Jade and Nicola visit Turqle, Fynbos and St Louis
Turqle and Fynbos Fine Foods
On Monday we met with Pieter and Rain from Turqle Brands at their beautiful office where we were reunited with the rest of the team whom we met for the first time at the WFTO Conference a couple of weeks before, now we greeted each other like old friends. It was wonderful to see them all again and learn more about the organisation, what they are working on and how we can work better together. Lots of ideas were discussed, some of which will definitely come to fruition next year.
Sarah done a wonderful tasting session with us where we rated our favourite products, some of which will definitely feature in our range in the future as they were utterly delicious and we are sure that our customers will enjoy them.
Since Pieter had the longest arm, he got to take the selfie of us all together: (from left to right) Pieter, Sarah, Nicola, Linda, Esky, Jade, Rain
On Tuesday, Jade and I travelled to Bloubergstrand which is a suburb of Cape Town about 40 minutes from the city centre on the opposite side of the bay, where we were to meet Linda. We were delighted that we arrived a bit early as it meant we could stand and admire the stunning beach and incredible view of Table Mountain whilst we waited.
We then spent roughly an hour in the car as we drove out to Fynbos Fine Foods in Tierfontein, near Malmesbury, where we learnt more about Linda and her role at Turqle as the Quality Manager and how she deals directly with the producer partners with audits and certifications and she also ensures that the Ten Principles of Fairtrade are upheld. When we arrived at Fynbos, we got a very warm welcome from Rozelle Abramson, the owner, and her daughter Tai and Muriel Wadeley, the General Manager. We sat in Muriel’s office where we went through the introductions and we found out a bit more about Fynbos and their products and we told them more about True Origin.
Once we had 'kitted up' for the tour and washed our hands several times, Tai gave us a tour of the factory and talked us through their manufacturing processes. They maintain separate areas for products containing allergens to prevent cross contamination and every surface is wiped down and the floors are washed constantly to prevent bacteria. Every part of the process from cooking to filling to labelling to packing to all have their own designated separate areas with their own designated teams working in them. When we entered the production area, they were cooking with Bird’s Eye chillies and our eyes started to water almost immediately as they was so strong, that was quite the experience and we were somewhat relieved when we moved on so we could see again.
After our tour of the factory, Rozelle took us to her office where she has a display of their full product range, we only purchase a few of their sauces and grinders but they had so much more that we might look to introduce some more at a later date. They did gift sets as well which always interests me as I am always on the look out to expand our Christmas range. We selected a few products we were interested in and had a wonderful tasting session where I fell in love with the range of relishes they have. They were exquisite with cheese and crackers, and I can see these being extremely popular with our customers.
After our belly’s were full, Rozelle took Jade and I on a tour of the farm. We walked down rows upon rows of crops bordered by lemon trees and lime trees. We learnt about how they do the planting and how the irrigation works. We were also shown the nursery beds which were almost ready for transplanting into the fields which had just been prepared for the seedlings.
St Louis
Our next stop was St Louis in Stikland who specialise in sauces, sauces and more sauces! Over 62 sauces in their current range to be exact and they are developing more all the time. We met with Tony Buteux who is the owner of St Louis and a chef by trade and has worked all over the world developing and refining sauces which is his speciality. Tony showed us around his factory and again talked us through the manufacturing process and told us what each piece of equipment does and how it fits it. This factory was a scale up to anything we had seen before which was a really interesting contrast. Everything is controlled from a central panel which determines which ingredient goes to which cooking pot and from the cooking pot to which filling station. They ship many pallets around South Africa every day and sell to lots of big restaurant chains and even airlines. We source their products through Turqle but we have brought quite a few samples back with us for the team to try to see if we can extend the range.
