The company was formerly known as Genki Forest and its head of international business Candy Tang recently told us of its growth in the US in recent years and strategies for introducing more of its products across the market.
Since last January, Chi Forest’s sparkling water can be found in major supermarket chain Costco across North America, with the product present in 591 stores across the US and 109 across Canada.
This also marks the first time the company’s products are available nationwide in the majority of Costco US outlets - and not only confined to the bay area where there is a bigger Asian community.
Chi Forest also sells electrolyte drinks, iced tea, and Chinese herbal drinks in the US, but only in the Chinese and Asian supermarkets.
Back in the domestic China market, the company is also a market leader in the electrolyte drinks category with its series of products branded “Alienergy”.
Other than beverages, it has also entered into the dietary supplement realm with the launch of a sleep support product containing GABA and postbiotics in China last year.
Globally, Chi Forest’s products are available in about 40 countries, including Malaysia, South Korea, UK, and France.
Speaking to NutraIngredients-Asia, Tang recounted that the company first entered the US market about four years ago, starting in Asian supermarkets, but steadily built a stream of supporters among the Asian community.
This led to the firm securing an opportunity for a pilot trial sale in Costco US, mostly in outlets located in the San Francisco Bay Area, back in 2022.
“We’ve been in the US market for almost over four years, but at the very beginning, we are only available in a few Chinese supermarkets and also Asian supermarkets, which mainly targeted the Asian population.
“I think after we achieved good sales performance in those markets for about three or four years, we did get some awareness and popularity and that became our base for a broader penetration into the US market.
“We got the opportunity to have a trial sale in Costco back in 2022. We did have a good performance, which invited Costco to allow us to have a broader presence, not only in a few regions, but also really penetrate the US market starting in the Spring of 2023,” said Tang.
Chi Forest will model after the current success of its sparkling water to fuel its growth in the US market.
The recipe, according to Tang, lies in having a competitive product and generating popularity among the Asian community first.
“We do have a competitive product, which is our sparkling water in this case. Second, we generate some of our awareness and popularity in the Asian population first.”
This formula will also be replicated on its electrolyte water business in the US.
“Electrolyte water is a booming category in the US, but also, it’s super competitive, so we will see how our product was accepted in the Asian channels first.
“If it was well accepted, that will not only bring confidence to us, but also to the broader channels, such as Costco.”
Australia and Indonesia expansion
Other than the US, the company has also planned for new launches in Australia and Indonesia in the upcoming months.
“We will be launching our iced tea and also herbal drinks in the coming quarter, also in Costco in Australia and New Zealand, and for Indonesia, we will also be launching something new, other than our sparkling water in the coming summer,” said Tang, without revealing further details.
However, she did emphasise that developing healthy and tasty products was a core principle for Chi Forest.
In fact, the company believes taste and health are paramount for any food and beverage company in appealing to the global audience in this day and age.
“Regardless of your country and age, there is something people have in common. One is their pursuit for healthiness, that is why you can see that the pursuit for healthy beverage offerings is such a big trend across the globe.
“Some countries may be more advanced, and some countries may be catching up...We believe something that happened in the US and Japan will eventually happen in emerging markets.
“Basically, this pursuit of healthier beverages is happening for sure, it’s just a matter of time,” said Tang.
NPD pipeline of 30 to 40 products
Based on this principle, the company has developed a pipeline of 30 to 40 products across different formats.
“Our value proposition has always been to make our beverages healthy and tasty. We do not want to compromise the taste of our drinks...We believe that taste and health can co-exist,” she said.
These products are developed based on insights from internal product incubators and consumer insights.
Definition of healthy and tasty
Asked the definition of a healthy and tasty product, Tang said Chi Forest would always refer to the market leading product as a benchmark.
“I think one principle that we are adopting at this moment, is that we want to be healthier than the current market leader.
“Whenever we develop a new product, we always have a benchmark product that is always the market leader in this category.”
Using sparkling drinks as an example, she said that the company has benchmarked itself against leading sugared carbonated drinks, and has launched a zero sugar and zero calorie product containing clean-label ingredients as much as possible.
The sparkling drinks are also said to be gluten-free, vegan, and keto-friendly.
Watch the video to find out more.
