The Nottinghamshire based brand worked with Holmach Ltd and Roboqbo to achieve flavour, texture and productivity objectives
‘When a product that you desire doesn’t exist, create it yourself’. Leah Brown of Origin Kitchen has been on a journey that’s very similar to those of other hugely successful entrepreneurs. As a vegan, Leah was unable to find plant-based foods that offered the deliciously creamy mouth feel of traditional dairy based products. The only options that appeared to be available were water based, made with artificial flavours and set using gums and starches. The products certainly couldn’t be classed as natural and they were nutritionally weak.
Boasting a background as a chef, and a passion for food that runs deeply within the family, Leah and her two sons, Ben and Sam spotted the opportunity to bridge the obvious gap. Noted for their natural creamy texture and significant nutritional benefits, cashew nuts were the obvious place to start.
Starting out as home-based business, the cashew nuts were steamed in water baths until they were soft enough for further processing. These were then combined with vegetables and fruit that had been steamed and cooked separately. Finally the ingredients for each recipe were blended together to create a range of deliciously creamy spreads and luxurious single-serve desserts, including mushroom & dill and sun-dried tomato spreads and mango & passion fruit and real chocolate mousse. The manual, labour intensity of this process restricted production capacities and limited the growth potential of the business, whilst also potentially causing issues with product variances.
Reports of a 230% year on year increase in plant-based sales and sector growth expected to continue, motivated the family to look at technology solutions that would simplify and homogenise the process, enabling increased production and wider distribution opportunities whilst maintaining the ‘home-cooked’ quality. With these objectives in mind, Leah was introduced to Holmach Ltd and Roboqbo’s Universal Processing System.
A single product trial was all that they needed to know that Roboqbo was the perfect solution for Origin Kitchen. Not only were they able to complete all parts of the manufacturing process in one single vessel in less than a quarter of the time, but the product quality and shelf-life for the vegan range was much greater. With all ingredients being cooked together, the flavours were more intense, having bonded together beautifully throughout the whole process. The greater sheer of the Qbo also enabled better sized particulates, enhancing the creamy mouthfeel even further. As a small business with big aspirations, the zero-oxidation achieved through vacuum cooking opens the brand up to larger distribution opportunities through major retailers.
As well as being able to manage the increased production demands for their own product range, the Roboqbo has also opened Origin Kitchen up to offering co-manufacturing solutions for a number of artisanal producers.
Leah said of her experience “We’re delighted with the results from working with Holmach and Roboqbo. Our manufacturing times have reduced from 2 hours per batch down to 25 minutes. With increased productivity and consistent product quality, we’re able to boast a delicious and nutritious vegan range using only 7 or 8 ingredients, compared to the 51 of other market leading brands. The after-sales and training support that we’ve received from Holmach has been amazing and we look forward to extending our range using Roboqbo’s innovative technology”
For thermal processing expertise and further information on Roboqbo’s market leading technology, call 01780 749097 or email info@holmach.co.uk.
For further information on Origin Kitchen’s range of cashew nut based products visit www.originkitchen.co.uk.