Hershey India enters highly competitive premium biscuit segment with the launch of Sofit Protein Cookies.
Hershey India, a piece of The Hershey Company, will grow its eating and snacking portfolio by going into the Premium, ‘Better For You’ segment in the Biscuit category with its new launch of Sofit Protein Cookies.
These premium cookies will be accessible in particular ranges, for example, regular cocoa with flax seeds, mango with real almond bits, and raisins with flax seeds.
The product was launched at an event by brand ambassador Bollywood Actor John Abraham at the product launch in Mumbai.
We want to lead in every category that we enter: Herjit Bhalla, Hershey India.
India is the global company’s first market for ‘Better For You’ cookies.
Sofit Protein Cookies will be accessible in modern trade, large general trade stores and online e-commerce websites like amazon and in the large urban areas in the country.
The cookies will be sold at Rs 45 for the 100-gram little pack and Rs 65 for the 150-gram take home pack.
Commenting on the Hershey India’s foray in to the new category, Herjit Bhalla, Managing Director, Hershey India said, “Bringing a unique and consumer-relevant product such as a cookie with the goodness of protein in to this $2.8 billion biscuit category, is a perfect next step for the Sofit brand.”
The Hershey Company had acquired Sofit, a soy milk beverage in India, from Godrej in 2012.
Bhalla likewise said that India is a very important and crucial part of The Hershey Company’s global business and is one of its attention on universal markets.
Hershey India is concentrating on brands like Hershey’s and Sofit to enter and build strong presence across different snacking occasion in the country.
“Hershey India’s strategic intent is to drive strong future growth on Sofit by building a Better for You snacking portfolio that spans different categories,” Bhalla said.
Sofit brand has become a market leader in the soya milk category in the nation. In the last decade, Hershey India has emerged as a strong brand by an estimated compound annual growth rate of 20 percent.
The voyage of Hershey’s brand in India began 10 years back with the presentation of Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup and Sofit milk. Hershey had presented its first chocolate brand ‘Brookside’ in India in November 2016.
It has five major brands in its portfolio, other than the lead Hershey’s — Kisses, Reese’s, Jolly Rancher and Ice Breakers. Of these, Hershey’s syrups, spreads, Brookside chocolate, and milkshakes, and in addition Jolly Rancher lollipops and candies, are as of now in India.
The Pennsylvania-headquartered organization has more than 80 brands including brand names, for example, Hershey’s Reese, Kit Kat, Jolly Rancher, Ice-Brakers and SkinnyPop around the globe that drive more than $7.5 billion in yearly incomes.
The total biscuit market in urban India is $2.8bn, growing at 10 per cent while the premium end is roughly $800mn growing at 17 per cent.