“Not just any nut”: Mount Mayon Volcanic Pili Nuts are looking to change the face of the global travel retail snacking category. The brand, which is launching a range of savoury and sweet ‘super nuts’ on the international market, is a new project from entrepreneur David Weil and his two biochemist partners.
Weil, a well-known and much-respected travel retail developer in the Philippines and Vietnam, describes Mount Mayon pili nuts as “the gourmet snack industry’s best-kept secret until now”.
Weil is marketing Mount Mayon pili nuts with the catch line ‘Volcanic: the new organic’. He believes the brand has what it takes to succeed in travel retail – and at the same time to ensure the sustainability of a pili nut industry in the Philippines through natural, limited-batch growth.
Mount Mayon pili nuts are harvested from the fruit of the flowering evergreen Canarium ovatum, or pili nut tree, found in the Philippine rainforest. (The tree is known as ‘the chosen one’; local tradition has it that pili trees can provide food, shelter and medicine.)
“Mount Mayon’s Volcanic Pili Nuts are not just any nuts. They are the most luxurious nuts on the planet, and the ideal travel retail snack category game-changer”
According to Weil, the pili nuts derive ‘superfood’ benefits from the fertile soil which surrounds the 2,462m Mount Mayon volcano. A 17-step SloDry nut processing system, which Weil and his associates developed at the company’s production facility in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, retains then natural oils and proteins to give the nuts a buttery, “smooth-yet-crunchy” texture.
“The production process also results in a unique nut quality that is not only deliciously addictive but is also extremely healthy, ” Weil says. “It contains high levels of magnesium, vitamin E, fibre and protein, with healthy fats and low carbs.” Mount Mayon’s nuts contain eight essential amino acids, and are kosher, halal, non-GMO and gluten-free.
To boost their energy, nutritional and beauty benefits, and to allow for easy digestion, the nuts are pre-sprouted in purified mountain spring water, Weil explains.
The Himalayan Pink Salt Volcanic Pili Nuts are savoury, while the Ecuadorian Cacao Volcanic Pili Nuts are coated in cacao and organic coconut sugar. “The shot of cocoa offers a chocolate fix with none of the guilt,” Weil says.
Both products are available in a 28g flat pouch, 85g stand-up pouch and 130g can formats. Other flavours of pili nuts are in the pipeline, says Weil.
Entrepreneur David Weil is behind the new Mount Mayon brand
As Partner and Managing Director of Eastern Duty Free, Weil works exclusively with Duty Free Philippines in the supply, delivery and day-to-day operations of its confectionery and snacking products.
Mount Mayon is his new private enterprise. “With 30 years of experience in confectionery and snack food, Mount Mayon is something of a natural progression… to do something unique and social-minded for travel retail, going for the international market and, at the same time, giving back to the Philippines,” he says.
Weil notes the Mount Mayon nut range is the result of years of exploration in remote and extreme environments, and an obsession to discover the “perfect nut” which he believes is a “perfect fit” for global travel retail.
“Mount Mayon’s Volcanic Pili Nuts are not just any nuts. They are the most luxurious nuts on the planet, and the ideal travel retail snack category game-changer,” he says. Weil points out that the nuts were the only gourmet product to be featured by France’s Michelin chefs at the recent annual ‘Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (MOF) Cote d’Azur 2017’ Gala Dinner for 200 VIP guests at Nice’s Negresco Palace. The MOF awards were created in France in 1924 to honour traditional craftsmen and recognise work which approaches perfection.
Weil says the products target self-consumption and the gifting market. The brand has already secured limited travel retail distribution in Asia and has developed a strong global ‘fan club’, with increasing popularity in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, American, Australian, European and UAE markets.
“Nuts and snacking as a retail category are growing fast as global awareness and aspirations help expand this sector exponentially,” Weil says. “We have a set agenda, and have started to roll out in travel retail.
Mount Mayon offers salty and savoury tastes; new flavours are in the pipeline
“Launching Mount Mayon seemed the logical progression in taking our love for gourmet products to a new level and creating Mount Mayon Volcanic Pili Nuts to launch as a global luxury nut product.
“We have fans ranging from people in traditional nut-consuming countries to those who just want to eat healthy. With the added bonus of very high natural vitamin E, we see many women buying our products for their skin beauty and antioxidant benefits.”
Weil underlines the importance of Mount Mayon’s CSR programme to ensure sustainability. The brand is collaborating with the Philippines’ national and regional agricultural authorities, and a team from the University of the Philippines, to develop the country’s first cooperative for the development of the pili nut industry at grass-roots level. The initiative aims to encourage local farmers and their families to improve their livelihood through education and training, as well as to provide route-to-market support.
“This is a massive endeavour to organise and implement over time, but is extremely necessary and important for the country,” Weil emphasises.
“Environmentally friendly, we incur zero wastage because Mount Mayon’s production uses every aspect of this particular nut. For example, we’ve developed a system to use the outer shell and convert it to charcoal which villagers can use as a means of boiling water and cooking. Any broken nuts are used in the production of other products, and we are also creating new cosmetic applications for the medicinal oil,” he concludes.