Understanding the out of home hot beverage and snacking industry of Bangladesh
Abstract
We are all living in a very fast and dynamic world where we all are busy, having barely any time
to ourselves. As we are busy, we seldom get time to take care of ourselves and keep our health in
check. In the context of Bangladesh, we can see that the number of restaurants and small cloud
restaurants/stalls are increasing rapidly, selling different types of food which look very
appetizing to the eyes. In our day-to-day busy lives, we often find ourselves ordering food from
outside or grabbing any kind of “finger food” in between our busy schedules; i.e University
classes or office work.
There are a total of 51 Universities in Dhaka alone and one can only assume the number of food
stalls, vans, cafeteria food and restaurants available in the surrounding areas of the Universities
which enable people access to convenient food. Not just in the case of Universities, our busy
lives have led us to moving away from healthier practices and healthier food to provide fuel to
our body.
Due to a shift in taste, coffee has replaced tea as the most common beverage, and this is all due
to the incredible economic expansion of the nation. More and more customers are increasingly
gravitating toward drinking coffee due to its unique flavor and health advantages. Some
customers are even switching from tea to coffee. Without a cup of coffee to sip while working,
life would feel impossible for many individuals, including professionals and students. The
majority of people who drink coffee believe that doing so during work breaks will provide them
more energy and enable them to work for an extended period of time. As a result, Bangladesh
has seen a sharp increase in coffee consumption, and the industry has experienced strong
development over the past few years. The market is expanding by 10% yearly, and the annual
demand for coffee is 1,300 tons, according to industry sources. The present size of the coffee
market is Tk 600 crore, according to statistics from the Department of Agricultural Extension
(DAE).
The information above gives us insight about the demand for beverage in Bangladesh. The busy
lives that we lead seems to get better with a cup of coffee. As a result, Unilever Bangladesh
Limited came up with a project to introduce a dispenser machine which would offer some of the
best selling health drinks of the company, drinks we are familiar with from as early as our
childhood and to this day, the drinks have credible performance at the market. The gap that Unilever is trying to cover with the launch of this project is the sheer absence of more healthier
choices in the beverage and snacking sector.
In order to take the project to further execution stages, we conducted surveys for our target
audience which are Universities and offices. The survey results helped to analyze the demand for
the products we are offering and the responsiveness of the said target audience. We also made
visits to different retail shops and general trade shops to understand the demand for the products
before initial launch. The surveys were important to understand and develop volume forecasts for
the first year.
The aim of Unilever is to meet the nutritional gap of the target audience by providing them both
healthy and tasty beverages and snack in between their busy schedules. Our target locations for
placement are University cafeterias and Office pantry/cafeteria.
There is an evident gap in the beverage and snacking market which fails to meet the nutritional
aspects and this project would be a good starting point to fill the gap in the market.