Hershey India Pvt. Ltd, a part of The Hershey Company, has launched Sofit Protein Cookies, marking its foray into the premium Better for You segment in the biscuits category. The cookies will be available in three variants, namely Mango+almond, Coco+flax seeds and Raisins+ flax seeds in premium packs. While the 100g pack will be priced at Rs 45, the 150g pack will be priced at Rs 65.
Herjit Bhalla, managing director, Hershey India said, “It is a unique proposition. We believe Sofit cookies are different from others because they have the goodness of protein, Omega-3, fibre and vitamins and are made from multi-grains, including wheat, oats and soy. They are trans-fat-free and contain no maida.”
“Bringing a unique and consumer-relevant product such as a cookie with the goodness of protein into the $2.8-billion biscuit category is a perfect next step for the Sofit brand. Sofit is well regarded among consumers as a brand that provides protein and other nutrients. Sofit Protein Cookies makes it easy and convenient to have a crunchilicious snack that is better for you,” he added.
“The products will be available pan-India across all large cities in modern trade outlets, e-commerce sites and leading general trade outlets. All Hershey's products that we make are made in India and for India, and Sofit cookies are manufactured at our partners facility in Hyderabad,” Bhalla said.
“It is a very big market. The entire biscuit category in India is worth $2.8 billion and is growing at 10 per cent in urban India. We are a premium biscuit. The premium biscuit market is a $800-million market in India and is growing at 17 per cent, so the market is huge and we are just entering the market with unique differentiated offerings,” he added.
“Our ambition is to establish ourselves as a strong player in the category. Sofit is a brand market leader in the soy milk category, where we are operating for the last 10 years. The brand is doing really well. We don’t break up our investment by category,” Bhalla said.
“Last year we announced that over the period of five years we will be investing $50 million in the Indian market. This is the first year of that investment, and you can see that we already have two big launches recently,” he added.
“Hershey’s Kisses was launched recently, and we have launched cookies today. So there is a lot of investment taking place to ensure that we are getting the right product. We have the right manufacturing facility with all Hershey’s global safety standards and the right route to get to our consumers. Our offerings are available and visible across the stores,” Bhalla said.
Commenting on the launch of Sofit Protein cookies, Bollywood actor John Abraham, who is the brand ambassador of Sofit, said, “I have been proud to represent Sofit, because it cares about providing protein and nutrients to consumers who seek better ways to snack. The launch of Sofit Protein Cookies continues this journey. I am happy that Sofit has introduced a tasty way to consumer nutrients in the form of crunchy cookies which can provide them the energy to do more.”
