The Israeli soy specialist has been going through a process of refocusing for the last two years. CEO Shaul Shelach, who took over the helm in October 2007, described the strategic move as “an inside out process”. He explained that the company is moving closer to its customers by building new infrastructure for high level technical support.
“We are willing to go the extra mile for our customers,” he said.
In addition, Solbar is putting more emphasis on the functional potential of soy ingredients. Its traditional focus has been on meat ingredients and meat analogues, but isolated soy protein (ISP) is a growing are of interest, as well as extruded product for use in bars and beverages.
Shelach said Solbar has already invested “substantial resources” to develop high quality soy products for these markets, and some new products are already available. These include calcium-fortified ISP for beverages, and low-viscosity extruded snacks.
“Market and business development follows and will maintain the reinforcement of this strategy.”
New logo
The new branding is said to encapsulate the new direction; it includes a slogan ‘the treasures of soy’.
The logo spells out the company name in light green, with the ‘O’ a darker shade.
Alex Shnaiderman, marketing communications manager said it is “simple, clean, modern and solid, yet at the same time fresh and modest”.
“This new design respresents out passionate and dynamic approach to bring new healthier products to market.”
Key markets
Solbar’s key markets are said to be the health food category in the US, and the growing meat and beverage market in China.
Ongoing growth in use of ISP in Europe has also been identified as a big opportunity.
Internal organisation
At the outset of its strategic shift, Solbar took the step of dividing responsibilities for marketing and development, and sales and supply chain. Marketing and development is now more focused on strategy, new product and new market development, R&D and business development.