Spoon Biscookies
Exporting the Spoon Biscookie
In March 2002 discussions took place for a substantial export order – 30,000 spoons – for Waitrose, a large supermarket chain in England, who supply Buckingham Palace. Delivery was required near Christmas so Justine suggested a Christmas pudding flavour. Waitrose loved the idea – “Can you make us a sample?” At the time Justine hadn’t made up the recipe; so she completely focussed her time to produce the formula working seven days a week. Justine communicated with her agent at Waitrose regularly about what they wanted and was careful to get a clear understanding of their requirements.
COP Outcome development and evaluation
Putting into practice what she had learnt from the ginger crunch recipe she played around with all the key flavours of a Christmas cake or pudding. It was important to develop the basic biscuit recipe achieving the correct texture of the dough and at the same the time working to make it compatible with the machine. One factor was to maintain the 3 D spoon shaped product while dealing with all the lumps of fruit and nuts in the dough. Justine set to and worked out a way of pureeing the dough with the correct fat % in order for the dough to retain its shape when cooked.
Lots of trialling went on using the new automated machine in Auckland. That important factor, of consistency of the baking temperature to ensure even baking throughout the product, meant fine tuning the machine. However the taste and texture were fine, so samples were sent over to Waitrose and they liked the Christmas pudding flavoured Spoon Biscookie.
Although they didn’t want the bulk order delivered for several months Waitrose requested an order of 72 spoons for in-store promotion and advertising for 10 days hence. As the machine still needed fine tuning Justine set about making the spoons at home at night from a prototype mould she had used for sampling the original idea; each spoon took Justine half an hour to make.
Another huge learning curve was finding out about the regulations associated with food manufacture and export. If authorities weigh a shipment sample and it comes in underweight Giusti’s Ltd is liable for a fine. UK labelling regulations stipulate that if the labelling on a product has the word ‘gift’ then it incurs a 19% tax. Understanding the requirements of the ANZFA (Australia and New Zealand Food Association) labelling regulations relating to nutritional analysis is crucial.
Justine looks back on her first export order as a positive learning experience despite the fact that there were problems getting the order delivered on time. Sales and marketing, development and ongoing fine tuning of the machine are all a lot to manage on your own. However Justine got exposure for the Spoon Biscookie and built up a positive relationship with an overseas client. The great thing is that it’s the only New Zealand product Waitrose have listed, it’s also the most expensive product in the category, and they have sold out.
