Faircape

COMPANY PROFILE

2013

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A golden year for Fair Cape Dairies

company report

A golden year for Fair Cape Dairies Editorial – Tim Hands Production – Tonnie Geddes

Shortly after learning of Fair Cape Dairies’ absolute dominance in this year’s Qualité Awards, in which the manufacturer received no less than 13 first prizes, sales and marketing director Louis Loubser tells IndustrySA what this success means for the business going forward, and how Fair Cape is using this influence to improve lives throughout the country.

For Fair Cape Dairies, the 2012 Qualité Awards produced what Louis Loubser, the company’s director of sales and marketing, has rightly labelled an “unprecedented success.” Fair Cape collected a total of 18 awards across the various categories recognised by the 63 dairy experts comprising the judging panel, defeating the competition with a dominance previously unheard of.

To heighten the mood of celebration in the Fair Cape camp, this tasting team was also bolstered for the first time by assistance from food editors from well-known consumer magazines and celebrity chefs, a further nod not only to the quality of the produce Fair Cape is churning out, but moreover to the utmost credibility of the awards themselves.

These are no token prizes, but recognition from some of the most respected professionals in the business, and showcase the strength in depth of Fair Cape’s product line. Not limited to any one speciality category, the manufacturers saw its work rewarded across the full range of its produce, with Fair Cape’s finest favoured milks, desserts, and its range of yoghurt, notching up

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prize-winning positions on its way to achieving this new benchmark in industry recognition.

These awards are a tangible representation of the advances Fair Cape Dairies has made over this past year, with one notable expansion having come in the reach of its distribution. “Our footprint has significantly increased this year” states Loubser; “and what we’ve found is that there’s a lot of demand for the products, because they are different to what is available generally in the market, so we’re working hard to ensure that we keep ahead of the competition.”

This progress now sees Fair Cape distributing nationally, with its ever-increasing reputation and popularity allowing it access to different and bigger groups of stores, while, as Loubser puts it, “rolling out nationally,” the Fair Cape range of products. An ever growing range, it is set to include by the end of the year a number of new additions, among them a chocolate chip six-pack of yoghurt and a fine-sounding chocolate and white chocolate mousse, all set to further Fair Cape’s stamp across the nation.

Fair Cape currently operates around the four “pillars” central to its operations: Cow Comfort, Carbon Footprint,

Fair Cape Dairies

Low Pollution Production and a decrease of the usage of chemical fertilizer. One further significant aspect in Fair Cape’s expansion plans is due to be implemented this Autumn, and concerns the addition of a social welfare arm to its operations. “We’re going to be partnering with a number big charities; We’re developing long term relationships with those organisations, so that we can really begin to help the various animals and people who need it.” This pioneering work has in fact already been set in motion, notably in the development of products in partnership with Rape Crisis and CANSA. Offering vital services, not only for victims of rape, but also in order that family members, partners and friends of the survivor can come to terms with the effects of the crime, Rape Crisis works to make reality its vision of a South African criminal justice system ‘that empowers and supports rape survivors in all of its interventions.’ Louis Loubser describes the extent of Fair Cape’s partnership with the charity; “With Rape Crisis, we’ve developed a product specifically for them. It is a six-pack with a black cup, with the Rape Crisis sticker, where 20% of the profits from that product will be donated to this charity.”

company report

Fair Cape Dairies’ awareness of its social responsibility does not end there, however, and Loubser goes on to detail yet more of the ways in which the manufacturer is developing those vital partnerships with the charities above.

“We’re developing a Save the Rhino pack, which will be launched in August, where 50c from the sale of each pack will go toward supporting the work of the WWF. In October, for Breast Cancer, we’re taking our normal green Fair Cape milk bottle and we’re turning it pink, and then a percentage of that will go to the Cancer Association.”

Clearly, Fair Cape’s care and innovation is not limited to solely the pursuit of dominance within its field; it seems that wherever possible it is determined to apply its expertise, and considerable influence, to helping improve the lives of those most in need. This is again evidenced when Loubser describes Fair Cape’s promotion with the Little Fighters Cancer Trust, timed to coincide with Mandela Day. “They look after everything to do with childhood cancer, so we’ll be developing a product whose profits will go to them. In July, for the 67 minutes of good associated with Mandela Day we’ll be getting schools to bring products to Fair Cape, as well as Fair Cape staff and the company itself, and then distributing that to

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Little Fighters.”

In line with its commitment to actively helping such organisations as these to be able to continue with their valuable, often unseen work, Fair Cape is also highly aware of its responsibility to ensuring that its operations are continually reviewed and developed, in order that they impact to the lowest degree possible on the environment.

Almost daily, the question of sustainability looms ever larger in the collective conscious and Loubser makes clear that it is one Fair Cape is well equipped to answer. “We have big plans for the second half of this year to totally transform our operation in terms of its eco-friendliness. We will make a big announcement within the next few months.”

Indicative once more of Fair Cape’s desire to keep pushing those boundaries traditionally surrounding the manufacture of this produce, it has even had the latest results of its carbon footprint report peer-reviewed by another company, “We are the first dairy in Africa to print our carbon footprint on our milk bottles. We had the study peer reviewed just so that we were sure that the carbon footprint that we were printing on the bottles was something that was legitimate – no mistakes were made or

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FairCape Directors - Loubser brothers

short cuts were taken.”

The dedication to its craft extends to all corners of the operations Fair Cape undertakes; not limited to focussing purely on developing an all-conquering product line, what sets it apart is the desire to spread this influence across South Africa, to use the superiority it has been afforded through its tireless work to make possible the changes which are so difficult to realise.

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“Our footprint has just gotten a huge amount bigger” JUN 13 PAGE 5

+27 21 972 1973 www.faircape.com

(0)1603 618 000 info@industrysa.com East Coast Promotions Ltd, Ferndale Business Centre, 1 Exeter Street.

Norwich, Norfolk NR2 4QB