Table Mark 'Gotttsu-Yamai Okonomiyaki'.
On 31 January, Table Mark held a joint presentation of new products for spring 2023 with Keisu Frozen Foods at the company's Food Development Centre (Ota-ku, Tokyo). Table Mark's main feature was the improvement of all five products in its Gottsu-Yami Okonomiyaki series for home use. The company has "pursued the best ever Gotttsu-Yami Okonomiyaki".
For the spring season of 2023, the company has 11 new products and 22 renewed products in the cold food for home use. Tsunemasa Nakao, executive officer and deputy general manager of the strategy division, explained the direction of product development. The common theme for both home- and commercial-use products is 'We aim to improve quality of life through products that exceed customer expectations'. He stated that the company would like to provide products in line with new eating habits, food loss reduction, effective use of time and a high level of satisfaction.
In the category of cold meals for home use, the company has set the goal of "providing value to consumers who are increasingly eating individually and diversifying". The company is working to increase eating satisfaction and provide a rich dining experience, strengthen the line-up to meet the spread of tastes and preferences, and expand unmet needs and eating occasions.
The Gotttsu Umaii Okonomiyaki series, the top-selling frozen okonomiyaki, is characterised by a production process that learns from craftsmen's techniques and focuses on reproducing handmade okonomiyaki. The Squid/Shrimp and Butatama series contain approximately one egg (50g) per dough sheet. The thickness was also increased by 3 mm to 5 mm.
The ika/shrimp has more squid and prawns, butatama has pork extract and spiced oil, pork modern has egg mixed with Chinese noodles to make it easier to eat and give it an eggy feel, the negi yaki has larger green onions for more texture and flavour, mentaiko and mentaiko extract have been added to mentaiko mochi, and the mentaiko and mentaiko extract have been added to mentaiko mochi. --The Mentaiko Mochi has been improved with more mentaiko and mentaiko extract to increase the level of satisfaction.
Sales of the Gottsu-Yummy Okonomi-yaki series are expected to increase by 15% in 2022 compared to 2018 (Intage SRI). However, the frozen okonomiyaki market as a whole is also growing, but the purchase rate and quantity purchased per purchaser are actually growing at a sluggish pace, mainly due to the impact of rising unit prices.
Yoshiko Kuriyama, Director of Marketing Strategy, says: "As the No.1 frozen okonomiyaki maker in terms of sales, we want to create a situation where frozen okonomiyaki is the first food that comes to mind when people think of okonomiyaki. We would like to promote measures to keep existing customers happy and to attract new customers at the same time".
To stimulate demand for frozen udon in summer, the company will launch a new product called 'Summer Tsurun Udon (extra-fine) 3-serving'. As a proposal for a frozen noodle alternative to somen in summer, the product was designed to be easy to eat. It uses Table Mark's thinnest #16 cutting blade (a numerical value for how many noodles can be cut from a 30 mm-wide noodle strip; #14 for Inaniwa-style noodles) and dares to create a crispy texture rather than the firmness of udon noodles.
Table Mark "Summer Tsurun Udon (extra thin) 3 servings".
Stimulating demand for frozen udon for home use in the summer has been a challenge, but over the past five years demand in the summer has gradually bottomed out. Mr Kuriyama commented: 'There are various factors, but we believe that one factor is our efforts to stimulate demand and popularise the cooking method, which allows frozen udon to be eaten in a microwave oven and taste good. Last year also saw an increase in the number of related products such as sauces and sauces that can be eaten with frozen noodles on the room temperature sales floor, and we believe that the expansion of the menu has led to an increase in the number of customers.
The reason for eating noodles in summer is because they are easy to eat. However, the fact that they have to be boiled is a complaint. With products that satisfy both of these needs, the company is aiming for a shift away from dried somen and hiyamugi noodles.
For noodles with ingredients without soup, for which demand increases in spring and summer, two new products, Aburasoba and Shrimp Cream Udon, have been added to the 'No Dish Needed' series. A total of eight products will be offered on the sales floor.
According to Intage SRI, Table Mark's soupless noodles with trays are growing 55% in 2022 compared to 2018; the garlic soy sauce mazesoba, launched in autumn 2022, has been successful in attracting male buyers, and the company aims to further capture the male segment with oil soba.