Hi guys! Hope your days have been going well, and you’ve been enjoying my blogs. I thought something that I would really like to share with you are the days when it doesn’t go well. Turning the meal kits from my kitchen experiments to manufacturable, supermarket worthy kits was my biggest challenge, and it wasn’t all smooth sailing!
As well as transforming my recipe into a widely produced one, I had to make sure that the quality of the ingredients met my personal standard, while having to meet the budget allocated to make sure my product was accessible and affordable to the everyday cook. I also had to deal with multiple countries and the suppliers to make sure the different ingredients arrived on time for a deadline.
It was very exhausting, and I couldn’t have done it without a lot of bubbles, haha!
But I’m also really lucky to have an amazing team at Sachie’s Kitchen, including a very supportive husband! However, I made sure I delegated tasks, and I wasn’t afraid to ask for help and ask questions. I knew that I could do it if I moved step by step one foot at a time. A saying that I thought about a lot recently was from The Martian that came out with Matt Damon, where at the end he says “if you solve enough problems, you get to come home”. I always thought to myself that this was just like the products- if I solve enough problems, I get to make my product!
But that doesn’t mean I didn’t have times of absolute panic! And it wasn’t just a few times- probably hundreds! To be honest, I think I would’ve given up if I didn’t have my team and my husband. Some problems were things like – working with the factory to get my Dipping Sauce sachets sealed at a correct pressure that would be fine to withstand in my Meal Kit boxes. Then not acccounting for when transporting the thousands of sachets to the assembly line, that they were packed into boxes. The combined weight of hundreds of kgs on the bag at the bottom caused it to leak and coat all the products underneath it!!! This meant I had to literally wash every little bag by hand, and dry it off!
Oh my god, another heart stopping problem that occurred from hundreds of kgs of product vs just one serving, was when the factory was blending and cooking my pastes. The oil was naturally separating and when pumping them, tiny miniscule little droplets that the naked eye couldn’t see, would splash on its journey from the nozzle to the bottom of the sachet. Little droplets would sit near the seal…meaning the seal would not close.
I have at least 10 major problems like this!
But the end of it, the journey makes you strong. I learnt a lot!
I’m really proud that all the teething problems with the Meal Kits have been solved. I’ve realised humans and Kiwis are very resourceful and great problem-solvers. Creating the meal kits are the perfect partnership between East and West, and I can’t wait to see everything grow.
If you see my meal kits, and if you make them, please remember to take a picture and tweet or FB me the picture!
