By Staff Writer
After 8 years of brewing and going on to capture 70 percent of the local market Taula beer is spreading out to the bigger Fiji market and to the wider island region.
The Taula will be brewed in Fiji along with other new beer brands in a joint venture between the Taula Beverages Company of Samoa and the Hari Punja and Sons Limited of Fiji.
The joint venture continues a longstanding trading partnership between the owners of the partner companies.
Prominent businessman and owner of Taula Beverages Company, Taimalie Charlie Westerlund, ‘pressed the button’ for the joint venture to go ahead last year.
“We know how to make good beer and after 8 years of brewing we’re confident enough of the quality of our beer, I felt it was time to ‘press the button’ on our joint venture,” Taimalie explained.
“We’ve been working with Hari Punja and Sons since the mid-90s and they are good, switched on, smart operators as well as international traders.
“We talked about it but at first but I wanted to be sure of our product and we’re confident enough now to make the move.”
The choice of setting up a new brewery under joint ownership in Suva, Fiji, is a logistically better choice of location Taimalie agreed to readily.
The Fiji market with its population of close to a million people is a much bigger market than Samoa and more.
“The Fiji market is four times the size we have in Samoa and whenever there is a huge market like that you can one, two or three players involved.
“Fiji is also better suited to handle the regional market, it’s more central and structurally organised for reaching out to more pacific Islands.
“With it’s central location it is better suited for shipping services to smaller islands compared to Samoa.”
Taimalie said the joint venture will brew the Taula beer under the formula already proven successful in Samoa but there will be new beer to be added as well.
The focus is build up a taste in Fiji for the Taula and other products from the joint venture brewery.
“The beauty of the of beer is that you can take your formulae and make beer close enough to suit the taste of people in their own environment.
“Our beer is based on the German formulae where there will be no preservatives, additives, or colourings other than the ingredients that produces beer and water.”
The joint venture expects to be in a better position to know how to cater for the regional market over the next 5 years.
Taimalie said they will have a good idea by then whether to set up mini breweries in the islands or centralize operations.
“We’d be able to understand the market better by then including legal and all other commercial trading requirements for each country.”
The ultimate goal for the joint venture is to produce a beer the regional market can identify with.
Taimalie is confident in the quality of the Taula and how it will appeal.
“I’m pretty happy with the quality of the product we have now and the new brands we will be brewing to interest the regional market.”
The Fiji media recently quoted in a news report that Chairman Hari Punja of Hari Punja & Sons Pte said the joint venture brewery would employ a highly qualified team with European training.
The latest in German technology will also be used to produce top quality products in accordance with the industry’s strict manufacturing standards.
The brand-new facility will be established on a 6-acre property in Suva housing the brewery with a state-of-the-art logistical facilities and an office building.
