Retail Pouch - innovation at last !

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Retail Pouch - innovation at last ! By Henk Brus (June 17, 00)

In a time when four cans of skipjack tuna 6 oz are sold at one dollar, in retail promotions to the american consumer it is obvious that the disaster of the canned tuna business in complete ! As U.S market leader Starkist, and its major competitors have managed to serve the consumer a tuna product which has through the years has dramatically declined in quality and volume. Once (two decades ago), when tuna business was still growing, consumer were used to use their fork to pull out the firm natural skipjack tuna out of a firm 7oz solid pack. Today the housewives uses a spoon to scoop up the soft, watery tasting tuna substance, which consists of a least 30% of flakes and is mixed with additives to "enhance" the smaller 6oz product. With the economy booming, consumers spending more money then ever on luxury seafood's such as fresh yellowfin steaks, crab, scampi's etc.

The desire for quality and luxury is their drive, not the ultimate low price. When canned skipjack sales are declining, top quality white tuna (no additives) are growing ! It seems that consumers are starting to get suspicious of what they are getting offered when they see prices of "Four for a Buck". Can something this cheap still be edible, when my I feed my cat something which costs a fourfold ?

With the introduction of the retail pouch, it seems like Starkist has finally seen the light ! Although the product will only officially be introduced to the consumer in September, it seems that already 1/3 of the major grocery have done some test marketing with the product and the reactions are very positive. Considering the dramatic quality level of the current canned product it is not surprisingly when the test panels preferred the pouched tuna 5 to 1 over canned. Why ? Well, first of the all this is real tuna, so no sophisticated additives, or other magic to "improve' the natural product. Secondly there is only a minimum of brine added. With the combination of the improved heat penetration by using a pouch, the product has firm bite and real tuna taste, no more watery mass ! With this product there is innovation at last ! I believe when consumer get the taste of the product, they might soon wonder what kind of tuna they have been eating the last few years. Although it is quite a chance from "four for a buck" to the $1,99 suggested retail for 7oz pouch.

To produce the retail pouch Starkist has started a cooperation with R.S canning, a Thai packer, who during the last 10 years developed its know-how about the pouch production through its joint venture with Hoteii, a major Japanese food company. Now that this joint-venture has ended R.S has teamed up with Starkist for the U.S market. Starkist competitors are racing to come up with their answer, but the problem is that the production capacity and experience with pouch product is still very limited. When this product would become a success, it might just bring what many of us have been begging for....a revival of U.S. tuna sales. Starkist $20 million national advertising and marketing campaign to introduce the pouch might just be what is needed !

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