Your Business: Kiwi firm wants wants bigger bite of peanut butter

Martine Goodacre and Ashley Jolly want to sell their 100 per cent Nutz products in Australia. Photo / Paul Estcourt

When the entrepreneurs behind peanut butter company 100 per cent Nutz were starting out, they would go to a friend's restaurant during off-peak hours and set up their production line.

It was Food and Safety Authority-approved, so it was the ideal place to start, says co-founder Martine Goodacre.

Ordering their first shipment of high-oleic peanuts from Australia seemed a huge undertaking. "One tonne was the minimum we could order. We were trying to order four boxes," says co-founder, Ashley Jolly.

Now, with a factory and warehouse in Albany, the company is buying peanuts by the container load from Australia as it supplies New World, Pak'n Save and Progressive supermarkets as well as speciality food stores such as Farro Fresh, Simply Fresh and Naturally Organic.

The two Browns Bay families, the Jollys and the Goodacres, own half the company each. They launched the business in September 2008 and introduced 100 per cent Nutz peanut butter in July 2009.

The Jollys are experienced entrepreneurs. Ashley, a Californian, and Paul, a Kiwi, built Taveuni Palms, a top-rated resort in Fiji which they sold eight years ago. Previously they owned a successful gym in Colorado.

Paul has been in charge of research and development at 100 per cent Nutz, tracking down the high-oleic-check peanut they source from Australia. "He spent over a year in the R&D phase, developing the food and safety programme," says Ashley, who does the marketing and PR.

The Goodacres have their own software company, which Mark continues to run.

At 100 per cent Nutz, Mark organises the logistics and distribution, among other things, while Martine shares the sales and marketing duties with Ashley.

The idea for the product came over a conversation at dinner.

"We were looking for a peanut which gave the taste of what peanut butter used to taste like," says Ashley.

"One thing that we wanted early on, was to be 100 per cent natural," says Ashley. "If you get the right peanut you don't need to add any other ingredients."

Because 100 per cent Nutz is made of nothing but peanuts, diabetics, coeliacs and the gluten-intolerant can eat it, says Martine. The spread, which won the Healthier Choice Award at the NZ Food Awards in 2010, has the Heart Foundation tick.

The product has been carefully positioned at the premium end of the peanut butter market, selling for $7.49 for a 375g pot.

"We worked very hard to keep the cost down. We wanted to be in the mainstream, competing with the big guys," says Martine.

Big market players, such as Sanitarium, are not making it easy for the new entrant.

"What they try and do is squash you. They will practically give away their product, with two-for-one deals," says Ashley.

Despite the stiff competition, 100 per cent Nutz has doubled its business in every quarter for the past year.

The orginal four staff have grown to 10, and they have outsourced marketing to a team of 160 sales reps.

Although the business has grown, Ashley and Martine still do regular in-store demonstrations around the country.

"We want to be the ones to tell the story," says Ashley.

Their sights are on Australia as the next market, meanwhile, and more related products are due to be launched in the first half of 2012. At the moment the company is debt free.

"When we grow overseas, that may change," says Ashley.

New Zealand has yet to be conquered, she stresses. "We want to be the number one premium peanut butter in NZ, hands down."