What Would Synlait Be Worth to Fonterra or a2 Milk?
Speculation of a possible joint move by Fonterra and a2 Milk to buy Synlait raises a much bigger strategic question, says agribusiness expert Dr Nic Lees.
The upgrade is one of Fonterra Anchor Food Professionals’ most significant recent investments in North China.
One of the highlights of the upgrade at Beijing facility is fully optimised experience for both customers and internal staff, Fonterra says.
In the demonstration kitchen, the audiovisual equipment set can instantly transform the kitchen into a panoramic live streaming stage for chefs. It takes just a second to change the background from baking to water bar to other consumption scenes to enhance customers’ interactive experience onsite.
Fonterra also says the renovated centre fully reflects its culture, creating a more comfortable working environment for the staff and chef team to offer more high-quality services for customers in their peak form.
“The centre’s garden is a great place to connect to nature, where customers can also enjoy tea and coffee set-up in the afternoon to try sample beverages and newly developed bakery applications,” it says.
Established in 2014, the Fonterra Shanghai Application Center is the main application centre of the co-op’s catering service business in China, which creates nearly 300 new recipes every year.
The Shanghai Application Centre also does local tests for Fonterra Anchor Easy Topping Cream, Anchor Cheese- Pro Cream and Anchor Easy Mix Cream Cheese, all of which are customised for China’s market.
Fonterra says optimised digital experience is one of the highlights of the Shanghai facility.
The four fullyequipped kitchens – Cake and Bakery, Bread and Chinese Pastry, Tea and Coffee, and Chinese and Western Food – all have live broadcast kits in place to release digital new products and recipes. The centre also facilitates Fonterra’s product training nationwide.
Since its establishment, Fonterra’s technical expert and professional chef teams have held over 100 product R&D seminars, 40 customer demonstrations and 20 online live broadcasts of innovative applications in Shanghai each year, providing customers with creative recipes across multiple channels, including bakery, dining and drinking.
Fonterra Greater China chief executive officer Teh-han Chow says the food and beverage market in China has immense potential and is one of the strong engines for the coop’s continued expansion in China’s market.
“As one of the best partners for premium food service providers in China, we hope to use the important milestone of opening our upgraded Beijing Application Centre as an opportunity to continue to develop more solutions for local market needs, with excellent market insight and innovative energy to drive the industry to further dairy upgrade.
“We want to share more quality dairy products from New Zealand with our customers, partners and consumers. This has been our commitment and vision in China for almost 50 years.”
