President Chain Store Corp (PCSC, 統一超商), the nation’s largest convenience store operator, yesterday introduced its new lines of food products for spring and summer as it announced cooperation with Japan’s Miyasaka Jozo Co, which produces sake and miso.
The company is aiming to take advantage of the Japanese company’s expertise in producing shio koji, an ingredient fermented in salt, to use as a healthier flavoring option for food products sold in its convenience store chain.
“We observed that the public is craving healthier food, especially after the food safety crisis in Taiwan,” PCSC marketing group chief Tony Hsieh (謝蓮塘) told reporters, citing both Japan and the US’ 7-Eleven chains having introduced healthier food items.
Shio koji is used as an alternative to salt in PCSC’s products, including cold noodles, soup, boxed meals, fried noodles and rice balls, which are to be released sequentially to the market starting from yesterday.
The company’s fresh food sales, including its flagship item, City Cafe coffee, accounted for 26 percent of its revenue last year, Hsieh said.
“Excluding City Cafe sales, food product sales last year rose to NT$28 billion [US$864.68 million], amounting to about 16 percent of PCSC’s revenue last year,” he added.
“We hope the shio koji dishes can spur a double-digit percentage growth in our fresh food services’ revenue this year,” PCSC fresh food department director Michael Kuo (郭慶峰) said.
PCSC on Monday reported that its sales last month increased 6.99 percent annually to NT$17.3 billion, with aggregate revenue last quarter rising 6.76 percent year-on-year to NT$51.51 billion.
The company attributed its growth last month to a surge in pre-orders for Children’s Day and Mothers’ Day items, as well as a 20 to 30 percent rise in fresh food sales and a 10 percent sequential gain in City Cafe sales, PCSC said.
Meanwhile, Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店), the nation’s No. 2 convenience store chain, last week reported that its revenue last month increased 4.27 percent annually to NT$4.72 billion, with consolidated sales last quarter increasing 5.52 percent to NT$14.11 billion from a year ago.
FamilyMart said that sales growth last month was mainly driven by its fresh food products, which gained 10 percent from the same period a year ago.
New items launched last month include Hong Kong cuisine products, the company said on Monday.
FamilyMart expects to see growth momentum this quarter to be driven by light food items such as cold noodles, salads and orders for Mother’s Day’s cakes, the company said.
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