2020 has been a challenging year to say the least. COVID 19 shipping delays saw us totally out of stock of glass jars for packaging our fermented vegetables for two months in the middle of the organic production season!
To help explain the magnitude of this problem consider this: We make 1 years supply of our organic kimchi in a very hectic 8 week organic season. Organic sauerkraut production season is a little longer, with a 20 week season. Now imagine you have your ferment tanks full of tonnes of organic kimchi/sauerkraut and over 100 tonnes of organic cabbage/wombok purchasing commitments with local farmers who grew specifically for you in the pipeline. There are no alternative glass options available due to purchasing volume requirements and because labels and cartons etc. are already made for the existing jars.
Thankfully, we already had an alternative Australian made packaging option in place, the new, lower carbon export pouches, which instantly became our COVID 19 saving grace. Ironically, due to COVID 19, none of these pouches have actually been exported yet.
We decided to supply our pouch product to Woolworths stores and this decision has literally saved our business. Even though the end product is not certified organic, we have literally filled these pouches with the tonnes of organic produce that were ordered for the organic glass jar range. By doing this, it has enabled us to keep going and keep our products on the shelves.
We are also now offering a more affordable non certified organic range to Woolworths customers that we can produce year round from organic or non organic farms at a lower $/kg than imported products by others.
In doing this we have been able to ensure supply of our certified organic glass jar range pictured below to our independent retailers.
Check out our where to buy page to find your nearest stockists.
