The Rural Voice, 1990-10, Page 27the start-up of their new business.
"The best thing in the world is to try to
do it for yourself!" she declares.
Colin's past experience in advertising
promotion for an agribusiness in
southern Ontario has also equipped
him to deal with the mechanics of
marketing. With the survey behind
them, there were many steps yet to
take before jambrosia could make its
debut at shopping outlets.
"It took a long time to decide on a
name for our company," says Trish.
"What was our product? What was
our image? We had to figure out
where our products, including our
fresh honey, fit into the whole
scheme."
"At first we thought we might use
the heading of Meadowfresh foods,
tying all the products in with our
Meadowfresh honey," Colin says.
"But we came to realize that this
district, Rainy River, is really the key
name. This area is unique, so we
decided to call it The Rainy River
Preserves Co."
The next step was to design labels
for their honey and jambrosia, a
process that took months, Trish
recalls. The Neilsons combined
talents with a professional artist to
come up with eye-catching artwork
that conveys the distinctive qualities
of what they call their `finer gourmet
foods.' Making test batches of
jambrosia occupied the spring and
summer of 1989, and months passed
while Colin tried to find sources of the
specialized pots, burners, and other
equipment required for full-scale
production.
Aspects of production and
labelling had to adhere to regulations
stipulated by Agriculture Canada, and
the Neilsons discovered that it didn't
fit under any government
classification. Because their berry
concoction contained such a high
concentration of fruit and virtually no
Trish and Colin Neilson have diversified their feeder cattle operation in
northwestern Ontario with a gourmet food product they call
"]ambrosia," using local berries and fresh honey as sweetener.
sugar at all, it in no way corresponded
to the official government definitions
for jams or spreads. Hours of
brainstorming yielded the unusual and
evocative name of `jambrosia' — and
necessitated changes to the label •
artwork, as well as in production
methods.
"We learned we had to measure
soluble solids, which meant we had to
source more equipment such as
refractometers and pH meters," says
Trish. "It's a very technical business."
It was back to the drawing board
once again when a few jars of
jambrosia failed to keep well after
being opened. The Neilsons turned to
a food technology centre for help, and
after further experimentation, their
jambrosia successfully passed the time
test.
The next phase of preparation was
to design packaging that would suit
the character of their product and
enhance its image as a gourmet gift
item. Trish's idea for the box was that
it should fit a certain number of jars,
depending on whether it contained the
125-m1 or 250-m1 size; as well, it
should be sturdy enough for mailing
and aesthetically pleasing, with
attractive shredded tissue to protect
each jar. It took some hunting before
Trish finally found a supplier who
could fit the bill. "No one seemed to
understand what I meant," she recalls.
OCTOBER 1990 23