Food & Beverage Reporter August 2018

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DISRUPTORS From Previous Page the cleanest food labels in the world. Customers will recognise every ingredient on our labels, with no preservatives, additives, man-made chemicals, no added sugar or artificial sugars. Our meats are all free-range. We can’t take any shortcuts with cooking. We can’t just throw together some powders to thicken or enhance a flavour. It’s really hard to produce meals with our ingredients as Mother Nature’s produce is not consistent in colour, flavour, wateriness, smell or ripeness. Do your customers appreciate all the extra effort? A lot of work goes into educating customers to understand that real food will always change slightly. Sauces and juices will split. Often, there are produce shortages or we often have to reject batches. We use up to 10 times more real ingredients and are trying to educate customers to select food that is full of micronutrients like vitamins, minerals and fibre, and to stop worrying about macronutrients only, the carbs, fats and protein. Who or what has been the biggest influence on FitChef? I'm quite a rebel and I question absolutely everything. So, if it doesn't make absolutely common and logical sense to me and I can't experience the benefits myself, then I can’t believe in it. Lately, I have been influenced by functional medicine because doctors who practise it are far more holistic and ask questions about how can we avoid illness in the first place, how can we eat for performance and ultimate health. I am sure most people believe that food can be your medicine but very few people see all the benefits food can offer. We are so confused by false marketing and incomplete science that we believe it’s better to take a pill that masks the symptoms than change our food or lifestyle habits to address the root of the disease. So what's your remedy for marketing hype? There is a better solution, one that will actually allow food to heal but it is a continual journey to find more truth and see more results. We need to read food labels, stop believing fads, get to know our bodies, focus on healing our guts and making sure we get nutrient-dense food with a mix of raw, cooked and a wide range of vegetables, fruit, superfoods and optionally meats. It's about looking after our planet and at the same time improving our health too. The biggest truth is that whether you like veggies or not, you have to eat more of them! What’s the split between vegan/ vegetarian and omnivore orders? Do you see increasing growth in non-meat orders? Twenty-four percent of meals we supply are vegetarian. There certainly is a trend towards vegetarianism but we are behind Europe where this is growing faster. With “We are obsessed with wholefood ingredients. We are committed to having the cleanest food labels in the world.” - Kaminsky our 21-day kit packages, we do include a large portion of vegetarian meals. I do believe that the reduce atarian movement is a better idea. That means reducing your negative impact on the earth. I feel that more people would support a ‘reduceatarianism’ approach than the others. What are the main business challenges you have faced in building up Fitchef? Running a business in South Africa is a massive challenge, with a government that continually shocks the economy and keeps eroding trust. We also keep hearing how important entrepreneurs are for job creation, but there is no support for business owners and legally everything is stacked against you. Despite business owners taking 100% of the risk and putting in crazy amounts of hard work, you find that with the CCMA everyone has more rights than the business owner. It’s impossible to get rid of underperforming staff and with the brain drain in SA, it's very hard finding A-team players. Also, the cost of data and lack of consistent internet speed are a problem. You have a recurring order model that locks Fitchef into your client’s lives, basically keeping them out of supermarkets. How successful is t his model? Our Recurring Orders launch has been extremely challenging but very successful and it's growing because many busy people don’t have time to run around the shops. They don’t like traffic or cooking or the chore of washing up. Many people throw away food they haven’t eaten before it expires. And let’s face it, it’s almost impossible to find good food on the run. We also underestimated how difficult it would be to really do recurring orders properly. You need complex management systems, large customer support teams and logistics is expensive and tricky and innovation is hard to maintain. We have got through the teething problems and it’s working well now! 12 AUGUST <strong>2018</strong> | FOOD & BEVERAGE REPORTER www.fbreporter.co.za
DISRUPTORS You recently acquired the Nurish pressed juice business. How does this fit into your strategy and are you planning more acquisitions? Yes. We acquired and partnered with Nurish as we like creating products that can start your health journey. With real juices you get people off soft drinks and move them towards vegetable-based wholefood ingredients and solutions. The hope is that people acquire the taste for more veggies then move to full-fibre blended smoothies, real snacks and real food. Are you considering going into the meal kit business, allowing clients to take back “ownership” of their kitchens? Yes, people need options and we are busy with meal kit ranges. It fits in with our concept of creating a full solution for healthy living. What do you feel when you walk down the aisle of Checkers or a Pick n Pay? If we removed all the fake foods then you would only need about two or three aisles. What's the best advice anyone ever gave you? Learn to overreact to your gut feel. Firstly, make sure you can hear your gut or inner voice. Then make sure you react quickly. And the worst? That you will get results by just working hard. Of course, working hard is important but being strategic is way more important. We have this perception that diligence will be rewarded – well, at school it might be – but being strategic about plans is more important if you want results. What makes a good chef? There is a New York chef who has an open kitchen so that he can watch customers eat the food. He was ultra-aware of reactions to his food. With certain recipes, he would often see customers pause after a mouthful and their faces would light up. He figured out that two main things made food incredible: one is correct salt levels and the second is a familiar taste presented in a new way. Perfect salt levels meant you didn’t have to decide if you needed more or less salt. I believe correct salt levels are critical to enjoyment plus attention to the small details. And a bad chef? Too many chefs I’ve met don’t seem to have enough knowledge about ingredient choices and haven’t experimented enough with out-of-the-box thinking. They don’t realise the link between food and health. We also need to start being more aware of our negative impact on the earth too. Where do you see Fitchef in five years’ time? We certainly have our eyes on international markets and a lot more growth in South Africa with retail, smoothies and a lot more innovation. www.fitchef.co.za www.fbreporter.co.za FOOD & BEVERAGE REPORTER | AUGUST <strong>2018</strong> 13
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Food & Beverage Reporter August 2018

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