pradesh, India.

The Asian market portfolio, he said, is “one of IFF’s most diverse and rich portfolios” and more so, as the F&B segment tends to be “very local”. “I like to go to local markets. You can see the diversity, it’s all about the local food and the vegetable of the season, the spices, the combination things that don’t exist in any other part of the world,” he continued. “So the richness of the palette is a great source of inspiration and presents so many opportunities to cross fertilise, to learn from in terms of texture... it’s great for innovation. and limitless. We have an unwavering commitment, belief, and passion for this region.”