caPe HerB & SPice
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SPICE SPICE
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Set in the backdrop of Steenberg Mountains in cape town, Cape Herb and Spice specialises in a culinary range of condiments that are headed for households all over the world. Now the firm is launching a range of spice infused pastes. By ian armitage
Cape Herb and Spice FoCuS food & agriculture
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ounded in 1992 by housemates Irene Ivy-Schuurmans and Dale Kneen, the Cape Herb and Spice Company (CH&SC) has grown from a roadside stall into an international, multimillion-rand company. Ivy-Schuurmans and Kneen, who both had full-time jobs at the time, were keen foodies, passionate about cooking “creative and unusual” gourmet food and interested in herbs and spices that were not commercially available. They began locating and selling speciality herbs that were difficult to find. They never imagined then what they would achieve. “The company exports its goods around the world, as well as serving the local market,” managing director Paul Jibson says. CH&SC officially registered as a business in 1994. The timing was impeccable: the company launched at the time of the first democratic elections, when export markets were opening up to SA, and it started selling to delis locally and abroad.
Soon its products were listed in Pick ‘n’ Pay and other supermarkets. It also began selling its special imported grinder bottles that became a trademark of the brand. “We entered the mainstream market just as a fairly popular local herb and spice brand, Buffalo, closed down,” Jibson says. “But it was the export market that really took off.” Almost five years ago the firm sold a majority stake to Liberty Star Consumer Holdings – a private label manufacturing solutions provider to all retailers in South Africa. Over the intervening years, CH&SC has evolved to primarily become an export operation producing private label goods. “65-70 percent of our revenue comes from exports, while the remaining percent is from domestic sales,” says Jibson. “In terms of private label to own label products, the split is around 80:20.” Private labelling opened up a whole new area for the company. This method has produced an enterprise with annual revenue of over £11.5 million.
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“Private labels have been good for the supermarkets in recent times. Growth has been dramatic and they typically generate higher margins for supermarkets versus branded foods,” Jibson says. One of the hallmarks of CH&SC’s success has been innovation. It has a dedicated New Product Development team and is equipped to stay ahead of market trends, ensuring it supplies innovative and relevant products. “One of our earliest examples of innovation was the development of an adjustable transparent disposable grinder – that is a single use container with a grinder attached. While these are fairly commonplace now, in the late 1990s, we were the first business in the world to develop this kind of product,” recounts Jibson. CH&SC held that niche for many years, however as more and more competitors began to use the same design, it began to lose its edge. “In our industry, the only barrier to entry is finding the moulds for the grinder mechanism and a way of filling the containers – which can be done by hand if necessary,” Jibson says. “So we had to reinvent ourselves otherwise we would lose ground to the competition.” What was needed was a revamp, which is exactly what happened. The company wanted to keep the acrylic container-built in grinder combination, so it focused on redeveloping the design. “We developed a container that was sleeker and more modern which we launched at the end of 2010,” says Jibson. More recently, CH&SC has entered the paste market. “We have enjoyed recent growth in Europe – in the UK and Germany specifically. We have been adding to our range of products and although we are selling niche market goods, they are competitively priced with the runof-the-mill supermarket herbs,” says Jibson. “We’ve also added some new innovation to our product range and we’re introducing a spice paste range in some 2-3 months time. It’s a 100 percent fruit puree type paste, with herbs and spices infused. That is something that’s 4
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We have been adding to our range of products and although we are selling niche market goods, they are competitively priced with the run-of-themill supermarket herbs
Cape Herb and Spice Focus food & agriculture
new for us. It is an improvement of what is out there. Spice pastes have been around for ages but not this type of concept.” Jibson says CH&CS is bringing the product to market early in order to stay ahead of the competition. “We were working with a company based in Cape Town called Boland Pulp, which do fruit based pulps,” he says. “They introduced a range called ‘Squish’, a baby fruit puree. We were looking on assisting them with export and we took their product to one or two shows and we just came up with the idea of infusing herbs and spices into these products.” Woolworths, which first approached CH&SC in 2000 and became its first private-label client, has worked with it to produce a private label spice paste, Jibson says. “That’s right. With Woolworths we’re doing a private label and then basically the other retailers will have it in our own Cape Herb and Spice range. We will look at export but, we’ll get it in South Africa first and then we’ll look at pushing it up. With the paste you’ve got shorter shelf life so obviously that has to be taken into consideration.” He has high hopes for the range. “It is a really innovative, good quality product.” CH&SC has also revolutionised the sterilisation process, working with the University of Stellenbosch to create an innovative freezing technique. “This put us at the forefront of innovation in this area – achieving optimum sterilisation without compromising taste,” says Jibson. “We are also looking at CO2 under high pressure and some other ways of treating spices.”
And what of the future? CH&SC has enjoyed consistent growth over the past 18 years. It has now reached a more mature stage in its life but continues to achieve consistent annual growth, Jibson says. “We did want to get away from dry only and we’ve achieved that now. For the future it’ll be more of the same. We have one or two categories that we are looking at but we need to look at what is in the market at the moment and how we can improve on it.” He is also trying to increase penetration into the domestic market. “That is a goal and it is very important for our progression as a business. We hope to achieve it both through natural growth and also any acquisition opportunities that present themselves.” In order to maintain growth, the company continually re-invests profits and focuses on human resources. Its factory in Cape Town is certified by several food safety agencies including BRC, SGS (organic), SAFSIS and IFS. To learn more visit www.capeherb.com.
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