Kiwi chocolate cheese a hit in Taiwan
28 July 2005
Chesdale cheese is now sure to please even in Asia by just adding chocolate.
Chesdale chocolate cheese slices have captured 10 per cent of the cheese market in Taiwan just six months after the product’s release, the New Zealand Herald reported today.
Its success has delivered $NZ1 million in revenue for dairy company Fonterra.
Adding chocolate to cheese was winning converts to dairy products in a market where cheese was traditionally shunned, Fonterra Brands Taiwan’s managing director Roger Boyd said.
The product is not available in New Zealand, but following the Taiwan success Fonterra is reassessing the product for local release.
The chocolate cheese is also likely to be released in Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia.
Mr Boyd said the cheese had “a mild chocolate flavour, matched to a light Cadbury flavour - we backed off a little from Nutella”.
Fonterra had plans to add other flavours to cheese and had two in the pipeline already but Mr Boyd would not say what they were.
Everytime my mother in law goes to Japan she brings cheese back for us. This last time it was cheese-stuffed squid and some other kind of fish and cheese combination. Not bad, but very different.
I agree, but am not surprised considering the other dairy products available in Welcom, such as pineapple-cheese, strawberry-cheese, apple-milk, etc. Chocolate-cheese will fit right in.
I thought my five-year-old son would love chocolate-covered cheese slices. He tried one bite and said, “Bleurrgh!”
Tried to give it away to the neighbours - “No, thanks!”
I’ve made a damn fine chocolate/cheesecake by mixing Nutella into a cheesecake filling. It was amazingly good. I also used it as a spread for toast. Delicious.
However, with some cheeses (sharp cheddar), I can see how it could be dangerous. haaha.
Haha… didn’t every Kiwi kid get a wedge (not wedgIe) or two in his lunchbox? Or a cheese-single.
As a sidenote, if anyone wants me to bring them any NZ products (small and legal ones!) then let me know and I’ll see what I can do. I’m here in NZ until mid January 2006 and will be staying in Taipei for a while.
Fonterra says its chocolate cheese has proved so popular in Taiwan that the novel slices are now being rolled out across Asia.
The chocolate-flavoured cheese slices won a 10 per cent share of the overall cheese market in Taiwan in just six months, earning Fonterra more than $1 million.
So far Taiwanese consumers have eaten more than 3 million slices and the chocolate-flavoured cheese is now winning favour in the Singapore cheese market. It is now being launched in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
Fonterra category development manager Richard Tay said innovative products were helping to re-define the concept of cheese for Asian consumers.
Fonterra brands Singapore country manager Achyut Reddy said chocolate cheese was favoured by parents of young children, as it offered protein and calcium with less sugar than spread.
“Its chocolate taste makes it all the more appealing for children and adults alike”.
Fonterra planned to capitalise on this, partnering with Singapore company, Jolibean, to launch chocolate cheese filling for pancakes traditionally eaten with fillings such as peanut or red bean paste.