Consolidated Biscuit – shortlisted for the Most Improved SME Exporter Award (annual turnover less than €10 million)
The transition from an import-restricted environment to a liberalised market was an expected challenge for Consolidated Biscuit of Mrieħel.
The company, whose Digestive, Bourbon, Morning Coffee biscuits and Chocolate Chip Cookies are a staple in the Maltese snacking tradition, had to come out of a relative comfort zone and reinvent itself to cope with the flood of foreign competition on the Maltese market and the hunger with which it was received – not necessarily for its better quality but more understandably because it was previously prohibitive.
“On EU entry, we knew we would be playing in a totally different field,” said managing director Joseph Pace. “Although we envisaged that our quality and price would eventually bring Maltese customers back to our products once the market would restabilise itself, we were also aware that the only sure way to a sustainable survival without lay-offs was to break into markets outside our shores.”
After 2004, Consolidated Biscuit’s next strategy was to strike deals in Europe with bespoke products for private labels, turning its niche nature into an advantage. “We can never compete with the mass volumes of large production lines conceived with economies of scales in mind, but we knew there was another reality out there that does not pay larger industries to service; that is where our niche became a necessary advantage.
“The local market does not provide the threshold volumes that justify mass production lines, so export was the best way to achieve the desired volumes that would ensure smooth production and business continuity.”
Additionally, an intense new product development programme was undertaken to diversify into unique Maltese traditional products and healthy snacks, like Tal-Furnar Galletti, the Devon Healthline range, which includes sugar-free products and Omega 3 crackers, and a fabricated low fat potato crisp. In the meantime, the export strategy ensured the provision of continued service to the long established list of clients in the Middle East, Africa and North America.
Biscuits and snacks are low value, high volume commodities making freight an important feature in designing price structures for exports.
“Insularity from mainland Europe, coupled with the lack of material resources, burdens production lines with increased transportation costs in raw materials and other supplies used in production,” said Mr Pace.
“Most of our competitors on the international markets operate from much larger home bases. They can afford dedicated lines, enjoy higher economies of scale, and a more sophisticated level of automation, so they have better room for manoeuvre when it comes to pricing. But we still have proved successful because of our flexibility and niche marketing approach in our continuous pursuit for production and quality excellence, which today is ISO 9001:2000 and BRC certified.”
The three nominees for each of the four categories to participate in the final awards night on November 26 were selected by an independent judging panel made up of two senior officials from KPMG, Notary Clyde La Rosa and appointed officials from HSBC Bank Malta plc and Vodafone Malta plc.
Medserv
Medserv was shortlisted for the categories of Most Improved Corporate Exporter (annual turnover more than €10m) and Most Innovative Corporate Business (annual turnover more than €10m).
HSBC-Vodafone Export and Innovation Awards
Earlier this year, HSBC and Vodafone Malta embarked on a joint initiative to reward Maltese businesses for their export and innovation talent. Three have been shortlisted in each of the four categories: Most Improved SME Exporter (annual turnover less than €10m); Most Improved Corporate Exporter (annual turnover more than €10m); Most Innovative SME Business (annual turnover less than €10m); and Most Innovative Corporate Business (annual turnover more than €10m). Winners in each category will be awarded at a gala ceremony on November 26. The Times Business is carrying highlights from each of the selected companies’ formula for success.