The FINANCIAL — Regardless of the global recession, the volume of Kaspi Ice Cream sales has not dropped, Ioseb Tavshavadze, Company Director, told The FINANCIAL. Kaspi Ice Cream produces 8 types of products. The company has recently introduced a new product, the chocolate ice cream Nugbari, which has wafer cups made with the latest technology.
The global recession has affected almost all spheres of the economy and naturally, Georgian companies too. However, it is worth mentioning that Kaspi Ice-Cream products are made for the middle classes segment in Georgia, this is why the crisis has not seriously affected the volume of its sales.
The average indicator of sales in 2007 was bigger by approximately 15% than what it is today.
Kaspi Ice Cream usually starts in the season of March, but as a rule, the preparation works start a bit earlier.
The average price of a Kaspi Ice Cream product is 30-40 tetri. In terms of business and the financial state of the Georgian population, there is more demand on low-cost ice-cream products. Market studies reveal that only 10% of the population of Georgia can afford to buy expensive ice-cream. Whereas the remaining segment of the population consume lower-costing products instead. It is also worth mentioning that low price does not necessarily mean low quality. Neither is it produced with low quality technology which does not correspond to international standards. The low price of the product is due to maintaining the quality but saving the expenses of packaging, design and labelling.
Kaspi Ice-cream is maximally oriented on customer demand and is trying to expand the range of its product line in order to cover the demands of all types of consumers. The company produces 8 types of ice-cream and has recently started offering the new type of ice-cream Nugbari in a wafer cup made by new technology.
Q. What do you generally need to produce tasty ice-cream?
A. The main thing in ice-cream production as well as in any production is raw materials. The company imports raw materials from Austria. The second most important aspect is correct technology and highly-qualified staff. Kaspi Ice Cream’s 50 permanent employees continuously control the product manufacturing process. This is a very hard-working and sensitive job, even a single act of carelessness or momentary lack of attention can result in a seriously negative outcome. The applied technology is mainly Swiss and Austrian and occasionally, Italian.
It is also important to consider the number of ice-cream ingredients as well as their chemical constitution. And this is not the end of the production process, the next stages include pestering, filtration, freezing, and preparing for realization. The quality of our machines and equipment is developing with time but the production system is the same.
It is an achievement of the development process that less labour is needed for production due to the latest modern machinery. As for flavours, this part of the ice-cream production is permanently growing. For instance, today cheese and beer flavours are very popular in the West. Of course, these flavours are very specific. Surprisingly, I remember almond and chocolate flavours also received negative assessments when they entered the market for the first time.”
The company’s PR Manager Tatia Kobreshvili states, “Kaspi Ice Cream actively participates in charity actions. The most recent was the participation in the charity action organized by the foundation Tsami for IDP children.
Kobreishvili says that those ice-cream factories targeting middle class consumers with price and quality acceptable for the majority of the population are the potential competitors of Kaspi Ice-Cream.
Baskin Robins used to be one of the most popular ice-cream brands in Georgia, however, their business has recently faced some difficulties. Ioseb Tavshavadze declares that Baskin Robbins gained popularity in Georgia in a period when Georgian ice-cream production was almost non-existent. Their ice-cream products were quite expensive and unaffordable for the majority of people though. Later, when national production developed, consumers almost completely forgot about Baskin Robbins leaving it with a very small customer base.
Expectations
Kaspi Ice cream was founded in 1964 but re-started work in 2003. Obviously, we have better expectations now; we plan to expand the company and the enterprise which automatically means expansion of the product line. Kaspi Ice-cream’s current 15% share is not satisfactory for the fast-growing company.
Since our sales in Tbilisi generally drop down in August, Kaspi Ice Cream takes 60% of its products to the resort zones. Kaspi Ice-Cream products are actively sold on the Black Sea coastline from June. The most recently captured city by our new products is Kutaisi. Kaspi Ice Cream has been available in all regions and cities of Georgia since March.
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