www.foodtechnology.co.nz 75 When Kiwi chef Kylie Alexander returned to Greytown in the Wairarapa after 14 years in the UK, she wanted the iconic New Zealand lifestyle back. Her dream of supplying pure, fudgy indulgence to the foodie market then kickstarted in earnest…creamy, smooth, melt-in-your-mouth home-made fudge with no additives, no preservatives – just simple and real ingredients brought to boiling point and stirred until thick and smooth. “Laughing Owl Fudge stands out from any other fudge as it’s good old-fashioned fudge like grannies made. Our product range is all handmade and consists of Russian, chocolate, bourbon, coffee liqueur and a new olive oil fudge using local olive oil.” In fact, collaborating with other local producers and working together is a passion of hers…she is working on a new flavour made with locally-sourced Manuka honey. www.purewairarapa.co.nz/ producers/laughing-owl-fudge FAIRTRADE (AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND) GENEVIEVE’S CUISINE (AUCKLAND) Working as a full-time food writer when the great recession hit, Genevieve Knights had to go back to her roots to work as a chef, but didn’t relish the idea. So, the Aucklander put on her pinny and started making pate for Parnell’s La Cigale French Market, before undertaking award-winning research with Massey University and creating a cooking method to give products a long shelf life without using additives. Soon she had a duck range, New Zealand’s first goose liver parfait and a mousse range featuring scallop, oyster and prawn. With the business now growing into a manufacturer supplying more than 80 stores nationwide, Knights says her boutique standards have never changed…all products are free of preservatives and full of flavour, are made with a unique cooking technique and as gluten-free as possible. www.genevieves.co.nz Samoan coconut cream producers Krissy Co and Savai’i Coconut Farmers Association are thrilled with a partnership investment brokered by Fairtrade Australia and New Zealand which means a cash injection of nearly $1.5m to support smallholder growers. The partnership will enable a two-year project to increase the capacity of the supply chain producing the Fairtrade-certified coconut cream Savai’i Popo, scaling up the two companies’ impact in Samoa. The partnership supports a new product line of 200 litre-sized barrels of 100% Fairtrade and organic coconut cream, ultra-heat-treated for export, to meet current demand from the food service sectors in Australia, New Zealand and other markets. Fairtrade chief executive Molly Harriss Olson says more than 26 new jobs will be created, with the income of 200 smallholder coconut farming households increased substantially. “Helping Samoan farmers to grow their businesses is a vital part of our work in the Pacific.” www.fairtrade.org.nz KARMA COLA (AUCKLAND) From a little yellow shed in the central Auckland suburb of Grey Lynn, three Kiwi men started a company in 2012 to create a range of fizzy drinks that would be organic, sustainable and help those who provided the raw ingredients. Just six years later, the ethical cola company has been signed up by Jamie Oliver’s restaurant group and cemented Karma Cola as a real contender in the lucrative British beverage industry. Late last year, the company sold its 10 millionth bottle, and co-founder Simon Coley says Karma has stuck with its original ethos, despite the added costs involved in sustaining an ethical, fair-trade business model. "The world consumes 1.8 billion cola branded drinks every day so it's an extraordinarily large category in the beverage industry. We wanted to do some good and thought this was an industry where that was a possibility." Karma Cola is being snapped up by fast casual dining restaurants like Oliver’s Italian in the UK wanting to differentiate themselves by choosing products like Karma that have similar values, Coley says. Karma Cola has recently done deals to sell its drinks in the Wahaca Mexican restaurant chain and Honest Burger chain in the UK. The company has just developed a sugar-free version of its products, which will be launched in Jamie's Italian, and has also designed a 250ml can for its products to create a smaller portion size. www.karmacola.co.nz LAUGHING OWL FUDGE (WAIRARAPA)
FT-Annual Directory 2018-eMag
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