history of soy yogurt, soy acidophilus milk and other ... - SoyInfo Center

consumers. Getting started. Sales and product diversifi cation.
Soy yogurt. Soy mayonnaise. Soy ice cream. ZAO Belok and
soy protein isolates. Soy fl our. Textured soy fl our. Address:
Russia.
1185. Joe, Peter. 1999. Sunrise Soya Foods and the creation
of SoyaWorld Inc. in Vancouver, Canada (Interview).
SoyaScan Notes. May 26. Conducted by William Shurtleff of
Soyfoods Center.
• Summary: First a bit of background: In late 1995 Peter
Joe went to Dairyworld and began talking with them
about doing a soy yogurt together. Dairyworld is a huge
co-operative of dairy farmers in western Canada (not just
British Columbia). Gradually the talk turned to soymilk.
Dairyworld had powerful packaging and distribution
capabilities, while Sunrise had manufacturing and a deep
knowledge of the soy business. Dairyworld got more and
more interested in soymilk. Initially Peter started talking
with a person who is no longer there. As the talks grew more
serious, Maheb Nathoo was added to the team that soon
drew up a shareholders and joint-venture agreement. Maheb,
who is very bright, seemed to have a personal interest in
soy. His daughters were into soy. He realized that milk is a
commodity, that soymilk is another form of liquid protein,
and is part of the milk shelf. Now he has become a convert,
and he feels very strongly about the future and potential
of soy. Maheb was the person who convinced the board of
Dairyworld Foods (which consisted mainly of dairy farmers)
that the joint venture with Sunrise was the way to go. These
farmers realized that Sunrise was getting more and more
space on the dairy shelf (i.e., invading their territory) so,
hey, why not get involved with this newcomer. Dairy people
also remember what happened with margarine; if they had
gotten into the margarine business at an early date, they
would have been able to offer it as another product, rather
than having to compete with margarine using butter. Finally,
the top executives and management people at Dairyworld
think beyond the dairy farm and dairy farmer mentality, and
they have done a good job over the past 3-4 years in getting
the approval of the dairy farmers to go ahead with this joint
venture.
At the same time Peter met Sanitarium people at trade
shows for a number of years. Sanitarium was trying to
sell the product into Canada from Australia in an aseptic
package. Finally Peter went to Sanitarium to ask for a
license; they were looking to expand internationally, so the
timing was good. The fi nal agreement gave Peter exclusive
rights to sell So Good in the USA and Canada.
SoyaWorld Inc. was incorporated in Aug. 1996 with
Dairyworld Foods and Sunrise each putting in money
and owning half the shares. The new SoyaWorld board of
directors (4 people, two from each company) was formed at
that time. Maheb moved from Dairyworld to SoyaWorld in
late 1996. In mid-1997 SoyaWorld got the license to make
HISTORY OF SOY YOGURT & CULTURED SOYMILK 458
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So Good from Sanitarium Foods (Australia). Test marketing
of So Good began in mid-1997 (with the name SoyaWorld
Inc. on the package), then in Jan. 1998 the product was
offi cially launched with a big TV advertising campaign. The
humorous ad shows a cow confessing that she drinks So
Good; it is even endorsed by cows! This may have been the
fi rst national mass market TV campaign for soymilk in North
America. In late 1997 the Canadian government fi rst allowed
soymilk to be fortifi ed with calcium and vitamins. This
showed a weakening of their many laws designed to protect
dairy products. Use of the word “milk” is still not allowed.
Soyganic was launched in mid-1998.
Peter works closely with Dave Coe, who is the CEO
and president of Dairyworld Foods and on the board
of SoyaWorld. He is the one who is responsible for the
joint venture with Sunrise and for what is happening
with SoyaWorld–in a sense. Maheb is now working for
SoyaWorld as general manager and CEO; he no longer works
for Dairyworld.
If a taste panel consisting of typical Canadians was
asked to taste So Good and SoNice Vanilla, Peter thinks So
Good would win. SoyaWorld plans to target So Good and
SoNice to different markets. SoNice in Tetra-Pak cartons still
has a very strong following among natural foods customers,
but SoyaWorld will try to sell SoNice in supermarkets as
well as natural food stores in both fresh and UHT cartons. So
supermarket consumers will have a choice. So Good is sold
in both gable-top (fresh) and aseptic / UHT packages, but
about 90% of the sales come from the fresh product. Peter
would guess that the same would be true in the USA. Many
Asian-Canadians love Soyganic, which has a beany fl avor;
they have grown accustomed to that taste. Address: General
Manager, Sunrise Soya Foods, 729 Powell St., Vancouver,
BC, V6A 1H5 Canada. Phone: 604-254-8888.
1186. Bramblett, Billy. 1999. Thoughts on soy yogurts
(Interview). SoyaScan Notes. May 27. Conducted by William
Shurtleff of Soyfoods Center.
• Summary: Of all the soy yogurts, Billy likes the one made
by Nancy’s in Oregon best–far better than White Wave’s
Silk, and also better than Ted Nordquist’s product. Billy
really likes the drinkable yogurt called “Yono” which is
made by Soyfoods of America and was developed by Tim
Huang. Jeremiah has been working with a younger Chinese
man at Soyfoods of America–not Ken Lee–to develop a soy
yogurt for Wildwood. Address: Wildwood Natural Foods,
135 Bolinas Rd., Fairfax California 94930. Phone: 415-485-
3940 X-47.
1187. Monthly Insight (Galaxy Foods, Orlando, Florida).
1999. New products to be unveiled at FMI [by Galaxy
Foods]. May. p. 2.
• Summary: At the 1999 FMI [Food Marketing Institute]
show this May in Chicago, Galaxy Foods plans to introduce