One of Australia’s most loved confectionery brands, Allen’s, has released its first range of lollies with less sugar. Kim Berry spoke with Nestlé’s head of marketing confectionery Joyce Tan about the process of creating lower sugar sweets.
Allen’s is one of Australia’s most loved confectionery brands. What’s a road trip without Fantales, or a kids’ footy match without snakes during the coach’s debrief?
So what does a company do when its market leading brand is faced with changing consumer attitudes, in this instance about sugar? Food & Drink Business put questions to Nestlé on just that as it launches two new lolly ranges with 25 per cent less sugar than some of the favourites we all know.
Q What are the main changes you are seeing when it comes to confectionery?
We see consumers trying to strike a balance between looking after their health and still enjoying their favourite foods. Within confectionery, there are more people open to healthier choices but they do not want to compromise on taste.
Q What was the feedback that prompted the new range?
The concern around the amount of sugar we eat is top of mind for many consumers. They are looking to purchase reduced sugar products. [The new] Strawbs and Grubs provide consumers with that choice in the Allen’s product range.
Many consumers across all age groups want to reduce their sugar intake, but don’t want to abstain from eating lollies completely. They’re not too keen on artificial sweeteners, in fact many think these are worse than sugar, so they want a natural sugar replacement that still tastes good.
Q What were the product development stages?
The lollies feature reimagined flavours which we perfected over 200 days. It included multiple production trials and 100 rigorous taste tests.
They have twenty-five per cent less sugar than the average amount of sugar in the Allen’s Jellies range. The total sugar has been reduced and substituted with a soluble dietary fibre. We use only natural flavours and no artificial colours or sweeteners.
