Sanitarium Australia & New Zealand
Sanitarium was founded in Melbourne, Australia on the behest of Seventh Day Adventist Church members, in 1898. Their main offices are in Berkeley Vale, New South Wales, as well as Auckland, New Zealand. The company is a not for profit organization, and being owned by a religious group, exempted from taxes. It is the owner of some of the most widely known brands in the health food category in Australia and New Zealand, like Weet Bix, Marmite and Up & Go. The business brings in close to $300 million (Australian) annually.
The main point of the product portfolio of Sanitarium is that all of it is vegetarian. As mentioned above, its brands are renowned as healthy and form a staple in many Australians’ diets. Its soy milk brand, So Good, was launched in 1985 and has a firm hold on the market leader position. Apart from the regular soy milk, Up & Go is produced with coconut, rice, and almonds too. Ice cream and Lite versions round off the Up & Go product lineup.
Another iconic brand, Marmite, is the quintessential Australian health food, even though it takes some getting used to. A different spread, Vitamite, is also in the company’s food stable. Additionally, they have Up & Go, a liquid breakfast product that is widely available and includes a yogurt as well. Granola and muesli act as breakfast alternatives to Sanitarium’s most popular product – Weet Bix cereal. The range of flavors and ingredient-specific variants gives even the pickiest consumer lots of options.
Sanitarium has also expanded into meat alternatives, given the growing health consciousness of people these days, which ties in neatly with our expansion goals in Brazil and India. These products mimic the tastes and textures of the foods they seek to supplant, with enticing names like Rediburger, Nutmeat, Casserole Mice and Country Hotpot.
Over its century long history, Sanitarium has introduced many products that have been immensely successful, but also a few ideas that were shut down after they did not fulfill their potential. For a company that does not pay taxes, Sanitarium performs admirably like a profit motivated firm. Reportedly, all their profits are used in charitable ventures.
Expanding into overseas markets should not be a rash decision, as producing health food requires large capital investment in production facilities and Sanitarium are currently entrenched Down Under. Pilot projects according to Porter’s 5 Forces model could be carried out to obtain consumer response and gauge the competition. Government regulations and red tape in the food industry tend to be stricter, so that must be kept in mind, especially for bureaucratic countries like India and Brazil.
Brazil
The country is on the upswing slowly but steadily. However, shrinking disposable incomes means even diehard health freaks will be looking for the most economical protein drink, since it is an extra expenditure. They have a tendency to trust small players in the industry due to their feeling of insecurity and distrust against big brands that mass produce the health drinks at …
