WATCH: Chinese start-up seeks to shake up diet replacement sector with spin on powdered beverage format

The diet replacement and weight management market in China is dominated by industry giants, such as Herbalife and Slimfast, and SMEAL is joining in the competition with a different product format.

Founder and CEO, Cao Peng, told NutraIngredients-Asia​ that the firm was positioning itself as one that would do “bottling for all types of powder,” ​and this would serve as its selling point in the marketplace.

“We have begun a new category of bottled powdered beverage for the diet replacement and weight management segment. This means that we will be the only brand which is into this type of product format as of this point in time,” ​Cao said during the interview held at the Food and Beverage Innovation Forum.

He also explained that putting powders in bottles could provide the ease of convenience, since one would not need a spoon to stir the powder nor find a cup to contain the powder.

The powdered beverage is currently available in six flavours, namely milk-tea, chocolate, black beans black sesame, coconut purple sweet potato, brown rice green tea, and charcoal latte.

Notably, the firm does not sell the powdered beverage in individual bottles, but a carton of six bottles comprising all flavours, for consumers to try different flavours as they embark on their weight management journey.

Moving forward, the firm plans to introduce other types of functional health foods such as probiotics via this particular format.

Watch the video to find out more.