Page 74 - Food & Drink Business Nov-Dec 2019

NEW ZEALAND UPDATE
Producer of the first natural peanut butter in New Zealand: Bruce Picot.
Pioneering Pic’s
Bruce ‘Pic’ Picot decided to make his own natural peanut butter soon after he discovered most of
New Zealand’s PB spreads were made with sugar. Pic’s hasn’t stopped growing since. Doris Prodanovic writes.
garage at home as the first,” Picot says. “It’s purpose built and includes tours, so people can see the peanut butter being made and get involved. Building this latest factory has been a substantial step for us but you get accustomed to change and over the past 10 years, Pic’s keeps changing and growing.”
PIC AND THE PEANUT BUTTER FACTORY
The Pic’s factory plays a major role in the company’s strategy, says Picot, who believes it is important for the consumers to see “who’s getting their money when they buy our products”. In its final stages of development, Picot’s The Food Factory is a commercial space for new producers to experiment with product development in a
food- safe environment, and the built-in NPD cycle via the Nelson market and the Pic’s Peanut Butter World retail space. Picot told F&DB the not-for-profit initiative was backed by government funding to develop the building.
“There are four kitchens around 50 square-metres in size, all with various equipment installed,” Picot says. “We also have a demonstration space and want people to work collaboratively with other producers and with us. The kitchens have been created so people who have an idea can make it to a food-safe standard and put it on the market. It’s a place where new things can happen, and it gives us an opportunity to get our team in an innovative space and be excitedbynewthings.”
Pic’s purpose-built factory is open for public tours.
MORE THAN PEANUTS
Product diversification is well-engrained across the Pic’s portfolio. Along with its range of peanut butters, recently developed into a one-kilogram jar available in Australian stores, Pic’s Slugs are a bar-format of smooth peanut butter, while the Boysenberry Jelly has maximised Nelson’s natural, local offering. Picot says boysenberries are unique to Nelson, with the region being the largest grower of the fruit in the world, and was developed “to go really well with the peanut butter”.
New Zealand is Pic’s largest market at around 30 per cent, with Australia a close second as the brand continues to gain traction in both Coles and Woolworths. Yet, it is the expansion of distribution into Asia that Picot says is growing the fastest.
“We spend a lot of time in China and are closely allied with a company over there for our distribution, which has been mutually beneficial,” says Picot. “Both New Zealand and Australian products work really well in China – we are seen as a very good food producer and we are gaining a lot of traction with consumers who are part of young families and who care about their health. We’re also selling our products into Japan and Thailand, as well as the UK and through Amazon in the US.”
Pic’s is now developing a chocolate peanut butter spread, which will be in the market before the end of the year in New Zealand, and is expected to be available in Australiasoonafter. ✷
WHEN Bruce ‘Pic’ Picot first started creating batches of his peanut butter, it was at the “exact time” plant-based protein started gaining traction. Around a decade later, the Pic’s brand has expanded its range to cashew and almond butters, jelly and peanut butter ‘slugs’, to show not only Australian consumers, but the rest of the world, how the New Zealand- based producer has pioneered the plant protein and peanut butter category.
“When I started, we were the first natural peanut butter in New Zealand,” Picot told Food & Drink Business. “A lot of the peanutbuttersherewerefoundto
be made with sugar, which didn’t sit well with me, so we got in just at the right time. The category now has grown immensely in the past 10 years – about a 10 per cent increase each year – so there have been a number of New Zealand- based competitors in the natural peanut butter space that have now entered.”
Picot started Pic’s in his garage in the South Island city of Nelson. He sold his peanut butter in local markets and said he was “happy to keep it small and sell once a week”, but as product demand increased, so did Picot’s production processes.
“We’ve now upgraded to a fifthfactory–ifyouincludethe
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