Skip to content

Unilever Food Solutions innovation disrupts €4.2bn China soy sauce market

Published:

Unilever Food Solutions has shaken up China’s soy sauce market with a new premium product that ticks all the boxes for chefs. Here we look at how market insights and R&D expertise allowed Knorr Professional to gain an edge in this competitive market.

Unilever Food Solutions premium professional soy sauce is disrupting the market in China.

Dark. Light. Sweet. Seasoned.

There are many types of soy sauce used in China, but until recently there were nearly none made specifically for professional chefs.

Unilever Food Solutions (UFS) has filled this gap with a professional grade premium product that offers the richer umami and a more pronounced soy flavour 63% of chefs in China said they needed.[a]

Launched in China in March 2024, Knorr Professional Seasoned Soy Sauce has already set a UFS performance record for an innovation launch.

What’s the secret?

Valued at about €4.2 billion, the soy sauce market in China is huge but also, unsurprisingly, mature, with consistent demand driven by its everyday use.

However, the fact that 99% of soy sauce brands in China offer the same product for domestic and professional use presented UFS with an opportunity to step into a valuable white space with a whole new proposition.[b]

“Our chefs-for-chefs business approach provides unique insight into what our customers were looking for,” says Joyce Zhou, UFS North Asia Lead, explaining that chefs were voicing a need for a premium soy sauce that would deliver the strong umami taste needed to enhance top dishes and generate consumer appeal.

“This demand from chefs offered us an opportunity to disrupt the highly competitive soy sauce market with a product that answered the needs of professional kitchens.”

A chef in a white toque smells the new professional soy sauce launched by Unilever Food Solutions.

Harnessing science and tradition to create premium products

Acting on this customer insight, our UFS R&D team created a new soy sauce with a unique flavour profile created by combining traditional and modern fermentation processes with breakthrough science and technology capabilities to preserve the authentic taste of traditional soy sauce while also ensuring the stability and high efficiency required by professional kitchens.

“Thanks to our magical blend of yellow and black soybeans and perfect fermentation conditions, we created a soy sauce that enchants chefs with a richer aroma and double umami flavour that chefs missed in other product alternatives,” says Hanny van Amerongen, VP, R&D Global Innovation, Foods and UFS.

“Our new recipe allows us to produce large volumes without losing the magic of quality and taste. This breakthrough is setting a new standard in professional soy sauce.”

A blueprint for success

With China a priority growth market for Unilever, this launch reflects UFS’s commitment to responding to market needs with market-specific innovation.

And it has provided a blueprint that is set to be repeated in other UFS markets. Plans to roll out this product to meet local tastes in other markets are underway.

“Launching a premium product like this is a strategic move to capture higher-value share in a competitive category across multiple markets,” says Hanny.

“It positions Knorr Professional not just as a pantry staple but also as a culinary partner for professional chefs, which supports long-term loyalty and brand equity.”

[a]

FS China Soy Sauce Concept Test Survey, March 2021, China Chef Panel.

[b]

UFS China Soy Sauce Innovation Strategy Study, Jan-Aug 2022, Creo Innovation.

Related articles

A collage of images including two chefs laughing, and shots of key Asian and South American inspired dishes from Unilever Food Solutions Menu Trends research.

South American and Asian cuisines lead UFS menu trends book

The Unilever Food Solutions annual Future Menus initiative helps chefs take the latest food trends from concept to creation. This year it taps into South American and Asian cuisines to drive growth for professional kitchens around the world.

A chef consulting his phone in a professional kitchen while another chef works  in the background

How Unilever Food Solutions fast-tracked its Covid comeback

In 2020, Unilever Food Solutions lost 70% of its business overnight as the pandemic forced restaurants around the world to close. Three years later, the business is enjoying double-digit growth and has overtaken pre-pandemic volumes. We take a look at how UFS has come out better and stronger.

UFS chef Audrey Crone laughing with another chef while cooking in a professional kitchen

How UFS chefs are serving up waste-free food solutions

Cutting business waste is just one of the ingredients in Unilever Food Solutions’ recipe for a waste-free future. We spoke to chefs Alex Hall in the UK, Audrey Crone in Ireland and Mary Worthington in South Africa to find out how they’re helping reduce waste and increase profit margins in the process.

Back to top