Kiwi adapts cookies to suit Chinese tastes

A New Zealand businessman in Shanghai is bringing a taste of New Zealand baking to Chinese consumers. Greg Harvey fell in love with Shanghai several years ago while working in recruitment there for Air New Zealand. When the free trade agreement was signed in 2008, Harvey and his Chinese partner started looking for opportunities that could benefit from the deal while keeping them based in China's seaside commercial hub and largest city. During a trip home he noticed a local franchise, Mrs Higgins, got high numbers of Chinese customers buying its soft-centred cookies in Wellington's Lambton Quay and in Auckland's Queen St. "Being a Kiwi and being very proud of the products we have in New Zealand, I wanted to bring something new and unique in to China. Knowing Shanghai, we knew there were plenty of doughnuts, small hard biscuits but no-one doing the large soft-centred American-style chewy cookies." Ending 18 years of employment at Air New Zealand, he approached Mrs Higgins about having the frozen dough delivered straight to China under the name Kiwi Cookies to push the product's well-regarded origin. It has taken almost $300,000 of investment so far, including buying the master licence for China to build the brand to three outlets, starting with shops at international supermarkets Carrefour in expat-heavy areas. It took six months of paperwork to get the business registered. Recipes tailored to the New Zealand palate needed the sugar content slashed to suit Chinese tastes. The oatmeal, raisin and apricot flavour is one of the least popular with Kiwis but the star flavour in China, becoming the top-seller from the range of 15. "We soon discovered our Chinese customers don't like them so sweet... at first our product mix wasn't quite right so now we've amended that to introducing new low sugar cookies." Harvey has worked with Mrs Higgins to develop savoury varieties specifically for China such as mushroom, sun-dried tomato and herb, Parmesan oregano and sesame pecan. Other New Zealand food products, such as honey and Whittaker's chocolate, are sold at the counter. Negotiations are under way for three more stores to open in Shanghai within 12 months. Asia NZ Foundation is funding Jazial Crossley's travel to China. Ad Feedback - © Fairfax NZ News JAZIAL CROSSLEY IN SHANGHAI Last updated 05:00 11/04/2013