Exclusive: Plamil claims global first with new Coffee Bar, as it joins the World Confectionery Conference
Adrian Ling, CEO of Plamil Foods, launches the Coffee Bar this month. Pic: Neill Barston
A fresh innovation for the confectionery sector has been unveiled by British business Plamil Foods, as it creates its Coffee Bar, targeting the ‘on-the-go’ product market, as the company confirms its appearance at the World Confectionery Conference, reports Neill Barston.
Adrian Ling, CEO of the Folkestone-based firm believed the company’s latest product could create an entirely new segment, being sourced from South American coffee beans, yet using equivalent production technique to its chocolate manufacturing operations.
Being in line with the company’s plant-based ethos, the latest product will be suitable for vegans, though is being marketed for a general market, with sports and active lifestyle segments being particularly strong target markets. The new line is set to gain its debut at the London Coffee Festival, taking place between 11-14 April at the Truman Brewery.
Speaking to Confectionery Production, Adrian Ling said: “I do believe it’s the first in being coffee in a bar form – when you look at the statistics on the sales of coffee, they are enormous, and the history of chocolate used to be a drink until Fry’s came along. So, I thought ‘hang on a minute, everyone seems to be missing a trick here.
“Using similar technology as making chocolate, we decided to go into the world coffee – it’s a whole new world for us, but one that is in fact very similar. I am almost surprised that this doesn’t seem to have been done before, as it’s such a simple concept,” he enthuses on the new bar, which gains its launch this month. The company’s CEO will be discussing the bar, and plenty more besides at this year’s World Confectionery Conference, taking place on 12 September this year, with registration now open for the event.
As he reflects, it took around a year developing the range with testing and trials, which led to one particularly memorable session in which they went home after a day of solid testing, and were unable to sleep. According to Adrian, this must have been “as they’d had the equivalent of about 25 coffees” in their taste testing. Perhaps inevitably, this is giving rise to an addition to the core launch bar of double-shot intense option.
Furthermore, as he notes, the series has involved sourcing beans from Brazil, with the company linking-up with Rainforest Alliance to ensure that it confirms to its own high sustainability standards. It is naturally also a vegan-friendly product, though the CEO admits that this is not something they are directly going to be promoting. Moreover, as he explains, the new venture is very much intended to sit within the mainstream ‘to go’ market, and it’s causing quite a buzz within the industry from initial feedback.
“People have been overwhelmingly positive about it so far, which is really pleasing. We knew we couldn’t please all the people all the time, as with chocolate, people like dark and light, and all the rest of it and coffee drinkers are similar. So, we’re continuing to develop that, “explains Adrian of the new series, which he enthused had major potential for expanding the company’s horizons even further. Catch the next edition of our magazine for an expanded story on Plamil’s engagement with this year’s World Confectionery Conference.