Branded Consumer Foods (BCF) is the largest business segment of URC. It has a range of strong household brands that are loved by consumers in the snacking, beverage and noodles categories. Core to our BCF business is our drive towards product innovation, consumer centric marketing and world class and cost efficient supply chain.
We participate in 4 branded super categories that continue to grow across our markets in the ASEAN and Oceania regions.
Our track record of building strong brands has made us a partner of choice. We currently have five strategic partnerships with leading international consumer companies, namely ConAgra of the US, Nissin Foods and Calbee of Japan, Danone of France and most recently, Vitasoy of Hong Kong.
BCF is composed of two divisions, BCF Philippines, its domicile market, and BCF International, a wholly-owned subsidiary covering ASEAN and Oceania markets. The group is continuing to delight the lives of consumers with products of exceptional value.
The organization recently made changes and aligned our innovation and marketing structures to be regionally focused but locally relevant. The synergy between the brand management team and the innovation group will help expand new legs and explore new categories. This step will support URC’s transition from being a manufacturing-centric to a more customer-centric business as we make our investments with the intent of long-term nurturing of brands, which will drive growth in the international business.
Brand Architecture
Innovation and Consumer Trends
We firmly believe that customer focus and continuous product innovation plays a crucial role for the future of the business. Consumers today are evolving and are more discerning with the emergence of new global trends in snacking and drinking . The competitive dynamics have also changed with both global and domestic players offering a wide range of choices across different product categories and channels. This requires us to be proactive and be more customer focused to gain insights that will in turn feed into our innovation portfolio management process.
As we aim to become one of the most sustainable premiere food company, we will continue to build scale by entering categories and launching our brands across the ASEAN and Oceania regions.
ONE URC Innovation Summit 2018
We kicked-off last November 22, our first One URC innovation summit where our executive leadership team from both BCF and AIC were present. We discussed current and future consumer trends as well as our big bets in the company, given the number of investments, we deployed in the last three years. The summit also was a venue for our R&D and marketing team to showcase new product innovation across our entire portfolio, including our strategic partners. We also asked our AIC team to present their latest initiatives and capabilities in the summit.
Best-in-class Manufacturing Capabilities
URC is committed to upholding customer satisfaction and confidence. As we continue to operate our business, we aim to promote responsible production and consumer well-being through food safety. Further, we ensure that our customers are protected at each stage of our supply chain by adopting standards set down by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
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Specific certification include:
- ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System
- ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management System
- ISO 45001:2018 Occupational Health and Safety Management System
- ISO 17205:2005 PAO Accredited Laboratory, and
- Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP)
Aside from external certification we also ensure that internal controls are in place at each stage of the production, emphasizing audit and mitigation processes in every manufacturing facility.
Global Exports
A Global Exports business unit for total URC BCF was formed in February 2019, encompassing both URC Philippines and URC International sourced products. The regional sales organization was integrated starting April 2019, consolidating all export departments in the ASEAN markets under one global export team. This consolidation allows us to approach existing customers in over 50 countries worldwide including America, Europe, Middle East, Africa/Indian Ocean, North Asia, and Oceania/Pacific Islands markets with our complete portfolio of diverse, globally accepted quality products. It allows us to maximize our sales resources and manufacturing capabilities in order to better serve our established distributors and retail partners in existing markets, as well as to penetrate and explore opportunities in new markets.
Philippines Top 5 Exports
Thailand Top 5 Exports
New Product Launches
Reinvention of C2
URC excites the local consumers by reinventing one of its game-changing brands, C2 Cool and Clean. The ready-to-drink tea launched in 2004 stirred the introduction of a new product segment in the local market. The move aims to offer a fresh and exciting look to the local market. It also refreshes the consumer of the core product benefit of C2 as being the healthy and refreshing drink. It is packed with all the benefits that green tea (Camellia Sinensis) has to offer. C2 is brewed from 100% natural green tea leaves and bottled on the same day for that real and authentic tea experience.
B’lue PRO and Our Move to a More Functional Beverage
As part of Danone Universal Robina Beverage Inc’s move to promote a more functional beverage, it recently launched B’lue PRO, energy drink with electrolytes. B’lue PRO is designed to meet the active lifestyle of millennials who actively pursue multiple passion with intensity while still having fun. It is a drink that has unique ingredients to sustain energy and fluids, to make sweating occasions fun in pursuing their passions – coming in 2 variants: Pink Grapefruit with Taurine and Peach Orange with Green Tea and Ginseng.
Aside from B’lue PRO, B’lue also launched its newest ‘mix flavor’ called Cucumber Lime Flavor. A highly refreshing drink that has the coolness of Cucumber and refreshing taste of Lime for everyday hydration.
- Vitasoy delivers all the nutritious health benefits of soy in a tasty, plant-based drink
- Plant-based diets, in general, are associated with lower prevalence of risk factors for cardiovascular disease, and soy plays an important part in this healthy lifestyle choice
- Vitasoy soy milk is free from both cholesterol and lactose sugar
- Vitasoy Plus soy milk is further enriched with calcium and Vitamin D
- C2 Cool and Clean is made out of naturally brewed tea leaves
- These tea leaves are sourced from the highlands of Vietnam
- Brewed and bottled on the same day!
- Contains 78% more Catechins than other bottled tea beverages
- Catechin is a type of antioxidant that helps boost the immune system
- B’lue Flavored Water is packed with Vitamin B3, B12, and B6
- Chippy is one of URC’s heritage brands since the 1960’s
- Chippy is produced from 100% ground cooked corn which is fried and flavored
- Chippy corn chips are made from locally manufactured select highgrade yellow corn kernels, mainly sourced from Ilocos Sur, Philippines
- Cooking corn in alkalized water improves the bio availability of the corn’s essential amino acids
- 100g of Chippy provides 4g of fiber
- Was conceptualized to simulate the “Filipino” range of snacking – Chicharron, Chick n' Skin, Kropek, Shingaling
- It was based from the name of Mr. John, but come to think of it, Mang Juan is also used to represent the Filipinos in general (just like Uncle Sam for the Americans)
- Nova is made from a blend of whole wheat berries and ground corn, rice, and oats
- 100g of potato chips provide 7% of the daily requirement of Vitamin C
- Has a mascot named Curlette. But sometime in 2014, her playmate Carl was “born”. You will see both in the Chiz Curls wrappers.
Packaging and Flexible Packaging
URC has two distinct business units that cater to the packaging industry, URC Packaging for Bi-axially Oriented Polypropylene (BOPP) films used in producing flexible packaging and URC Flexible Packaging (UFLEX) for food grade wrappers and bottle labels.
Both BOPP and UFLEX plants are located in Simlong, Batangas. Last April 2018, URC Flexible Plant 2 started its commercial operations to serve the growing demands of URC BCFG.
URC Flexible facilities have the ISO 9001:2015 plant certification for Quality Management System. Additionally, UFLEX Plant 1 passed its GMP certification last February 2019.
BOPP manufacturing plant also maintained its ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management System) and ISO 14001:2015 (Environmental Management System) plant certifications as it passed the re-assessment audit last November 2018.