Photography: Jason Creaghan
Been there, done that. Angus Allan doesn’t put it that way, but the entrepreneurial chef oozes confidence when he talks about building the Collective into a global brand. No wonder, given the previous experience of the founders and the rapid growth they have experienced since launching the company in November 2009.
Wait, wasn’t that in the tailwind of the global financial crisis? Yes, but it doesn’t appear to have slowed the Collective.
Allan, a finalist in the 2011 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards, and the Collective co-founder Ofer Shenhav, bought the Canaan Cheese business with its Avondale factory in 2009 and began manufacturing and distributing soft culture dairy products including gourmet yogurt and soft cheeses.
This year the Collective is on track for revenue of $10.5 million, has become the number one brand in the gourmet yoghurt category in New Zealand, launched in Britain and is looking to expand into the US.
Allan was 26 and working as a chef at O’Connell St Bistro when he launched the Naked Organics range of dips and spreads from his mum’s kitchen in 2002.
In 2007 he sold to competitor Lisa’s Hummus, owned by Sanitarium, and stayed with the company for the next three years, learning the fine arts of strategy, product development, marketing and supply chain in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) category.
Shenhav co-founded Pitango, with its range of organic soups and hummus, with his wife Yasmin and later sold it to a private equity company. He is now based in Israel which means he and Allan call each other a lot on Skype.
Allan thought he knew plenty about business when he sold Naked Organics. But three years working for Sanitarium taught him a lot more about the FMCG category. It took seven months of work with a cheese maker and a food technologist to refine the Collective range. But that’s just a start. How do you ensure your products are stacked on the top shelves in a supermarket’s chilled goods area? Can you deliver on time in the necessary quantities? “I had no idea,” says Allan. “I thought if you made a good product, people would buy it. I had experience in flavours and taste profile but Sanitarium taught me about things like distribution and supply chain.”
That experience also shows in the design elements used in the Collective’s cow-shaped logo and its packaging. Allan and Shenhav are fussy about design and Allan reckons spreadsheets are his best friend these days.
“I had never opened a spreadsheet in my life when I started Naked Organics. Now I live by them.”
Allan and Shenhav have invested heavily in the brand and have secured a joint partnership in the UK, where the Collective’s products are available in 400 outlets including Sainsbury’s. They’re sourcing raw products and manufacturing there, a model Allan says they will follow in the US. It’s about creating IP in New Zealand and manufacturing close to market.
“We make where we can, licence where we can and joint venture where we can,” says Allan.
In New Zealand we may be blasé about gourmet yoghurt but we’re well ahead of the rest of the western world, says Allan. The category had been in decline in the UK with no gourmet yoghurt available and Allan says the US is about 12 years behind in its thinking. That means plenty of opportunity for the Collective, toughened by its exposure in New Zealand’s competitive market. Instead of thinking about a $30 million company, Allan and Shenhav are now focused on building a global brand worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
“We are extremely focused on where we want to go,” says Allan.
This is the third in the 2011 CEOs Uncovered series. Check
http://unlimited.co.nz/unlimited.nsf/ulceosuncovered this week for the full series.