What can a small brand do to survive in a fiercely competitive market? Not much, you may think. With no budget to cut or staff to make redundant the simplest thing in a recession might be to sell to a bigger brand, wind up or stay still. Not so, says, Monica Chia, an entrepreneur who bought the rest of Karimix shares, a sauces, dips and pickles company in December 2007.
Monica who exudes confidence and energy told me she rolled up her sleeves, took a loan to pay for the purchase and got to reworking and restructuring the business for success. Her fierce business efficiency is matched by an impish creativity which is a hard combination to resist.
The first time I walked into Monica’s home, she said with no real introduction, “I buy derelict houses.” I wanted to laugh, her Wimbledon home which is calmly elegant is anything but derelict. The only hint of her mischievous side is a big leather poof in the shape of a dog. “I am assuming that’s for your kids,” I say. Without a pause she says, “No my grandson.” Monica who looks like she can’t possibly have a teenage daughter let alone a grandson has got my attention.
We are now in her office/kitchen/patio garden. (also not derelict). “So do you buy derelict companies,” I ask half-jokingly. “No,” she says quite seriously, ”only derelict houses.” I am now getting used to the two sides of Monica the no-nonsense business woman and the easy-going mum, friend and grand-mother. When Monica discovered Karimix, she was busy setting up a sushi factory and had no real focus on becoming an entrepreneur.
The then owners of Karimix – a husband and wife team had two key customers. EAT, the London-based food chain selling soups, sandwiches and coffees and Cottage Delight, a family-owned company specializing in selling a variety of food made according to traditional methods. The business was really a lifestyle business and a cottage industry. The family made the sauces and there was no business or marketing strategy in place. No investment was made unless it was necessary and everything was handled as best as it could be handled by a family. “If I had let things stay the way they were, we would have gone bust. We had an order of maybe a tone every two months, our operating costs were high and I had to not only pay back the loan but make an income from this venture,” the Singapore-born, British entrepreneur, Monica tells me.
The key drivers in her business transformation process were to invest in product development, improve operational efficiency and develop a brand image. Monica is no novice to entrepreneurship. She had her own company in 1984 which she sold successfully in 1997 She then set up the first commercial sushi factory in the UK with Toman, a Japanese trading house, Created the Yo! To Go, a brand for Sainsbury’s in 1999 when she worked with trading house, Geest and topped this all in 2002 with in business restructuring and years of industry knowledge from her past jobs she changed the Karimix manufacturing premises to a British Retail Consortium site. This guaranteed that benchmarks of good manufacturing processes were adhered to and the product development process could be monitored, regulated and guaranteed.
A complete product line revamp in recipes, preparation methods and the use of new ingredients were selected to improve the quality, consistency and taste of the product range. “Tastes change our palates identify different tones and flavors. International consumers are now more widely exposed to a variety of cuisines than ten years ago when the Original product range was developed, Monica says, adding: “ I had to modernize and reinvent some recipes to intrigue the customers’ taste buds.” Order levels with EAT and Cottage Delight stabilized.
Improving and investing in the product range in isolation, would not have worked without a complete business process upheaval, Monica who is fiercely organized said: “I noticed there were no analysis of our sales history, order management processes were not systematized and delivery scheduling was not at a level at which our customers could depend on us.” Improved reliability, availability and product consistency would have kept only existing customers happy getting new business meant she had to go out and create a brand presence.
With thousands of gourmet food brands in the market, Karimix needed a revamp. Here her brand strategy is clear. “No religion, no politics, no trademarks, no gender or race – that was my brief. I wanted images that had strong elements of culture to depict the brand, a consistent way that the logo was represented and strong colors that would get identification on a shelf, “ she says, outlining the Karimix brand guidelines. New labeling, a new logo, a strong presence at all the key gourmet food festivals, recipe cards for distributor and a website were investments in the brand. As you can see from the change in the labeling of the old Karimix Laska curry and the new Laska mix. For many who believe rebranding is an intangible cost with intangible benefits, Monica is very clear. 
The figures speak for themselves. In 2008, retail sales were stagnant and started to decline by March. The whole restructure of her business combined with an investment in rebranding and the October 2008 launch of the new brand image resulted in retail sales increasing by 50% nationally and internationally 100%. Monica decided to become a brand ambassador going into kitchens and talking to chefs about how her chutneys, relishes, pickles and pastes could be used in every-day recipes. To the customer the labels were created with serving suggestions and as much information that would make the purchase and use of the product easy and interesting “I wanted to push the boundaries of taste, why can’t you have traditional mashed potatoes with a chilli relish? Food is about creativity, we don’t have to put everything into little boxes – traditional cooking, fusion cooking – I wanted my product range to be used in different ways all the time,” she says, and now you see a different side emerge, the creative and inquisitive cook.
Monica says her food is for the “confident cook” who will go out and experiment. She has therefore worked closely with food development teams in restaurants, delis and other food retail outlets and developing recipes that worked for customers. At her food fairs she will look at customers and if they start talking about the foods they make she will chime in with ideas of how her sauces can work with fish and chips, mash potatoes, grilled chicken or a barbeque. I have watched her work the crowd and she says it is an absolute must to get to each individual customer to understand what they like.
And social network marketing is her next target – Karimix is on face book and Monica is making sure everyone she knows keeps up to date with her brand and has created a become fan of Karimix group to push the boundaries of the brand. Watch that brand space!
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ou can catch Cyrus Todiwala in action at the BBC Good Food Show (now known as Masterchef Live) November 17-19 at the London Olympa centre. At the Cafe Spice Namaste restaurant at the show you will find Cyrus’ own brand of pickles “Mr Todiwala’s Spendidly Spicy & Deliciously Hot Pickles and Chutneys”
Anila Vaghela, the founder of Anila’s Authentic Sauces, in a food fair. Actually, to be honest, I actually met Anila’s husband, Dhiru Vaghela who did a great job of selling Anila’s range of 24 sauces, pickles and dips to me. I was in a hurry and collected some sales literature but I was intrigued. so at the next food fair.I made it a point to taste all the sauces on display and enjoyed the date and tamarind sauce which was unusual, interesting and different. So I decided to interview Anila at her home, in Surrey, and discovered she is not just a very hard-working entrepreneur, she is also a person who built her range of most traditional sauces, pickles and chutneys i n the most unusual way. I thought I would share five things inspiring things I discovered about Anila with you.
