Market Review
Nowadays, the vast majority of manufacturing industries, including one of the most profitable and independent of economic market conditions
– food production, represented by companies of various sizes: from giant enterprises to small home workshops.
Our country produces almost the entire range of food products - from simple bread products to chocolate factory products, which require the use of high-tech equipment. Therefore, entering the food market is possible either in its individual segments (most often highly specialized and semi-finished products), or with high-quality and inexpensive products.
Beginning businessmen rarely consider the possibility of opening a new business in such a field of production: here, entering the market is quite difficult due to high competition. But in fact, in addition to dumping and semi-finished production, there is another alternative to entrepreneurship in this area - the production of products that have no analogues in the country or in a particular region. It will not be easy to find such a product, but with a competent approach to this issue it is quite feasible.
For example, one of the rather promising business areas is the production of peanut butter. This food product is not widespread in Russia, and its market is represented exclusively by foreign (mainly Dutch and North American) samples. The slight popularity of this product is not caused by its rejection by Russian people, but only by its obscurity. Peanut butter is in great demand in English-speaking and Anglo-Saxon countries, but in our country, as they say, it has simply not been “tried” yet.
Peanut butter is classified as a so-called “snack” product, i.e. food produced for quick consumption, or light dishes that are intended to satisfy hunger between main meals.
Peanut butter should be targeted at that category of the population that purchases most of its products in supermarkets. The more the role of supermarkets in the life of the population increases, the more the demand for snacks increases. In addition, the peanut butter production business is advantageous because the product is inexpensive and has a long shelf life under normal conditions. Well, in addition, you don’t need any high-tech equipment to set up peanut butter production.
The only significant drawback of this business will be the fact that the raw materials for it will be supplied from abroad. But still, the production of peanut butter is a profitable business due to the absence of the need to include transportation costs in the selling price of the product.
Peanut butter production technology
Peanut butter is a mixture vegetable oil(peanuts, as a rule), ground shelled peanuts, some salt and sugar, as well as various additives that provide a stable consistency of the product in the form of a paste.
Production occurs in the following sequence.
Peanuts are peeled and placed in a roaster, where they are evenly roasted at a temperature of approximately 200C, subjected to constant stirring and regular shaking.
After the peanuts reach the desired degree of roasting, the entire batch is immediately cooled using special industrial fans having a powerful exhaust system to ensure rapid air circulation in the room. The need for this technological process is due to the fact that peanuts heated to such high temperature, continues to fry and then burn from the inside, which is why it needs to be refrigerated immediately. In addition, the cooling process helps prevent the nuts from losing too much oil.
Then, using special equipment, the cooled peanuts are ground between rubberized belts of the unit, which remove the peel (husk) from it. Next, the nuts enter the crushing machine.
Chopped peanuts are poured into mill containers and, with constant stirring, the whole mass is heated to a temperature of 60C. Additional ingredients are also added to it: sugar, salt, crushed nuts, and also a little vegetable oil (any). You can also add various other additives here: pastes can be with prunes, raisins, dried apricots, etc.
Received ready mixture passed through the cooling system again until the product reaches a temperature of 38C. Through a special pipeline, the resulting product is automatically squeezed through dispensers into prepared containers, which are sealed, marked and then labeled.
Technological equipment for the production of peanut butter
The equipment for producing peanut butter, as we have seen, is simple. It can be purchased either as individual units and units, or as a complex – as a ready-made line. In some cases (in the absence of large financial resources), used food equipment is also suitable.
In addition, the specifics of the business are such that some units and machine units can be used for the production of other types of products. So, even if you suddenly experience interruptions in the supply of raw materials, you will be able to engage in other production at this time.
The cost of used equipment for the production of peanut butter can range from 50 to 150 thousand dollars (its productivity will be 0.5 tons per shift). A new line can be completed on our own, it will come out to approximately the following amounts:
- fryer – from 200 thousand rubles;
- industrial fan – about 40 thousand rubles. for one piece;
- equipment for cleaning walnuts – 8 thousand dollars;
- crushing plant – $500-1200;
- mill – 4.5 thousand dollars.
From this we can conclude that the difference is small. You just need to take into account that when purchasing and assembling new equipment, you will also have to purchase conveyor belts and some other auxiliary installations. You will also have to do the joining of all the units yourself.
Business development prospects
As we noted earlier, the equipment required for the production of peanut butter is also easily applicable not only to this production, but also to many others. For example, in an industrial roaster you can also make simply roasted peanuts or salted peanuts, as well as fried salted peanuts (which can be with various flavorings). On the same roasting pan you can also fry sunflower seeds or dry any other nuts (cashews, hazelnuts and many others).
As for the range of peanut butter specifically, it can be significantly expanded by obtaining different paste textures (in addition to traditional peanut butter with a soft consistency, the so-called “crispy” paste can be made with unground small pieces of nuts added to the composition) and composition (peanut butter can be made with many different flavors). You can also try to develop unique peanut products previously unknown to the general public - for example, dried salted peanuts in skin. Try to offer the buyer pastes made from other types of nuts: almonds, hazelnuts, cashews.
Modern production sectors, including such a highly profitable and independent of the economic situation - food, are occupied by enterprises of various sizes: from large to mini-workshops.
The entire range of products - from bread to marshmallows or chocolate - is produced in Russia. Therefore, the success of representatives of this industry depends on quality and price finished products.
Justification of the prospects for the production of nut butter
There is another alternative successful business already known goods - the manufacture of products that have no analogues in a particular city or region. One of these promising directions in business - the production of peanut butter.
This product is not yet very well known to the Russian buyer (although it already has a number of fans among our compatriots), but on the market this product represented only by imported samples. This unpopularity is not caused by taste, but simply in Russia they simply haven’t tried it yet.
Peanut butter production: advantages and disadvantages
The main positive point is the fact that the equipment for producing peanut butter does not have to be high-tech. However, there is also a disadvantage, which is the need to import raw materials. However, this production is profitable due to the absence of transportation costs, which are included in the cost of the foreign analogue.
Peanut butter making process
This product is represented by a paste-like mixture of crushed and peeled peanuts, to which vegetable oil, sugar, salt and other additives are added, which should ensure the consistency of the finished product.
Equipment for the production of peanut butter includes a frying machine, in which raw materials, peeled from the shell, are evenly fried at a constant stirring temperature of 200 degrees with regular shaking.
The next step is to immediately cool the fried batch using appropriate fans with modern system hood, which ensures good air circulation. The need for this stage is expressed in ensuring that the peanuts do not burn, since heated to a high temperature without rapid cooling, they will continue to roast by inertia. Also, this equipment for the production of peanut butter during the cooling process protects the nuts from large losses of oil.
The next “step” in making paste is grinding the nuts through rubberized belts. Thus, the peel is separated from the cooled raw material and the husk is discarded. And here the mill for the production of peanut butter is already starting to work.
This is a kind of crushing machine, after which the crushed nuts fall into mill containers, where the resulting mass, when stirred, is heated to 60 degrees, all the other ingredients mentioned above are added here: sugar, salt, a little vegetable oil, as well as prunes, raisins, dried apricots (depending on the type of finished product).
The finished mixture is passed through a cooling system, where the product temperature is reduced to 38 degrees. Next, the machine for producing peanut butter has a special pipeline through which the paste is automatically squeezed out into the prepared container using dispensers. Filled jars are sealed, marked and the appropriate labels are affixed to them.
Peanut Butter Production Line
When considering the production process itself, it should be noted that the components of this line can be purchased separately, as separate units or assemblies. However the best option– purchase equipment for the production of peanut butter in a complex.
A suitable alternative to initial stage Organizing this business can be the acquisition of a used line or its rental.
An important point is the fact that some components can be used in the production of other finished products, which can be very beneficial in the event of a lack of supply of raw materials.
Prospects for the development of this business
Let's take a closer look at alternative production in the event of shortages of raw materials.
For example, an industrial roaster can be used to produce simply roasted or salted peanuts with various additives.
This roaster can also be used to dry other types of nuts (cashews or hazelnuts). You can also roast sunflower seeds there.
As for the range of peanut butter itself, it can be expanded to include different textures. For example, it can be a paste of soft consistency, or it can be “crispy” due to pieces of coarsely ground nuts.
Today, almost every large enterprise has competitors in the form of small private firms. It is possible to enter the market with any idea, but it is better to do this in a poorly filled niche and draw up a business plan, while it is better to be focused on producing inexpensive and high-quality products.
In addition to semi-finished or dumping production, you can start your own business in the production of food products that are available on the market, but only imported. One of these areas is profitable.
Peanut paste is a product that is not particularly popular in the domestic market. But its lack of popularity is not caused by a rejection of this product. Groundnuts do not grow in Russia, so this product is unconventional in our market. In addition, peanut butter of Dutch and American origin can scare off buyers at a high price. All over the world, peanut butter is used for quick snacks. It is so nutritious that it quickly satisfies hunger. This product is sold in supermarkets. Peanut Butter Business is a profitable enterprise.
The number of supermarkets is also growing. And the more there are, the more likely it is that, along with creamy spread or chocolate butter, peanut butter will become popular. Therefore, if you compose good business plan, then your idea can be promoted in supermarkets.
How to organize production
Peanut butter production is very profitable. Its production is inexpensive, and the paste itself has a long shelf life in sealed packaging, without refrigeration.Business - pasta production idea based on simple principles. There is no need to buy expensive equipment to produce pasta. The only downside is buying the groundnut itself. However, imported paste costs many times more, and the transportation costs for importing the nut can be quickly recouped. Peanut paste, which can be produced on the domestic market, will cost several times less. So how is their peanut butter made?
Peanut paste is a mixture of ground nuts, sugar, salt, oil and thickeners. The recipe for this pasta is very simple. The nut must be peeled and fried at a temperature of 200 degrees, stirring and shaking constantly. Next, the roasted nut needs to be cooled quickly. This is done using industrial fans. It is important to cool the peanuts, as the nut continues to roast by inertia and can burn from the inside.
Rapid cooling will prevent the valuable product, peanut butter, from leaking out of the nut. After cooling, the nuts enter a special installation for removing the husk and are redirected to the crusher. Next, the production of peanut butter involves the transfer of crushed peanuts to a mill, where the temperature is continuously maintained at 60 degrees. While stirring, other ingredients and a little vegetable oil are added to the nut mass. The prepared mixture is cooled to 38 degrees, and then the paste is dosed through the machine into the selected container, which must be sealed. Next, the jars are labeled and labeled. A business idea for producing peanut butter can pay for itself in a short time.
Production costs
The equipment for producing peanut butter is quite simple. You can buy a ready-made line, or buy individual units. You can take the path of saving and purchase used equipment. You can also buy equipment of a similar profile, since for the production of pasta, it is possible to use units for the production of other food products. And if there are any problems with the supply of groundnuts, then your equipment can process other raw materials. New peanut butter production line is quite expensive. The roasting machine costs 200 thousand rubles. Fan – 40 thousand rubles. An apparatus for cleaning nuts, a crusher and mills will cost about 10 thousand dollars. You will also need optional equipment. All these units need to be connected to each other. Used equipment can cost up to 100 thousand dollars. The difference in cost between new and used equipment is insignificant.
Peanut butter production equipment is also used to make other products. In the frying unit you can prepare salted nuts, sunflower seeds, hazelnuts, etc. Production can be diversified by producing masses of different densities and a variety of additives. You can add dried fruits or whole nuts to the paste. Peanut Butter Business allows you to additionally produce paste from other types of nuts.
We lived in the USA for some time and still go there often. I was an editor in an interiors magazine, was involved in translations and sociocultural projects, Konstantin is still involved in Internet marketing, developing Internet solutions for medium-sized businesses. In the States there is a cult of a healthy lifestyle, peanut butter is very popular there. Even in Russia there is a stereotype that American schoolchildren have a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast. We missed it in Russia. A year and a half ago, Kostya bought a paste-squeezing machine on eBay for $800, these are available in American stores - with their help you can squeeze the nuts into a jar yourself. We installed it in the kitchen. At first we prepared pasta for ourselves, treated it to friends, then we decided to sell it.
Production started at the end of December, we did the big stupid thing by starting with ten different types pastes: chocolate, peanut with honey or dates, two types of cashew paste, etc. In addition, in February we went back to the States, and our friend Sasha Bogdanova, who is designing our project, began selling the pasta for us. When we returned, we began hastily reducing the range of flavors.
Despite the mistakes, based on the results of the first months we realized that sales cover production costs. Then we found a premises, registered an individual entrepreneur, certified the products and in the summer of 2012 took part in the “Green Week” in Gorky Park. There our branding failures became obvious: for example, the jar from afar looked like honey. Nevertheless, we got acquainted with several stores and soon found ourselves on the shelves of several online stores, as well as esoteric supermarkets “Jagannath” and “Path to Yourself”. Now we are sold in a dozen cities and work with about 20 stores in Moscow.
Audience and repositioning
The product was originally designed for a narrow category of people - vegetarians and raw foodists, as well as expats. IN Lent monasteries ordered pasta. Now we have decided to change the packaging, increase the shelf life and reposition the product in the fitness/wellness category - we will focus on everyone who leads healthy image life. We decided to make a full-fledged presentation, write down commercial proposals in order to enter into negotiations with big stores. For a year we had a large round jar, and now we are switching to PET packaging with a white lid and a foil seal, classic for nut butters.
What is peanut butter, what is it eaten with and who buys it?
Peanut butter is one of the most popular products in the USA, but in Russia it is not yet very widespread. This did not stop entrepreneurs from Altai Maria Lozina and Ivan Rudenko - on the contrary, they believe great opportunity right now to enter a relatively free niche. Maria and Ivan came up with the Nut Land brand and launched own production- and in a year they sold pastes worth 2 million rubles. Minimum task for next year– triple the volume. The founders of the Nut Land company, Maria Lozina and Ivan Rudenko, told the portal site about how slowly but surely the American product is becoming in demand among Russians.
Maria Lozina, 24 years, Ivan Rudenko, 24 years old, entrepreneurs from Barnaul, founders of the company. Both graduated from Altai State Technical University: Maria - with a degree in state and municipal government", Ivan - "technology of machines and equipment." Nut Land produces peanut butter, which is sold in Barnaul, Zelenograd, Kemerovo, Moscow, Mytishchi, Rubtsovsk, Tyumen, Omsk, Chelyabinsk and Yekaterinburg.
Free niche
Peanut butter was not popular in Russia until a healthy lifestyle and sports became fashionable here - that is, until recent years. In our country, this product has become in demand not as an ordinary food, but as a tasty source of protein for athletes. Just one and a half to two years ago in the Siberian city of Barnaul, the capital Altai Territory, market sports nutrition was practically empty. Technical University student Maria Lozina took advantage of this and opened her own online store.
“I ordered protein bars and vitamins from the USA and resold them here through Instagram,” says Maria. – At first I bought it for myself, because I was interested in fitness, and then I discovered the demand from others. Sales were going well, the account had about 6 thousand subscribers: all of them were “live”, a pure target audience. And one day I ordered a batch of peanut butter from America. I really liked it, so I tried making it at home in a blender. Then I thought it would be great to scale this business by launching production. It seemed more interesting to me - to make something myself, and not just resell it. Creating something new and useful inspires business to this day.”
- Peanut paste – This is a creamy product made from crushed shelled peanuts, a traditional element of the cuisine of the United States and some other countries. To give a more piquant and rich taste in the production of peanut butter, other nuts, candied fruits, coconut flakes, various syrups, etc. can be used. The paste is used as a spread on toast, bread, crackers, and also for preparing a variety of dishes.
Maria, together with her friend Ivan Rudenko, opened the Nut Land company in 2016. For the sake of this project, both left their master's studies. Maria began developing peanut butter recipes in her kitchen at home and posting the first samples on her Instagram.
“It was kind of a super creative process,” she recalls. - We got four flavors - classic, with coconut flakes, with cinnamon and raisins, and chocolate. The first one remains the most popular; it accounts for about 30% of sales. Then they added “crunch” - paste with pieces of peanuts. Recipes are still changing: the classic pasta that we released for the first time is not at all similar to the current one. At first there was no honey in the coconut. We also produce crunch differently now. Previously, they made paste separately and added ready-made pieces of peanuts for it - but it was difficult to track the quality of the crushed nuts. Now we make the pieces ourselves.”
Ivan, meanwhile, worked on equipment to establish serial production. “The main difficulty was that in Russia there is practically zero experience in producing this product,” he states. - Buying the necessary equipment is problematic. There are no recipes, no technologies. Even the tax office did not have such an activity as processing peanuts into oil and its fractions. That’s why we came up with everything in our business ourselves.”
Scientific approach
For Ivan, the project was initially a scientific work for his master's thesis. At the department of his university, he developed the first production technologies. “For pasta, you need a fryer and a grinder. The snag was in the crusher,” explains Ivan. - Chinese and American equipment on the market grinds nuts into a very thin paste. Its creamy, thick texture is given by artificial additives. And we wanted to achieve a thick consistency without them: the trick of our paste is that it contains only three to five ingredients.”
Together with Ivan’s scientific advisor, the students spent days and nights in the university laboratory. Tried grinding nuts different ways in a vat crusher, meat grinder, blender and disintegrator (originally designed for grinding sand). As a result, Ivan roughly understood what was necessary for the desired result. After that, he and Maria separated from the department, continuing the project on their own.
The first set of equipment was assembled from scrap materials with almost no investment. But for the documentation necessary for legal production (declaration of conformity, technical specifications, HACCP), I had to pay several tens of thousands of rubles. The production itself was located in the bakery of Ivan’s relative in the Volchikhinsky district of the Altai Territory, thereby saving on rent in Barnaul. The company worked there for its first year.
In addition to technology, Maria and Ivan were actually looking for peanuts. “We tried to process Indian, Uzbek, Chinese, Argentine, and Brazilian nuts,” Ivan lists. - Only the Americans haven’t tried it. The best was the raw material from Argentina. It has a very pleasant sweetish taste. Now we are purchasing from the Moscow Nut Company, which transports raw materials directly from Argentina. Its price suits us - about 100 rubles per kilogram.”
“We had high hopes for Indian peanuts, they were cheap... but they turned out to be terrible,” adds Maria. - After frying, it smelled like unrefined oil and tasted the same. And Chinese was something like this.”
During the work, it turned out that even changing the supplier of the same type of raw material causes difficulties with the equipment - not to mention changing the country of origin. Each time the crusher must be adjusted to work with nuts certain size, humidity, fat content, country of origin. This meant resharpening the knives and finding a new optimal number of revolutions on the crusher. But by today, Ivan has collected a set of nut knives from every possible country. I also got notes on where to tighten things up in production, how much to increase the gap for different raw materials, and how much to increase the frying temperature.
“Peanuts are pure GMO”
The peculiarity of Nut Land products is not only the absence of preservatives, but also pricing policy. Today it is the most inexpensive paste on the market: in retail it costs 250 rubles per 300 grams. Russian competitors sell the same amount for 350-450 rubles, while foreign prices reach 600. “Given that a kilogram of peanuts costs 200 rubles in a store, it’s strange to see such prices, because the ratio of dry peanuts to paste is approximately 1x1,” notes Maria .
Plastic, rather than glass, containers help keep prices reasonable. The design for the brand also did not take long to “beat off”: it was ordered from a local designer for 10 thousand rubles. “But basically the secret of the low price is that our retail markup is about 30%, and not 400%, like some competitors,” say the founders of Nut Land.
Demand for the pasta on Instagram was immediately high. The first official client was the Barnaul chain of mini-coffee shops Kennedy’s Coffee. At first they took the paste to add to peanut lattes, and then they wanted to sell it at retail. But the partners did not agree on the conditions - the owners of the coffee shops wanted to sell the product only in glass jars. Then Altai pasta appeared in another Barnaul chain of mini-coffee shops - Trendy. Today, almost all city coffee shops that brew peanut lattes make them with Nut Land paste.
Today the paste can be purchased at retail in Moscow and the Moscow region, Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Rubtsovsk, Omsk, Tyumen, Kemerovo, Novosibirsk. Sales are made through specialized networks of sports nutrition and eco-products (among them “ Green apple"in Tyumen, Zelsportpit in Moscow, Nutrifit network in Omsk and others).
“We just went everywhere and offered our product. I wrote to someone on VKontakte, Vanya called someone. And many agreed to work with us,” says Maria. - From non-specialized retail, we currently only have the Land 24 store in Barnaul. To get there, Vanya, again, went and talked about our pasta. It turned out that they were already looking for us there and wanted to hire us for sale.”
Ivan and Maria have not yet begun to enter large grocery chains. We felt that today there is little experience and the volumes are not the same. But in a year there are such plans.
“For chains, by the way, we thought of developing a pasta that would be as close in taste to American pasta as possible,” says Maria. - So far we have only been able to achieve this by adding palm oil. By the way, the consistency, oddly enough, even with it did not turn out creamy and viscous (as we had hoped). But we are not yet sure that we will sell such a product - from palm oil bad reputation. Although it varies, and we took very quality look, in which there is no harm.
By the way, when they write on peanut butter that it is “non-GMO”, it is strange. Because peanuts are pure GMO. The nut we know did not exist before - in nature it grew bitter. Then American scientists modified it, and it spread throughout the world. Just like many other plants, there is nothing to be afraid of here.”
Coconut and syrups for the future
To buy the first professional equipment, the owners of Nut Land took all the income from the online store and also sold some of their equipment - laptops, phones. We collected about 300 thousand rubles. They bought a fryer, a crusher and a manual sealer - to cover the cans with foil. All this was ordered from China, hoping to customize the devices to suit their needs. American analogues were too expensive, Russian ones were designed for too much power.
“Of course, we were very afraid: you never know, this is China. But after the New Year everything arrived, and safe. Refinement has been going on since January,” Ivan said. According to his sketches, work on remaking a Chinese crusher is underway in the city of Kamen-on-Obi at the Remzavod - the necessary specialists found only there.
The new equipment will increase the company's output tenfold (if previously they produced 50 kg of paste per hour, now it will be possible to produce 500 kg). They unexpectedly helped us in Ukraine with updating the equipment. “The peanut butter market there is very developed,” said Ivan. - I called the Techno-Sesame company, which processes sesame into halva. And there they explained to me technological process: how best to grind nuts. We also contacted an American engineering company, but they were willing to show us the devices only from afar. And so they offered to simply buy them from them. Of course, for millions that we don’t have.”
Now Nut Land is moving to Barnaul with new equipment. It turned out that when producing in the village, the losses on logistics are greater than the savings on rent in the city. Appropriate production room It was not found right away, mostly they offered too large areas. And the small rooms often turned out to be former fish processing plants - with a corresponding smell. But in the end, a clean former bakery with 80 square meters was found.
According to the brand’s founders, their company is ready to take a leap forward. In a month, they will launch a line of new products: almond butter, chocolate hazelnut butter and coconut manna (paste made from coconut pulp). Before the New Year, the company released gift sets with new types of pastes - check the demand. Got good feedback and a request for large jars.
There are also plans to sell low-calorie syrups. “We want to popularize peanut butter in Russia, but maintain its naturalness. However, it is very difficult to stay afloat by producing only pasta and not going online. We need some kind of parallel product to make people more interested,” the entrepreneurs explain.
Sales without sales people
Along with the release of new products, Maria and Ivan are finally preparing to hire sales people and get serious about promotion. So far they have only been advertised through tastings in shopping centers, as well as on Instagram and Facebook. I don’t consider VKontakte to be a working trading platform: Even at the stage of selling sports nutrition, this social network was losing to Instagram in all respects, says Maria. - Now I think that social networks do not capture our entire audience. Therefore, we are now thinking of investing in outdoor advertising. There are many older people who are not on social networks, but may be interested in our pasta.”
Until now, Nut Land did not have a sales plan. Mainly because the entire year the founders performed all the functions in the company together: they were producers, managers, shop workers, marketers, etc. We recently launched a website with an online store, and we also did it ourselves. Only by January, Ivan invited three former classmates into the business as workshop and courier service workers.
People from all over the country place orders in the company’s online store, but it still accounts for less than 1% of sales. They do not plan to make the website the main sales channel; it is more needed as a representation on the network. Today, the main sales of Nut Land products are through sports nutrition stores.
So far, Altai nut butter has been on sale for too short a time to assess seasonality. But the approximate trends are as follows: in spring and under New Year Sales are growing, but in the summer there is a decline. We managed to sell the most products this March - about 2 tons. “We are now working until midnight to meet demand,” says Ivan.
The core of buyers are athletes and vegetarians, young people. “We study the audience based on reviews from partners and statistics on social networks, this is very convenient,” says Maria. - It’s immediately clear who is interested in your product. In general, in the 21st century, technology makes doing business very easy. We use many different applications. They let you be all day long keep up to date with the state of sales and accounting - just look at your smartphone.”
Focus on Russian consumers
There are now about a dozen peanut butter producers in Russia. The largest player is Nut Butter, the first company to start making nut butter in Russia. In Barnaul, in addition to Nut Land, there are two more domestic brands in stores: under the Joy Food brand they sell pasta from Novosibirsk, and under the Mr Creme brand they sell pasta from China.
Nut Land the only manufacturers of this product in Altai. The closest competitor is the Vasco company in Novosibirsk. Urbech producers are also indirect competitors. But this product is a paste made from raw nuts, originally from Dagestan.
Few nut butter producers are represented in Russian non-specialized retail. “I think, largely because this is still a “business on its knees,” believes Maria. - Now is the time when more and more new enterprises of our profile are appearing. But it is unlikely that those who do this buy expensive equipment. To cooperate with grocery chains, you need a certain amount of work and experience. So, companies like ours have simply not yet matured into networks.”
Over the course of a year, Nut Land sold approximately 2 million rubles worth of pastes. With new production capacities, this volume can be tripled or quadrupled. “We are trying to develop quickly. We understand that someone with money may come to the market, and we will be left out of business,” says Ivan.
Since the summer of 2016, Altai paste has been sold in Kazakhstan. But manufacturers have no plans to enter the international market: in Russia this niche is still an unplowed field. Today, the main sales of Nut Land are in the central part of the country, where the company plans to grow further. For Siberia, the product is still too new and unusual: few local residents have managed to understand what peanut butter is and what it is eaten with.
