The Noodles War

Valued at N470 million, the new Fuji 800E instant noodles making machine has a production capacity of 500,000 cartons of Indomie Noodles per month. The increased capacity is helping the company to boost supply of its Indomie range of noodles products. De-United’s huge control of the noodles market in Nigeria is likely to slide as more and more players enter the lucrative business, with the biggest challenge coming from May&Baker Limited, a leading pharmaceutical company. Few months after M&B launched its Mimee noodles, it followed with the introduction of Mimee CrunchMee noodles, reputed to be the first snacks noodle in Nigeria. The product, which could be eaten raw, comes in 15g pack of barbecue and chicken flavour and a unique taste and addition of vegetable. It is handy and could serve as a light meal.

Nnamdi Okafor, Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of May&Baker Foods, said the noodle is a well-cooked, fried and seasoned snack prepared in line with the company’s aim of producing best products after several researches. Expectedly May&Baker is playing up the issue of safety and cross-contaminated products in its campaign. This is apparently seizing on a major scare Indomie noodles suffered a few years back over contamination. M&B flaunts a tradition of more than 30 years in product quality. “We have a well-structured and experienced Quality Assurance Team. Therefore, product safety is actually our area of strength. We have an acronym - HACCP, which is Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point, a preventive-based food safety system. With all these in place we guarantee zero chance of cross contamination,” Okafor boasted.

He further explained that Mimee noodle is not in the market to compete on price but to provide value for money. According to him, “Mimee is the best brand in the noodle category in terms of quality. We are mindful of the fact that this food is for the generality of Nigerians and hence, the need to make the price affordable.”

The lucrative noodles business has also attracted the interest of Dana Group, a multi-billion conglomerate with interest in automobile, pharmaceutical, oil and gas, construction, food processing and steel. So far Dana’s Sum Yum Noodles has been enjoying market patronage, backed by an aggressive marketing campaign to increase its market share. The four variants – classic, chicken, onion and jollify – have been enjoying different promotional packages to increase acceptance and consumer patronage. According to Mr Harish Asnani, Marketing Manager, Dana Group, all the variants are designed to accommodate the needs of vegetarians.

Also, the noodles trade has been energised with the arrival of O’Noodles by Honeywell Superfine Foods, Chikki Instant Noodles manufactured by Chikki Foods and the latest entrant, Uno Foods Limited, makers of Uno Noodles. Uno Foods’ flavours include seafood, beef, chicken and hot chilly beef which come in larger gramme than the initial ones in the markets.

HISTORY OF NOODLES

Instant noodles are dried or/and pre-cooked noodles fused with oil, usually eaten after being cooked or soaked in boiling water for three to five minutes. A flavor packet is almost always included with a packet of instant noodles. The product may also be consumed uncooked from the packet, as the noodles are already cooked, usually by frying.

The idea of instant noodles can be traced back to the Chinese Qing Dynasty when yimian noodles were deep-fried to allow storage for long periods and quick preparation. Similarly, Chicken Thread Noodles (deep-fried thin noodles served with boiling water and optionally an egg) have been available in China and Taiwan since the Qing Dynasty.Modern instant noodles were invented in Japan by Taiwanese-Japanese businessman, Momofuku Andô, the founder of Nissin Foods, one of the biggest manufacturers of instant noodles today. His noodles were boiled with deep-fried and flavours and palm oil to remove moisture, and then dried into a noodle cake. Other preservation methods have been tried, including preservation with salt and smoke, but Andô concluded that palm oil is the most efficient.

In 1958, Nissin launched the world’s first instant noodle product, Chikin Ramen (chicken-flavored instant ramen) in Osaka. Another milestone was reached in 1971 when Nissin introduced the Cup Noodle, instant noodles in a waterproof styrofoam container that could be used to cook the noodles. Further innovations include adding dried vegetables to the cup, creating a complete instant soup dish.

Instant Taiwanese beef noodle soup is contained in styrofoam bowl with (opened) airtight pouch of meat. According to a Japanese poll in the year 2000, instant noodles were the most important Japanese invention of the last century. Karaoke came second, with the compact disc only coming in fifth. As of 2005, approximately 85 billion servings of instant noodles were eaten worldwide every year. China consumes 44 billion packs of instant noodles per year, or 51 per cent of the world estimate. Indonesia consumes 12 billion and Japan 5.4 billion. Per capita, South Korean people eat the highest number of instant noodles at 69 packs per year. Instant noodles are not only popular with college students, they can also be an economic indicator. In 2005, the Mama Noodles Index was launched to reflect the sales of Mama noodles, the biggest manufacturer in Thailand. The index has been steady since the recovery from the East Asian financial crisis, but sales jumped by around 15 per cent in the first seven months in 2005 on a year-to-year basis, which was regarded as a sign of recession. People could not afford more expensive foods, hence the increase in the purchase of ramen, as ramen is seen as an inferior good.