Soft sell: Fershay cracking Thai packaged bakery market with flavour variety and texture focus
Fershay specialises in packaged bakery products, particularly custard-filled cakes and flavoured rolls. Since its inception in 2016 has already successfully made its way onto the shelves of major supermarkets in Thailand such as Tops and Lotus, as well as convenience store chains such as CJ Express.
According to the firm, its claim to fame lies in the signature soft and fluffy texture of its products, enabling it to attract both younger consumers as well as elder ones.
“Children do like cakes as snacks and with this soft texture it goes even further to appealing to them, especially if these are younger children which don’t have all their teeth yet or are making the switch between baby and adult teeth,” Fershay International Sales Lead told FoodNavigator-Asia at the recent ThaiFex-Anuga Asia event 2023 in Bangkok.
“Similarly, it can serve as a good snack for older consumers with weaker teeth due to the softness; and even regular consumers that like soft snacks in general will also appreciate this texture.
“So far we are seeing the traditional Vanilla being the most popular for the Fershay Rolls which are a form of rolled cake, and the original Custard doing the best for the Fershay Custard which have custard contained in the centre of a domed cake, but we have a variety of flavours to appeal to as many consumers as possible.”
The firm has expanded its portfolio to include six flavours so far for its rolls, which are Pandan, Strawberry, Banana, Chocolate, and Coffee in addition to the original Vanilla; and a Pandan custard cake in addition to the original custard version.
“Fruity flavours are very popular in Thailand across various categories, and there are of course also consumers that do not like Vanilla who do prefer these,” he added.
“Within the fruity flavours we are seeing Strawberry perform very well, likely due to both the colour as well as the taste. We currently also ship to nearby countries like Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam and there is generally this similar flavour preference as well.”
Based on its encouraging performance so far, Fershay is eyeing wider distribution and exports to more markets moving forward as it believes that its packaged cakes have the potential to appeal to similar consumer profiles in other regions.
“Asian markets will certainly still be the initial target of focus as the shipping and logistical challenges will be lower,” he said.
“But beyond that, likely the next market that Fershay is looking at is Europe, where we see good potential for packaged products like ours as well.
“We also have an advantage in that these cakes are very suitable for many different types of consumption occasions – these can be eaten as breakfast, as a snack throughout the day, and can also serve the gifting purpose, such as when visiting relatives with kids or going to visit someone in the hospital.”
New product innovations
In addition to an obvious direction for innovation for the company which is the development of new filling flavours for the Fershay Custard range, it is also looking at developing new product ranges to round out its portfolio.
“We are looking at also going into beverages next, as this is a category which is growing quickly and a lot of consumers are showing interest in,” he said.
“This is still in the development phase, and likely we will launch some time next year.”
