Farmer's Weekly (South Africa)
Top of the pops: Smalltown popcorn exporter just keeps growing
A popcorn factory in a small Northern Cape town has doubled production since expanding into the export market. Sabrina Dean asked director Koos de Wet and chief financial officer Jacques Louw how Biggi Brands continues to grow its niche agro-processing business.
Atargeted export growth strategy has triggered remarkable growth for Biggi Brands, a popcorn factory in Hopetown in the Northern Cape.
According to director Koos de Wet, the company plans to continue expanding its export footprint by providing consistent quality and supply.
“Our brand is built on relationships with clients and people in the industry who want a reliable supplier that can deliver consistent quality,” he says.
Biggi Brands was established by Johan Kriek, Attie Victor and Lieb du Raan in 1991 after local co-operatives identified popcorn maize as a crop well suited to the region. In addition, growers had access to clean water from the Orange River for irrigation.
The company’s main line is unpopped popcorn kernels sold in 25kg bags. The maize is produced by contract growers under strictly regulated practices. It is then harvested and stored at appropriate moisture levels in silos at the factory and off-site grain storage facilities. On-site storage capacity is about 12 000t.
The kernels are then cleaned, processed and bagged for distribution to various clients.
Local clients include major food processors who manufacture ready-to-eat popcorn snacks.
POPCORN AND MORE
Biggi Brands supplies the cinema market across the country with popcorn kernels, oil for the popping process, and spices. In addition, it is the sole South African distributor of Gold Medal popcorn equipment used by cinemas and retail outlets making freshly popped popcorn.
The factory also has a specific microwave popcorn facility that produces six flavours of microwave popcorn.
Despite its success in the local popcorn market, Biggi Brands obtains the lion’s share of its revenue (about 70%) from exports, and it is this area that is largely responsible for almost doubling the company’s annual production over the past three or four years to between 15 000t and 16 000t of raw popcorn kernels.
Consistency
The maize that produces the company’s popcorn is grown on about 2 000ha, according to De Wet. A number of varieties are grown under irrigation and all seed is imported from the US.
“There are four or five seed companies in the US, so we select the varieties that are suitable for us,” he says. All are non-GMO hybrids.
Biggi Brands uses two kinds of popcorn: the ‘butterfly’ type, favoured for savoury popcorn snacks, and the ‘mushroom’ type, preferred for sweet treats such as caramel-coated popcorn.
“We import about three cultivars of each,” says De Wet, adding that they also plant trial plots every year to evaluate cultivar performance.
Planting generally starts around November, although a small number of growers in regions without frost may plant as early as August. Harvesting usually begins around April the following year.
For the most part, the equipment is the same as that used on maize for maize meal.
“The only difference is that some varieties have a very thin cob, so the harvester head must be set very narrow, otherwise it just pulls the cob through,” he says. “The drum speed also has to be lower to avoid cracking the kernels.”
The relationship with their growers is important, De Wet stresses; the company uses a pool of 10 farmers, most of whom have been producing for Biggi Brands on contract for years.
“We expect our growers to produce for us every year, because we have customers who need consistent supply from year to year, so we can’t produce too much one year and not enough the next.”
The farmers have to plant a nonGMO variety and must therefore appreciate the production risks, which include threats such as pests and diseases, due to the lack of built-in resistance in non-GMO varieties. They also have to follow proactive treatment schedules and scout their lands regularly.
De Wet emphasises the importance of irrigation management during crop growth. Water quality, too,