Current Development of Cream of Wheat

In the 1930s, Cream of Wheat products were born, it is a kind of drink made with water, and used to be given to each other as gifts. Until the 1980s, Cream of Wheat was regarded as a kind of luxury drink among the general public. Adults often could not afford to drink it, and children became the most direct recipients. With the development of the food industry, the continuous fusion of Chinese and Western cultures, Cream of Wheat has become a long memory of the Chinese people ****, due to too many competing products, more functional and more price point of the product in the growing number of Cream of Wheat to restore the appeal of the past is also a difficult thing.

In 1990, the annual output of "Fu" brand Lekoufu reached 5,147.1 tons, ranking first in the industry, the national provincial and municipal sales coverage reached 85.7%. But in the time of the sun, "Fu" brand Lekoufu ended and the Shanghai Coffee Factory more than 30 years of "marriage". 1993, Novartis Pharmaceuticals established Novartis Foods Ltd. in Shanghai, the coffee factory belongs to the Shanghai Meilin Zhengguanghe Joint Stock Co. Ltd., which belongs to the coffee factory, transferred the production and operation right of "Fu" brand Lekoufu to Novartis. Since then, the national brand "Fook" began to cover the color of foreign investment, but sales did not rise to a higher level. Since food is not the core business of Novartis, the business of "Fook" brand Lucknow was not given much attention in the company's overall strategy. In addition, after the 1990s, the beverage market became more and more competitive, and new products for consumers to choose from kept emerging, the sales performance of "Fook" brand Lekofu began to go downhill, and the brand appeal was not as strong as it used to be.

In 2002, Novartis restructured its core healthcare business to promote further growth. That year Novartis announced at its headquarters in Switzerland that it was divesting its health and functional foods business under the Consumer Healthcare division. Among other things, the Food & Beverage business unit was sold to United Foods Ltd. in the United Kingdom for US$266.5 million. One of the changes in China as a result of the global takeover is the transfer of the production and operation of the "Fu" brand of Lekoufu to Shanghai-based Associated Foods & Beverages Co.

The company is a joint venture between United Food Group and Shanghai Meilin Zhengguanghe Group***, with a total investment of more than US$29 million.

"Fu" brand brand ownership belongs to the Chinese side - Merlin Group, while the foreign side enjoys the right to production and business rights. After the transfer of the right to operate and produce, the "British Union" paid considerable attention to the national brand "Fu" brand. However, since the acquisition of Novartis Foods is a global act, the integration of departments, personnel adjustment and other administrative matters need to spend a certain amount of time and effort, therefore, the implementation of specific brand management action will be relatively late. In fact, the "British Union" officially took over the "Fu" brand business in 2003.

But at this time, "British Union" did not hastily invest too much for the "Fook" brand, they first want to determine, "Fook" brand in fact, how much can be done. After a period of market research, Yinglian found that the national brand still has considerable development potential. In particular, middle-aged and old-aged consumers over 40 years old are a nostalgic generation and have a high degree of trust in old brands.

The survey made Yinglian confident in revitalizing the "Fu" brand, and also promoted it to lock the primary development target for the middle-aged and old-aged market. According to the market response, Yinglian improved the traditional formula of Lekoufu and made products with stronger milk flavor. In addition to the traditional formula of Lekoufu and Cream of Wheat, there are also high-calcium and low-fat Lekoufu under the brand of "Fook" to satisfy the modern people's requirements for different tastes and nutrition.