It goes without saying that the food and beverage industry goes through trends like seasons. Especially in terms of flavor trends, where consumers are constantly seeking unique global flavors while still desiring familiar tastes. The pandemic also greatly affected the industry. Consumers nowadays are not only drawn to flavor and quality as the main driver to choose what they consume. The priority now includes health, comfort, and sustainability without compromising indulgence.

Unveiling 2023 Flavor Trends

In 2023, unconventional and surprising flavor combinations that came from the previous year are still in popular demand. Atypical flavors, underlying flavor notes, and unique flavor pairings are also gaining momentum.

One of the popular flavors is Sweet Plus, which combines sweet and spicy flavors. The growing interest in spicy foods is fueled by exposure to diverse cuisines and a desire for authentic food experiences. This indicates a huge potential for innovative products following the trend, which can be explored beyond sweet and spicy. Sweet plus umami as introduced by  Indonesian sweet soy sauce and sweet plus sour from Filipino vinegar-based sawsawan sauce are some examples.

The other flavor trend that continues to be of significant impact in 2023 is Fermentation. The resulting sour and umami flavors align with the growing interest in complex tastes and tie in with the Sweet Plus trend. Fermented foods not only offer unique taste profiles but also often contain probiotics, which are believed to improve gut health and overall well-being. Fermented foods like kimchi, pickles, kombucha, and miso are gaining acceptance among consumers.

Nostalgia vs Newstalgia: Between Comfort and Authenticity

New trends are not the only thing that shapes the industry. As it turns out, nostalgic flavors also continue to drive new product development. The pandemic drives the focus of consumers back to childhood favorites that evoke a sense of simpler times. Providing comfort and familiar experiences helps manufacturers create an emotional connection with consumers.

Consequently, a new concept among Gen Z and young millennials called “newstalgia“ emerges. It redefines nostalgia and authenticity in its own unique ways. The food and beverage manufacturers are encouraged to develop distinctive flavors that can cater the “newstalgic” tastes. The said taste, of course, should still come with the interpretations of nostalgic dishes.

The year ahead promises to bring a diverse range of flavors and unique taste experiences. Click here to find your solution.

The pandemic has altered the worldview on personal care, especially when it comes to beauty. Previously, the approach towards beauty products usage is dominated by the onion-like layers of skincare known as 12-step skincare. Now, the behavior of consumers has shifted toward Skin Minimalism.

As the name implies, Skin Minimalism introduces a minimalistic approach to skincare and beauty products. If the former skincare routine needs 12 products to complete the regime, Skin Minimalism encourages consumers to reevaluate it according to their needs.

The Latest Invention of the Beauty Industry

The Skin Minimalism approach is also applied to cosmetics products. Lately, there has been a significant amount of beauty brands that offer a fusion of cosmetics and skincare products. The products are then introduced to the market as Hybrid Cosmetics. This innovation grants consumers the ability to have the best of both worlds: a product to enhance their looks and skin.

Living in a country with tropical weather, there is an urgent need for Indonesians to protect their skin from harmful ultraviolet radiation. Therefore, Hybrid Cosmetics like lip balm with SPF and foundation with Vitamin E are not unheard of.

The benefits of Vitamin E to the skin are various, but its photoprotective effect in reducing skin damage caused by ultraviolet exposure made it a popular skincare formulation. Vitamin E also has anti-inflammatory effects as well as supporting wound healing. Some studies even pointed out the effectiveness of Vitamin E in treating atopic dermatitis and preventing skin cancer and wrinkling.

For the maximum effect and absorption of Vitamin E, advanced encapsulation technology is a minimum requirement. Especially when the said technology allows improvement in the stability, activity, and penetration of active ingredients into the skin. Microfluidics encapsulation technology allows a formulation to incorporate only the most essential ingredients. It is due to the ability of Microfluidics to confine particles in precise sizes to maximize the efficacy of active ingredients.

The Impact of Hybrid Cosmetics on the Beauty Market

Although the Skin Minimalism approach might seem terrifying to beauty manufacturers, it does not negatively impact the revenue projection of beauty products. In 2023, the revenue of cosmetics products reached US$103.80 billion. There even is a projected 4.84% annual growth from 2023-2027. Meanwhile, the Global Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) of the beauty and personal care market has a continuous increase forecast from 2023-2027 by 12.85%.

These projections mean that the outlook of the beauty products market does not look grim in the slightest bit. Click here to find your solution for utilizing the promising market projection.

The long holiday of Eid al-Fitr has finally came. The holy occasion seems so joyous after overcoming a full month of fasting. This year is the first Eid after 3 years of the pandemic that the homecoming ‘mudik’ travel ban is lifted.

Therefore, a lot of people use this occasion to travel back to their hometown and meet with long-lost family and relatives. The Indonesian state-owned toll road operator PT Jasa Marga reported that there are more than 900,000 vehicles leaving the Jabodetabek area during the Eid holiday.

However, the idea of staying in a long queue of traffic jams that are unpredictable might be repulsive for some. So, it is understandable that the annual homecoming ‘mudik’ culture is not everyone’s cup of tea.

Here are some activities that one can take on before going back to the hustle and bustle of work.

Long Holiday Bake-Off

People usually have a specific recipe they want to explore at home but no time to pull it off. This long holiday is the perfect time to try those recipes. It does not matter whether it is a family generational recipe or the latest discovery while traveling to someplace. It also may be a recipe one wants to make for their special ones or something one wants to add to their restaurant and cafe menu.

If the idea of failure renders baking scary, try using a baking premix. It guarantees the taste of the baked goods while lowering the chance of failure, which is perfect for beginners.

Turn a House Into a Home

Wherever one goes, there should be no better place than their own home. If one feels like their house has yet to be a home, a long holiday is the perfect time to turn the table. Transforming a place called a house into a home may not be an easy job. It may include repainting and decorating jobs to make the home functional and reflect one’s personality. What better occasion than a long holiday to check the lists?

Green the House

Getting new hobbies during a long holiday is not unheard of, and gardening has been one of the popular hobbies people take up during the pandemic. Not only does it beautify your house, but it also has health benefits. Gardening consists of physical activity with exposure to nature and sunlight, where sunlight increases vitamin D levels and lowers blood pressure.

House Purifying

Eid al-Fitr is closely associated with “sanctity” and “purity”. While the original meaning is for the souls, taking it literally might be a good idea. Especially with the alarming emergence of several new Covid-19 variants and its rising cases. Though the government declared to have it under control, taking preventive actions is never a bad thing.

Covid-19 is not the only disease we should watch out for. The hot, humid, and extremely unpredictable weather can cause seasonal diseases like cold, flu, and fever. Deep cleaning of the house should work to prevent diseases. Declutter junk, remove dust from every surface, disinfect all appliances,

Wellness Week on Long Holiday

Carrying out wellness week after a long and tiring month of staying productive while fasting from dawn until dusk might be the best idea. It can serve both body and mental health in check as well as relieve stress.

There is no limit to how one should carry out the wellness week. One can pamper in a spa, get a haircut, do yoga or other favorite sports, or go for a stroll in a park. The options are endless to choose from. The point is to take every burden off the shoulders and enjoy the long holiday while it lasts.

Brilliant innovations and ideas are always within the food & beverages industry. Never-ending trends come and go in a blink of an eye. Within, some products are immune because the need for them has been ingrained in certain demographics. Take tea for example. It is nearly impossible for people to not find tea on the menu of restaurants and cafes in Indonesia. The revenue generated by tea products alone amounts to US$4.77 billion in 2023. Experts predict that the market may grow by 4.73% CAGR annually from 2023 to 2025.

However, a trend is not a trend without the existence of innovation. After the never-ending trend of bubble milk tea, it is one trend after the other. Fusing cheese foam into food has also been a hot trend coming from Taiwanese street food vendors. Though the idea of adding cheese to tea sounded unappetizing, it eventually made its way to customers’ hearts. Nowadays, the addition of cheese foam into milk tea is more favored by customers due to its texture and salty flavor that balances the sweetness.

Making the Perfect Cheese Foam

Not only in tea, but cheese foam is also delightful on coffee, blended fruit, and even dessert boxes as a layering topping. To make a perfect cheese foam, there are several attributes to take into consideration: creamy and viscous mouthfeel, cheesy and milky aroma, and milky taste. Moreover, there is a way to make cheese foam healthier by replacing sugar.

Today, making cheese foam is a lot simpler with the existence of cheese foam premix. This made making cheese foam, which requires a total balance of cheese cream and the whipped cream mixture seems approachable even for home industry owners.

The downside of using cheese foam premix is it makes it difficult for businesses to make their own unique and distinctive cheese foam taste. Conversely, preferring to make their own cheese foam means a number of trials and errors are in sight. Using BASF’s Lamequick® can be the answer to reduce the margin of errors in daily production. Creating a business’ own perfect whipped cream with a heavenly mouthfeel and consistent texture can be simple.

BASF’s Lamequick® made it possible for home industry owners to customize their own desired end-product. Whether it is a stiff whipped cream or slightly runny cream perfect for cheese foam, the dosage of Lamequick® can be tailored to specifically achieve them.

Featuring coffee-soaked ladyfingers biscuits covered with thick cream and dusted with cocoa, Tiramisu is not a dessert that one can turn down. Not only it is well-loved in its origin country, Italy, but also in the world. Many of its variations thrived across the globe, such as poured tiramisu, and many more. 

In the local dialect of its origin, Treviso, Tiramisu means “pick me up”. There were many theories about the invention of the original Tiramisu recipe. However, these stories agreed on one thing: Tiramisu was initially served for someone to regain strength. Knowing its high nutritional value, it is no wonder that people chose to serve Tiramisu to do so.

In the past few years, the popularity of Tiramisu has shot up in Indonesia. It is not hard to find cafes in big cities that serve Tiramisu in many forms. Tiramisu in jars, poured Tiramisu, Tiramisu donuts, and Tiramisu mille crepes are only a few to name. Moreover, the behavioral shift of people during the pandemic also led to the rising popularity of individual-sized cakes. As a result, more cafes are offering cakes in slices, boxes, and jars instead of whole.

Cracking the Challenges in Making Tiramisu

The original recipe for Tiramisu only involves eggs, sugar, mascarpone cheese, and coffee-soaked ladyfingers. The recipe has evolved and been adapted into many variations, including using liqueur, whipped cream, and sponge cake.

Making Tiramisu may not take much time, but it needs at least a couple of hours for the cream to set. It also looked fairly easy, but there are common mistakes that people do in making Tiramisu.

The first one is if using eggs, washing them with water might cause a failure when whipping as the water might contaminate the eggs. The next one is soaking the ladyfingers biscuits in coffee for too long, resulting in a soggy and unappetizing Tiramisu.

As for the cream, not whipping the mascarpone cheese before mixing it with other ingredients is fatal. The mascarpone cheese must always be the first to whip until it is soft and smooth. The texture of the cream must be thick without being dense or too runny. Moreover, using the right amount of sugar is important, because Tiramisu is not supposed to be sickeningly sweet, especially when making Poured Tiramisu. Adding Lamequick® CE 6630 to the cream may be the solution you are looking for to perfect the balance between the taste and texture of the Tiramisu.

In the fast-changing culinary world, trends matter as much as taste. Following the trends might make or break your brand. Click here to find your solution.

Women use an average of 12 different beauty products daily, ranging from skincare to hair care products. That is why the beauty and personal care industry keeps on thriving. It remained resilient in the middle of the pandemic throughout the years of social restriction.

According to Statistics Indonesia, beauty and personal care products contributed to the growth of the chemical, pharmaceutical, and traditional medicine industries. It reached a significant increment of 9.61% in 2021. The National Agency of Drug and Food Control noted a 20.6% increase in the number of beauty manufacturers. There is also a spike of 15.2% in export activities.

The Shift in Buying Behaviors of Personal Care Products

Prior to the pandemic in the first quarter of 2020, supermarkets were leading in the distribution channels for beauty and personal care products with an 86.7% share. Following the mass-scale social restrictions not long after, online platforms took the title by a storm. 

There is an expected growth in online shopping activities in 2023, even after the government lifted the social restrictions. The online revenue of beauty and personal care products is projected to grow by 20.49% from the previous year. The existence of e-commerce and user-generated content platforms also helped in shaping consumer buying behaviors. Therefore, manufacturers and distributors hold the power to influence their purchase decision by offering promotions and discounts through these platforms.

The Booming Skincare Ingredients and Skin Minimalism

In the past few years, there are some ingredients that are constantly on the lookout in the market. Some of the most popular ingredients are niacinamide and retinol, which are popular for their many benefits to the skin. In 2023, we can still expect high demands for both ingredients.

With the rise of Skin Minimalism as the preferred beauty regime, more manufacturers have started incorporating skincare into makeup or making all-in-one products. Not only does it promote mindful consumption, but also drives sustainability by focusing on the essentials. This beauty regime is supported further by the clean beauty movement, where brands are committed to using safer ingredients in both their products and packaging.

There are many ways for manufacturers to start leaning toward sustainability. There is no better day to start the movement than today. Click here to find out how Bahtera can help you.

During the pandemic, it was a war of resilience for businesses to survive by making a huge transformation to absorb shock and rebound. Businesses, of any size, are relying heavily on their willingness to give in and adapt to digital disruption. Therefore, it is no wonder that there has been a huge leap of growth in business digital transformation.

The investment for digital transformation has grown by 17.5% CAGR from 2020 to 2023 with an estimated $1.5 trillion spent in 2021 alone. There is a prediction that the investment amount will double between 2020 and 2024, with market pressure being the leading driver of this transformation.

However, the chance of failing looms over businesses. There is approximately 70% of failures happen in attempts at digital transformation, even when done right. The ruling cause of these failures is the people; whether the management is unsupportive of the idea of change or the employees are resisting change.

Resilience is the Key to Digital Transformation

Nonetheless, dwelling on bleak statistics in no way will help businesses move forward. With digital transformation failure caused by the people, there is a dire need for good leadership to address the problems. Understanding their reluctance to change and giving them clarity about why the change needs to happen is important. Because at the end of the day, people will always remain the heart of the business.

Meanwhile, the main thing that businesses should pay attention to is giving consumers the best user experience. One way to do it is by accommodating the personalized needs of consumers in the most efficient way possible. To provide that, businesses must innovate and modify their pre-existing strategies. Especially because sticking to things that are familiar may not be the best approach to getting through a crisis.

Though the pandemic had turned into an endemic, 2023 will not be a smooth-sailing journey with its looming potential of global economic slowdown. It may be a huge threat to business; but it also might open up a new opportunity to gear up for digital transformation.

Bahtera’s own journey of transformation had begun back in 2020, right before the pandemic hit. There are definitely challenges that both disrupt and motivate our journey. It still is a long journey ahead, but with the help of our experts and employees, we will face those challenges heads on.

Pesticide remains a winning solution to prevent crop losses, which undeniably makes improved quality food available at affordable rates. In spite of that, using pesticides ineffectively may compromise food safety and environmental problems.

Pesticide consists of two main ingredients: active and inert. Active ingredients play the main role in controlling pests. The product’s label must identify the name and weight percentage of the active ingredients. However, active ingredients, in their unformulated state, are ineffective in controlling pests as they may be chemically unstable. This is where inert ingredients play their role to improve effectiveness, storage, and handling safety.

Primarily, inert ingredients are solvents and carriers that aid the delivery of active ingredients to the target pest. Inert ingredients can help active ingredients enter the leaf surface by acting as a solvent and protecting pesticides from sunlight exposure that may lead to degradation.

Get to Know Pesticide Formulation and Its Advantages

As technology advances, more pesticide formulation rose to prominence, including dry, liquid, dual-character, and household formulations. One of the most popular conventional pesticide formulation is Emulsifiable Concentrate (EC), which is a blend of pesticides with emulsifiers and adjuvants dispersed in the volatile oil. There are several advantages of using Emulsifiable Concentrate: easy handling, improved bio-efficacy, inflammability, and little visible residue on plants.

Meanwhile, in the newer trend pesticide formulation, Suspension Concentrate (SC) or known as flowable is considered a formulation that is low in cost as it uses water as a filler. Suspension Concentrate is easy to handle, suitable for many active ingredients, seldom burns plant foliage, and leaves no dust.

While Suspension Concentrate suspends the active ingredients in water, Oil Dispersant (OD) formulation suspends them in oil. Oil Dispersant is an “adjuvanted” formulation, as it does not require additional adjuvants prior to application. Its composition already contains mineral or vegetable oil and emulsifiers. Therefore, Oil Dispersant is more environmentally friendly, safe, effective, and has long-term stability.

Finding Your Best Formulation

Before selecting the right formulation, manufacturers need to do a thorough analysis of the habits of the pests, type of surface, equipment eligibility, runoff or drift potential, applicator training, and safety. Manufacturers should also recognize that environmental factors such as temperature, moisture, pH, light, and bacteria may impact the active ingredients.

Aside from pesticide formulation, there are also several principles to consider prior to using pesticides. The first one is complying with the usage recommendation, getting a permit from the government, and ensuring the usage has minimum effects on the farmers, consumers, and the environment.

If Oil Dispersant is the desired formulation, using a biodegradable filler made from renewable sources like green solvent can be a sustainable and non-hazardous alternative compared to conventional solvents. It acts as both a solvent and adjuvant, making cost-saving possible for manufacturers.

Choosing the right formulation for pesticides is a crucial management decision that may impact profitability, safety, environmental quality, and customer satisfaction. Click here to find your solution.

Known as a country with rich cuisine culture, keeping snacks in stock is one of the most common traits for Indonesian people. It does not matter whether it is a holiday or working day, snacking has became a daily activity for 42.6% Indonesians.

A survey found that the most purchased sweet snacks are biscuits and cakes. A lot of artisan businesses to big companies are starting to offer more of these products each year. One of the most popular snacks to name is soft cookies. In the last few years, the gooey cookie with various flavors that was first popular in the United States has successfully penetrated Indonesian market.

Artisan baked goods business is on the rise as of late. The existence of food delivery services and users generated content platforms helped in trending the topic. Therefore, the expected growth of the Indonesian confectionary and snacks market by 8.42% annually seemed possible.

The Blissful Soft Cookies in the Making

Making soft cookies may sound simple, but in reality, ensuring great taste while being creative is difficult. Experimenting with various flavors to create something authentic and unique can end up a big success or nightmare. Even small differences in the ingredients may affect the dough, end product, and customer’s satisfaction.

The ideal cookies should have layering texture; slightly crispy outer shell with the ability to hold up to some heat with soft and chewy inner core. They should taste good at any temperature, whether it is slightly heated or straight out of the fridge.

Adding DATEM to the soft cookies recipe does not merely emulsifying the dough. It can also significantly alter the quality of the cookies during manufacturing, storage, and consumption. DATEM helps to condition the dough consistency, reduce and uniformly distribute the baking fat. It also helps refine the shape constancy, and improve the volume and softness after the baking process.

An experiment conducted by Bahtera’s Food and Beverages Experts showed that adding a 0.5% dose of BASF’s Lametop® as a DATEM to the soft cookies recipe produced evenly-shaped and perfectly soft-textured cookies after 15 minutes of baking. In comparison, adding 0.25% dose with the same baking time created crunchy cookies, and skipping Lametop® altogether made even crunchier cookies, which is far from the desired result of soft cookies.

While experimenting is the key to the perfect products, the effectiveness and efficiency of production time should also be taken into consideration. Click here to find your solution.

The bells have been jingling since the beginning of December, which means Christmas day is just around the corner. Party invitations are sent, families are gathered, prayers are heard, and with that, food and beverages are served. 

A holiday would not be complete without the existence of varying signature cookies on the table. For example, Indonesia has Kaastengel, Nastar, Sago Cookies, Putri Salju Cookies, and Katte Tong. These are some of the most popular Indonesian Christmas cookies that people purchase to celebrate the jolly seasons. 

Statistics Indonesia reported that Indonesians spend an average of 36.79% of their income per capita buying processed food and beverages. The food consumption participation rate for biscuits, cookies, and wafers reached 41.89% of the population. This is followed by an approximate average of 4 kilograms of consumption per year in 2022. Not stopping there, the revenue also amounts to US$35.21 billion in 2022 with an expected CAGR annual growth of 8.42% until 2027.

A Hack to Your Perfect Mass-produced Indonesian Christmas Cookies

The consumption of cookies in Indonesia is ever-growing, which is why manufacturers should always prepare for the surge of demand. This is especially in important holiday seasons like Christmas. In a mass production setting, keeping the quality intact in a time of high demand proves to be challenging as it may exhaust people behind the production and also the machines used. 

For manufacturers with a number of Indonesian Christmas cookies variations, uniformity of the end products should be a high priority. It is important as each production batch should produce the same crispness and mouthfeel to ensure the satisfaction of the consumers.

In the mass production of Indonesian Christmas cookies, using DATEM can save a lot of manufacturers’ time. There are many benefits of using DATEM, such as shape and form constancy improvement, baking fat reduction, staling delay, and volume increase in baked goods.

Using BASF’s Lametop® as DATEM in your cookies offers excellent batter mix and fermentation resistance, as well as increased volume with finer crumbs structure and consistency. Adding Lametop® in the batter affects the texture, where the more Lametop® added, the softer the cookies will be. Even under high-pressure factory or large commercial conditions, Lametop® provides better stability to the batter. It is the perfect choice for any scale of cookie mass production, no less Indonesian specialty cookies. 

The holiday season is coming closer, and the demand for celebratory food and beverages are rising. With such challenges, manufacturers should seek ways to guarantee perfect product quality for the consumers. Click here to find your solution.