This is according to Piet van Coller, from Boksburg, who is the national sales and retail marketing manager for O’ya Sweets and Brandclub.
Van Coller, who has been in the sweets industry for many years, grew up in Benoni and has been living in Boksburg for more than 35 years.
“We make candy – lots of different candy,” he said.
He told the Advertiser it remains of great importance to know which flavours work where and why, before a product can be pushed into the market.
“For instance, green mango is a flavour that is not well received in South Africa, but it works in Europe,” Van Coller explained.
“If you’ve travelled the world, you’ll also know what works in Europe, and why, and why chocolate in Germany and Switzerland is so great, but not always so great in South Africa.
“When you have the knowledge, qualifications and experience, you’ll know which components and combinations you are looking for.”
Van Coller mentioned that the sweet industry is not always so sweet, since it is a challenge to ascertain which sweets will work, as tastes differ and everyone has their preferences.
“To invent candy, you need certain combinations, but you should also know your market,” he added.
”You need to research which sweets sell in which areas, and that is what makes it interesting.”However, chocolate products, chewy candy, fizzers and fruity flavours remain popular sweets.
“Candy is a very comprehensive, specialised field. It is important to know your raw materials, the colours and their tastes. If something is artificial and completely synthetic, then you don’t have a good product.
“A lot of products aren’t available in South Africa, and then you need to import them. If you want a 100 per cent fruity flavour, you’ll have to import it.”
He explained that, before you put your product on the market, there are a lot of aspects that need to be taken into consideration.
“You have to consider the presentation of the end product, the softness and hardness of it, the taste, whether it sticks to your teeth, and much more,” he said.
“You should also have something unique, as you don’t want a product that is already in the market; it should be something totally different and you shouldn’t copycat others.
“For example, we have two salty snacks on the market which, surprisingly, do very well. They are completely diversified from sweets, but we tried something and lucky enough, it worked,” van Coller said.
“Whenever something doesn’t work, we change the recipe.
“When you visualise a new sweet, you first start with the idea of what the sweet should be like, how it’s supposed to look, more or less, and then the idea starts taking shape.”
Even though O’ya’s target market is everyone, from young to old, he said that, to specifically draw children’s attention, the packaging will be more childlike, such as the colours used and the manner in which it is presented.
“The visual aspect of the sweet, such as the colours, shapes and packaging, definitely helps to attract children. The taste of the sweet is just as important, and the assurance that the candy won’t get stuck in their throats,” van Coller said.
Although the world is fairly health-conscious, nowadays, the sweet expert said this has no impact on the selling of sweets, as everyone enjoys a sweet every now and then.
“Discipline must be applied and parents should not give their children too much,” he said
According to him, the manufacturing of sweets in South Africa is doing extremely well in comparison to Europe.
“We (South Africa) don’t have to stand back for them (Europe). South Africa’s candy manufacturing is at a very high standard,” van Coller said.
He added that technology plays a huge role in the manufacturing of sweets – from the moment it is shaped, the cooling process and the packaging process.
“If your end product is deformed, it will not look attractive; your packaging is also important for bacterial purposes and you want maximum shelf life,” he said.
Van Coller described himself as “young at heart” and, therefore, his career will never bore him.
“The tasting and testing of sweets and the successes that come from this are very rewarding and quite delightful,” Vhe added.
“I have a sweet tooth and enjoy any good sweet.”
He confessed that he also enjoys sweets manufactured by other companies.
