A Cambodian investment company hopes that the purchase of a 65 per cent stake in a local ‘healthy food’ group will help it seize a portion of the trillion dollar international vegan and natural/healthy food market.
Vibe Café Hospitality, comprising two Vibe Café vegan eateries and the healthy-food focused Backyard Café, have developed a strong local following for their range of eat-in or take-away meals and natural/ organic products. Tanncam Investment Company (TIC) hope they can use this to springboard into the rapidly expanding global market for vegan and organic/ natural foods.
The investment is TICs first venture into the food and beverage industry and follows previous sizeable investments in the healthcare, e-commerce, and business consulting sectors.
Anthony Galliano, CEO of Cambodian Investment Management (CIM), itself 30 per cent owned by TIC, said TIC “plans to inject additional capital to accelerate franchising opportunities with the aim of expanding the vegan food industry globally.
“Health and vegan food is no longer a niche market segment. It’s a trillion-dollar industry that is a movement that is just getting started, growing rapidly, and gaining extensive acceptance”, Mr Galliano said.
Although the size of the investment has not been disclosed, in 2018 TIC plonked-down a $4 million stake in Verita Healthcare Group, a Singapore-based global provider of healthcare services and products. In 2017 it took a $10 million stake in India’s Netmeds, an e-commerce portal that facilitates orders for drugs and medicines and in 2014 it acquired a 30 per cent stake in CIM, who acted as business consultants in the Vibe Café Hospitality investment.
In addition to franchising opportunities, TIC also intends to invest additional capital to broaden the distribution of Vibe Café Hospitality’s proprietary products, which includes rejuvenating cleansers, an in-house range of wholefoods, and organic ingredients.
Vibe Cafe founder Emma Fountain, who will remain as group CEO with a 31 per cent stake, said “we have incubated and developed an incredibly successful health food business in Cambodia with attractive payback periods, loyal customers, and robust financial returns. With Tanncam’s support we have a fantastic opportunity to expand the model globally through franchising”.
According to the nutritionist, whose recipe’s are available in the Vibe Cookbook, “the global health food industry is booming as people are adopting healthy eating habits, not only for body and mind wellness, weight-control, and for a better nutritional diet, but to live longer and to avoid chronic diseases such as diabetes and cancer”.
Feature photo Angeline Ong
Related:
- Tanncam buys 65% Vibe stake (The Phnom Penh Post)
- Tanncam takes stake in financial service firm (The Phnom Penh Post)
- Tanncam buys stake in Vibe Cafe (Khmer Times)
Stella-maris Ewudolu
Between November 2010 and February 2012 she was a staff writer at Daylight Online, Nigeria writing on health, fashion, and relationships. From 2010 – 2017 she worked as a freelance screen writer for ‘Nollywood’, Nigeria.
She joined AEC News Today in December 2016.
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