Olubusuyi Adenipekun
5 January 2009
As a result of the appropriate manner of processing Gala Sausage Roll as well as its high quality It will interest you to know that Gala is no longer a local aspiration as it has been introduced to Ghana and it is doing excellently well in that West African market.
This international acceptability of this product earned it the award of the mega brand status by Superbrand International in December last year as well as the ISO 22000:2005 certificate awarded to its factory by the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) on behalf of the International Standards Organisation.
This disclosure was made by the Divisional Managing Director of UAC Foods, Mr. Chris Adedipe, while speaking on the landmark strides the snack has made since 1962 when it was introduced into the Nigerian market.
He says: "When it started it was a local brand. Now, it is a master brand recognised internationally. Throughout the whole process of producing Gala from the raw material to the packaging we follow international standard and as such the product can be sold or marketed anywhere in the world."
Adedipe says that a lot of challenges face UAC Foods in producing the brand, adding that the company has left no stone unturned in sorting them out in order to ensure its integrity as well as to ensure that its hard earned equity is not eroded through all kinds of gimmicks by the pretenders in the market.
He says further: "One major challenge has to do with the sourcing of our raw material, particularly meat which has been very difficult to source because we don't have major cattle ranches in Nigeria, and that makes meat very expensive. But nonetheless, Gala is the only product that has so much beef and it is not just any type of beef. We source a particular type of beef that has a lot of flesh. We source good quality beef. Beef that we are going to use must be certified by veterinary surgeons as free from any disease."
The quest of the company to meet the demands of consumers all the time led to the re-launch of the product last October with the same exciting taste, pure beef filling, crispy pastry and seasoning.
The Divisional Managing Director of UAC Foods explains further: "It should be noted that having a brand around for so long can lead to either the brand being taken for granted by the consumers or the consumers being taken for granted by the brand custodians."
Consequently, the business decided to create fun and excitement around the brand by developing trendier packaging and celebrating these developments on a large scale and communicating these features to the target consumers."
He added: "We have really been maintaining the consistency of the product but we are very sensitive to the requirement of our consumers. When consumers make comments, we take appropriate action. Some people prefer to have Gala a little softer and we have worked very hard to make it softer for our consumers."
The efforts at re-positioning Gala as a youthful, contemporary offering has also given it a more attractive and trendier pack.
According to Adedipe, Gala has remained a permanent fixture on Nigerian snacking firmament, adding that it has become a very visible brand across the country so much that it has become a virtual name for the sundry sausage roll products.
Commenting on the product as the undisputed leader as well as its commanding presence in the market for almost half a century, Mr. Adedipe says, "Nigerian buyers respond very well to the product. In the course of any month, most Nigerians would have eaten our product and they are very happy with our product. We make enough profit to satisfy our shareholders."
The brand has passed through a long and arduous journey since its launch 46 years ago. It has seen a lot of competition from other brands but it has been able to surmount various challenges to retain its number one position as the nation's favourite snack. For example, it has seen a lot of competition.
But, competition, according to Adedipe, is good because it keeps us on our toes, adding that at the end of the day, UAC Foods comes out with a better product.He advised consumers to be very careful with the type of food they buy as it is always better to go for food products that have an ISO certification on it.
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