KFOODS
What does your company do?
We are KFOODS, a food manufacturing business. One of our flagships product is our low sugar banana muffins. We use ripened bananas that would have otherwise been discarded by fruit and veggies vendors. This makes our input costs less, thus we disrupted the market. We are based in a low income community, where the breakfast market was subjected to only fatcakes. Literally every corner in our township has someone selling fatcakes and artchaar. We introduced these low sugar high potassium (regulates blood pressure) banana muffins at a very affordable rate as a healthier alternative. Through word-of-month, the venture has blossomed significantly. There is a shift in people's eating habits, with more and more individuals looking healthier options. We have bridged the gap, by offering our very healthy muffins at a nominal rate. Because we use only ripened bananas, their starch breaks down into sugars. Thus our bakes rely on natural sugars, we use 75% less sugar than the standard recipe. We have grown into 5 locations. We operate mainly in the mining towns. Initially we focused on the breakfast market but we are now open til 5pm.
What is your biggest success?
KFOODS is the winner of the 2024 Provincial BusinessWoman of the Year in Agro-processing; and part of the Spar Enterprise Development Program. Getting our other flagship product into major ratailers like selected Spar, Makro online, selected PicknPay and OK Groceries. Obtaining the FSSC certification.
What has been your biggest hurdle?
KFOODS is an independent company. We do not have the financial backing that larger corporations can depend on. We had to bootstrap the business from the onset. Our revenue driver is growing our footprint, however scaling is constrained and solely depended on our savings Also introducing unknown brands into a saturated market was a challenge, marketing budget does not exist.