Fix & Fogg is best-known for its variety of peanut butters with various flavours from Smoke and Fire to Dark Chocolate to Coffee Maple and more, but has more recently also produced other types of nut butters such as cashew, almond, hazelnut and its Everything Butter made with eight nuts and seeds.
The firm has already launched in further regions such as Singapore and the USA, but it was only earlier this year that its nut butters finally formally set foot on its neighbouring Australian soil, specifically in Woolworths Australia supermarkets.
“Naturally, being so close, Australia has always been on our radar [and] we did have some distribution online, but it was clear that there were many [of our] fans who wanted to get their hands on [our products] more easily in stores and supermarkets,” Fix & Fogg Head of Export and Finance Sarah Sheriff told FoodNavigator-Asia.
“[But] for a while, our main focus was on the USA which meant Australia took the backseat for a bit. [When] the opportunity to pitch to Woolworths came up we couldn’t miss it [though as] Aussies are pretty similar to Kiwis when it comes to nut butter - Like us, they appreciate natural nut butters with no nasty additives, and this has become the new norm there, so we have slotted in nicely.”
Woolworths Australia is currently only selling two of Fix & Fogg nut butter range – the Everything Butter and the Granola Butter – and interestingly, neither are pure peanut butter products, speaking to the firm’s confidence that Australians are looking for more variety in their nut butter selections.
“We are seeing a growing demand for nut butters with almonds, cashews and other nuts and seeds rather than just your usual peanut butter [which] will help push our products out there more too - It’s great to see people becoming more open minded about nut butter and its endless possibilities and uses,” said Sheriff.
“[So the] Everything Butter was an obvious choice as the first contender - It’s our most awarded product to date, a best seller [and has the same familiar taste as peanut butter but is loaded with eight different nuts and seeds [which are hemp, almond, peanut, pumpkin, chia, sesame, sunflower and flaxseed].
“The Granola Butter [contains sunflower, peanuts, cashew, oats, coconut, and chia] and was inspired by Everything Butter as a slightly sweeter product - The initial feedback we got on this product made us confident it would be a success [and] it was something totally different not yet done before to help us stand out on the shelf, something important to us just entering the market.”
Sheriff remained coy on the sales numbers so far, but said that the team had been ‘blown away’ by the sales.
“We are lucky to have had a solid fan base already to get things rolling for us over in Australia – so far the Everything Butter is leading in sales, but it’s a super close call so it seems both [are popular with Australian consumers as we had hoped],” she said.
Both the Everything Butter and Granola Butter are each retailing at A$6.50 (US$4.80) for a 275g bottle respectively.
Updates in other regions
Fix & Fogg is also present in other Asian markets such as the Philippines in supermarkets, specialty stores and online and most recently China.
“In the last year we have also started exporting to China where the demand is slowly but surely starting to grow – [we have our own Tmall flagship store and are stocked in several retailers as well],” said Sheriff.
“It seems nut butter is becoming more and more popular around Asia which is great to see.”
Singapore is one of the firm’s earlier markets, but previously the Everything Butter was not allowed in the market due to its hemp content. Hemp has not yet been legalised as a food product in Singapore or in many other Asian nations.
In response, Fix & Fogg has developed a hemp-free version of the Everything Butter for the market, essentially replacing hemp with cashew.
“The hemp-free Everything Butter is now available in Singapore and is fast becoming a favourite. It’s not yet on supermarket shelves but can be found online through Lazada,” said Sheriff.
At time of publishing, the hemp-free Everything Butter is retailing for S$9.95 (US$7.41) for a 275g bottle on Lazada.
