14 Aug 2025 Sasko’s new snack bun
Interesting innovation from Sasko, now a PepsiCo SA brand and business, with the launch of a new “snack bun”, positioned as an affordable convenience eat….
The “snack bun” concept – which is typically a pre-packed hamburger roll containing a sweet or savoury filling – is very popular in the rest of Africa, and now is available in SA,
Sasko’s first such offering is with a custard filling, and has been followed by curry and BBQ fillings. The group has a plant specifically dedicated to producing the snack at its gigantic 27 930 m2 bakery in Shakaskraal, KZN. Initial launch has been in Gauteng with plans to roll it out across SA.
Cornel Vermeulen, PepsiCo’s GM for bakeries says the “snack bun” offers a “complete meal solution” and can easily be stored in a lunchbox. This has made it popular with commuters travelling by taxi or bus who leave very early in the morning. It is also aimed at parents looking for something easy to pack for their children’s school lunches.
“So, if you’re in the car, you can just open the bag, you can take out your bun, and you have a wonderful filling. So, the first product that we went to market with is the custard filling. It tastes like a doughnut but doesn’t cost the price of a doughnut. It’s amazing!”
In an interview with News24, he said the group also had some other products it planned to launch next year that could be potential game changers locally, but declined to disclose details of these “good ideas”.
Vermeulen explains that PepsiCo SA kept on top of market trends like the “snack bun” through its parent company’s operations around the world.
“The benefit of being part of PepsiCo is you can tap into those markets, and you’ve got colleagues all over the world who can send you the latest trends as well. We back it up, though, with data and all the insights we collect as well, so we’ve got a lot of capability through the PepsiCo system,” he expands.
He stresses the importance to tailor-make products specifically for the market you were operating in, noting that what works in the UK may not work in SA.
South America, for instance, is more like Africa in terms of consumer tastes, which also helps inform product decisions within PepsiCo itself.
“So, we shop across the world and see what is available in the bread market and what could work in SA and then decide whether we have the capability in our plants to manufacture it without the need for significant investments, and then we take it from there.”
Bread’s potential market
Vermeulen adds that the South African bread market itself also has major room for growth, still, pointing out that the average South African consumes 37 loaves a year, which works out to about 27kg worth of bread every year.
This is significantly lower than the UK, where about 53kg of bread is consumed per capita each year, and Turkey, where it’s as much as 130kg pa.
“This data shows you that in developed countries and the developing world as well, bread is still a very popular sort of snack for a lunchbox solution and a convenience food as well, because it’s convenient to make a sandwich.”
Vermeulen notes, too, that the bun and roll market is also continuing to see strong demand and that the group has three of its 13 plants dedicated to manufacturing these products for retailers, fast food outlets and restaurants.
Source: News24.com