GOURMET GARDEN RANGE

Botanical Food Company is based on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. It is the food arm of Berri.
In 1999, Botanical launched Gourmet Garden, a range of chopped herbs and spices in tubes. The
range includes basil, garlic, ginger, coriander, chili, lemongrass, mint, and parsley, and uses
innovative technology developed in Australia. Several aspects needed to be addressed to ensure
that the product remained fresh and maintained its flavor. New agricultural techniques were
developed that ensured that the herbs were harvested at the peak of freshness and flavor. The
industry is also more environmentally friendly than some alternative agricultural crops. The
farmers in the Callide Valley (in central Queensland) were able to lower their water usage by
replacing cotton crops with herbs, simultaneously increasing their income.

Tests showed that the flavor of herbs such as coriander was produced by more than 30
different oils, and that these were lost a few days after harvesting even if the herbs are
refrigerated. The plastic tube design was such that the herbs did not need to be cooked, dried or

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heated during processing, allowing them to be packaged fresh. The tube design used the natural

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antioxidant properties of the herbs and spices to keep the product fresh. In surveys, professional

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chefs and home users could not distinguish between fresh herbs and spices and the Gourmet
Garden range. The product, which took more than five years to develop, has a shelf life of three

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months in the fridge and six months if frozen.
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Before the product was launched, Gourmet Garden conducted consumer surveys in San
Francisco, Sydney, and London. The company discovered that consumers wanted to be able to
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prepare high-quality meals without fuss. The brand name captured the essence of gourmet
flavors and garden freshness. Packaging was also important consideration – the clear plastic
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tubes allowed the consumers to see the freshness. Armed with the survey results, the company
was able to approach large supermarket chains and convince them that there was demand for the
Gourmet Garden range. Simultaneously, Gourmet Garden hired US marketing agency Christie
Communication to mount a comprehensive marketing campaign. The result was that sales in the
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US quadrupled over one year, and the major competitor dropped out of this product niche.
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Currently, Gourmet Garden products are sold in Australia, UK, Europe, New Zealand,
Canada, and over 8,000 stores in the U.S., making it one of the most widely distributed
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Australian packaged foods in history. Gourmet Garden has experienced a sustained growth of
between 20 – 40% every year for the last five years and export represent 70% of the company’s
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revenue.
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 Discussion
Think about the market research conducted by Gourmet Garden before the product was
launched.
1. a. What are some of the populations that Gourmet Garden might have been interested in
measuring for these studies?
- Professional Chefs, home users. High and Middle income class.
b. Would Gourmet Garden have attempted to contact populations? No, because it would
require the whole census of it. Yes they have attempted.
c. What samples were taken? – the samples are in form of surveys that were taken where
the populations of San Francisco, Sydney, and London.
- hiqh quality meals,
d. In light of these questions, how was the inferential process used by Gourmet Garden in
their market research?
They used frequent users of fresh herbs like professional chefs and home users if they can
distinguish between fresh herbs and gourmet garden range products. As a result, Gourmet

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Garden range could compete with the market for high quality meals that can easily be

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prepared.

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e. Can you think of any descriptive statistics that might have been used by Gourmet
Garden in their decision-making process? What are those descriptive statistics?

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- What are the frequently used herbs?
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- How long/Level can the herbs stay fresh?
- What kind of tubes can be used to maintain its freshness?
- Type of agricultural techniques in harvesting fresh herbs?
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2. a. Some measures Gourmet Garden could have used in its various market research
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surveys are listed below. Categorize these by type of data.

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i. Age of respondent – quantitative, ratio

ii. Gender of respondent – qualitative, nominal
iii. Postcode of respondent – qualitative, nominal
iv. Type of herbs and spices used – qualitative, nominal
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v. Frequency of use of herbs and spices - quantitative, ratio

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vi. Number of people in household – quantitative, ratio

vii. Importance of convenience in use of herbs and spices – ordinal
viii. Importance of ready availability of herbs and spices – ordinal
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ix. Quality rating of Gourmet Garden herbs and spices as excellent, good, average,
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below average, poor. – qualitative, ordinal

x. Time (hours) spent per week in meal preparation – quantitative, ratio
xi. Employment status – nominal
b. Think of some other measures that Gourmet Garden might have used to help it obtain a
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consumer profile and categorize them by type of data. Give at least 5 measures.
1. Average visit of a customer to the supermarket per week – ratio
2. Quality rating for the value of money of the product? – ordinal
3. What is your ethnicity? – nominal
4. Frequency of cooking at home – ratio

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 5. Range of household income? – ratio

Group Work:

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