Volume performance at Innscor Africa Limited (IAL) subsidiary, The Buffalo Brewing Company (TBBC), remains aligned with target as the company launched one of the biggest consumer awareness campaigns, consistently reaching over 7 000 imbibers a month in taste test trails.
TBBC was established in 2021 as IAL’s first manufacturing investment into the broader alcohol category.
The company entered the opaque beer market with the Nyathi brand in December 2022 introducing a 1.25 litre regular sorghum beer, creating more than 130 jobs.
In a trading update for the first quarter to September 30, 2023, Innscor said that market uptake at TBBC has been positive.
The strategic initiatives have focused on creating product understanding and consumer awareness of the Nyathi brand with taste test trails taking place in various outlets and key consumption points, namely in bars and bottle stores.
The company has supported the initiative through a country-wide 90-route van sale distribution network that targets the key consumption points through direct sales.
“Volume growth has steadily increased month-on-month driven by key customer and consumer strategies, and work is underway to extend shelf life of the product,” group Addington Chinake said.
“Trials on new flavour variants are at an advanced stage and this is a key initiative to be an innovative leader in the largely SKU-sterile category.”
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Of the estimated bar and bottle store universe of over 8, 500 outlets, TBBC is currently reaching around 40%.
The success of this deeper distribution is further enabled by aggressive pricing, point of sale (POS) materials and a dedicated team of van salesmen.
TBBC is one of the units that have pushed IAL’S quarter to September in line with expectations with the Probottlers delivering total volume growth of 23% over the comparative quarter, driven by the CSD category, operating under the “Fizzi” brand, which registered an increase of 33% over the comparative quarter.
The Cordial category, operating primarily under the “Bally House” brand, also registered favourable growth for the quarter.
Probottlers introduced an array of new products during the quarter under review, including an energy drink offering under the “Mammoth” brand, a sports ddrink under the “Activ8” brand, and bottled water under the “H2Go” brand.
Market uptake has been very pleasing.
Another subsidiary, Nutrimaster, recorded volume growth of 81% over the comparative quarter, driven by strong demand by winter wheat producers.
The business has a strong order book across commercial and small-scale customers ahead of the summer cropping and tobacco seasons, and continues to expand its agri-chemical offering under the “OptiChem” brand.
