EP Business in Hospitality Issue 48 - January 2014

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What is so different about this product that has appeared among the cornucopia of other options adorning the shelves of the fridge in the local supermarket or grocery store? Well, in simple terms, this product claims to be the UK’s first truly ‘gourmet yoghurt’ – equally as apposite eaten straight from the tub or served at a dinner party. Amelia Harvey and Michael Hodgson met while working on the launch of GÜ on to the UK market and are now business partners in this new endeavour. Having studied marketing at university, Amelia has worked in a variety of roles, predominantly in sales in such leading brands as Kellogg’s and L'Oréal. The storming success of GÜ led to its eventual sale and integration. Somewhat naturally this also led to the departure of some of the senior team, including Champion in the chiller Just when you thought there was no more room in the chiller cabinet and you knew you could name at least half a dozen yoghurt brands, or the very least recognise the plethora of pots, The Collective Dairy arrives on the scene 40 | January 14 | EP
BUSINESS Amelia and Michael, for pastures new. These new pastures came around quickly, and were in the dairy section and complimented fully the specialties that Amelia had come to love in building a business: branding and a strong knowledge of the premium chilled food market. The Collective Dairy, with its slogan of “All Dairy, No Bull” is a New Zealand based company that had been in business for approximately 18 months. It was the brainchild of two very clever chefs with a very simple quest: to create an extraordinary yoghurt with an unbeatable taste. Both had experienced business success, were hard working and were willing to publicly make the claim that their “sheer determination to achieve the unthinkable provided the fuel, their passion provided the key and their tenacity delivered the answer”. They have achieved enormous success with their gourmet yoghurt in its home market and Australia. An overnight sensation? Well, within just 10 months their yoghurt was the best-selling yoghurt in the New Zealand chiller – “No Bull”, as they say at the Dairy! Sitting one evening in a New Zealand inspired restaurant in London, the two aspiring and devoted chefs decided to expand to the UK – after all, didn’t the whole world deserve The Collective experience? Amelia and Michael were introduced and a joint venture was signed in 2011. They had been an inspiring team before, how hard could it be again? “Damn hard,” Amelia will tell you. However, they created a world around the dairy theme and became known as Head Bull and Head Cow! Then they settled on a manufacturer in the West Country who could deliver the quality that they were looking for to replicate the premium yoghurt they had tasted from New Zealand. When asked what drives them in such a seemingly competitive market they will answer: “Our drive is aimed at flavour, quality, reliability and finesse – the results are aimed at you, the customer. “Our passion, The Collective, is all about cutting through the cow pats to provide the greatest dairy imaginable – our promise to our customers is simple … No Bull.” The launch in the UK was fast and went directly to the heart of the yoghurt selling institutions – the UK supermarkets, namely Waitrose and Sainsbury’s, along with online supermarket leader Ocado. Yoghurt is a mass market, but The Collective Dairy have cleverly maintained their premium position and product by adhering to their cast iron business principles. What Amelia and Michael found was that during the recession, people were eating out less and spending less on extravagances (hardly headline news!), but what they were doing was spending more on ‘treating in’ – the practice of spending money on treats to have at home – and premium foods and treats were purchased at a greater rate than previously. Despite the lengthening recession, The Collective Dairy found a great uptake in their new premium yoghurt, which had the added advantage and likeability factor of being made in England. So why the success? Why the following? Not only do they produce premium quality yoghurt, The Collective have strengthened their marketing with a quirky sense of humour associated with their brand. Sweet Jane, a plain yoghurt with a little English honey, is a simple pleasure that can make your day an epic one. It is mind-blowingly good and the pink labelling cleverly ties in with breast cancer charities – she is plain, so one can make her not plain at home. The other yoghurts feature a unique double layering of an added fruit or flavour, coupled with the gourmet yoghurt. So we have in the line-up: Zesty Luscious Lemon, Sumptuous Russian Fudge and the award-winning Passion Fruit. There have also been special additions every three to four months, such as Mighty Mango, Bloody Orange, Banoffee, Apple Spice, and White Peach and Raspberry. Who is the current contender for the top spot? Think Romeo and Juliet, think Posh and Becks, or Will and Kate and then head to the chiller and try Raspberry and Amaretto, a fantastic tasting yoghurt that stimulates childhood memories of a Bakewell tart. It can even transform into a delicious evening dessert with the addition of fresh raspberries and crumbled amoretti biscuits! There are a few basic fundamentals to this new business and its concepts: • Customer interaction • Customer communication • Customer coupons for data collection • Promotions and customer tastings to encourage word-of-mouth feedback. There are Collective Dairy workers who monitor the communications and make sure that responses are made to all forms of customer communications, whether letters, emails or Tweets. Social media is extensively used to communicate, engage, discuss and even to develop ideas for the next feature flavour. Watch out for the Christmas edition – it’s Christmas Pudding. Lots of time and effort goes into events and attending shows where extensive customer sampling can be done. Customers are gifted Collective Dairy cooler bags with free samples and leaflets in exchange for their contact details and a promise to provide feedback – both good and bad (although they receive little of the latter). Amelia will gladly tell you that they even encourage suggestions for new flavours, so go on, take a few moments and dream in yoghurt – what would you submit as your special edition flavour? You may be asking yourself why ‘The Collective’? The answer to this question is pretty simple really – the business and the beautiful, creamy, seductive, No Bull yoghurt is the “collective efforts of the people, for the people”.• EP | January 14 | 41
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EP Business in Hospitality Issue 48 - January 2014

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