Three heroes, one Cape

CAPE HERB & SPICE

While we watch the peri-peri being hand-mixed – a miasma of peppers making our nostrils sting and our mouths water – Shelley Barnard tells us that it all began with a barrow on the Cape Town waterfront, “selling the kinds of unusual spices you couldn’t find at the time”.

The sales and marketing manager of Cape Herb & Spice goes on to explain how that entrepreneurial business grew into a factory, and later a major exporter. Under the banner of the Libstar holding company, the company now ships across the US, Australia, Europe and the UAE. Spinneys has become the latter region’s largest buyer and investor in Cape Herb & Spice products.

Our Spinneysfood label is thoroughly serviced with herbs and spices from this particular supplier, from kitchen essentials like basil, thyme and ground black pepper to branded rub tubs, seasoning sachets and special mixes such as Chilli Addict and Malay Curry. “It takes many imports to create these mixes, too,” says Shelley.

“Over 80 per cent of what we do is bought from origin, certain spices from certain places. A lot come from India, herbs from Egypt and Turkey, pepper from Vietnam. We’re going all over the world looking for special spices and diversifying the market.” The company’s global-mindedness extends to active concern for the environment, too. Having developed its own clear-glass grinder for these spices, the company also uses a freeze treatment method for pest control instead of relying on chemicals. Shelley is also proud to say that all salt used here is locally sourced from the west coast of South Africa. And, while the range itself covers the best of Asian, Mexican and Mediterranean flavours, the hometown market is also well catered to in its love for the hot stuff.

“We have plenty for the barbecue, braai is a big thing. We have the peri-peri vibe going, which I think came into South Africa from Mozambique since it was a Portuguese colony and we made our own in many ways. The Malay Curry can be used in curries and bobotie, it’s got about 14 different spices. And what we call the mother-in-law curry from Durban… they equate it to the heat of your mother-in-law’s tongue.”

AMARO FOODS

There is nothing like the aroma of baking bread, which drifts in delicious airborne waves from the ovens of Amaro Foods. It doesn’t take an especially sensitive nose to tell that this is quality product, still made largely by hand at a Cape Town factory that still operates as an artisanal bakery, even at industrial scale. “We don’t want to lose that touch,” says head of sales Rico Gargiulo, explaining that the company was built by master bakers.

First came Antonio Amaro himself, who arrived in South Africa from Portugal in the 1960s and worked his way up through supermarket kitchens to become a major supplier. Then his son Tony Jr, who got his own master baker certificate in the US, and now serves as CEO of Amaro Foods, passing a wealth of inherited skills and acquired knowledge to the team in New Product Development. The brand has long since become famous for a variety of products, but it is its gluten-free muffins, burger buns and hot dog rolls that are popular with Spinneys customers.

These days, says Rico, everybody wants gluten-free. “And they want it to have the same taste and texture as a gluten product. It’s very difficult to replicate that, but in terms of gluten-free we’re definitely setting the trend. I mean, these breads are fantastic.”

It took eight years of trial and error, and the finest flours from Italy and Thailand, to develop the formula. “In a gluten product there might be five ingredients, in gluten-free there might be 20. And it’s very fickle.” For evidence that it has paid off, he cites a recent US buyer who literally could not believe sample bread was gluten-free. “He said it was the best he ever tasted.”

Meanwhile, the Amaro bakers busily go about their business, rolling the dough, coating it in seeds, cooking, weighing, proving, slicing, packing and exporting. They look happy as they do it, too. “That’s the environment we’re trying to create,” says Rico, “and the culture we’re trying to build.”

CANI RUSKS

It is still nowhere near the night before Christmas, but the team at Cani Rusks are preparing well ahead of time in much the way that Santa’s elves must do. Santa is indeed one of the figures they are shaping and cutting into their festive range of cookie kits for Spinneys — along with snowflakes, snowmen and so on.

Obviously the team works all year round at their Cape Town factory, producing themed cooking kits for other seasonal celebrations such as Easter, Eid and Halloween, but also the classic rusks and biscotti that are the bedrock of the business. Managing executive Zakir Khan joined about a decade ago, when the operation was still “really, really tiny”, he says.

“What started as a homestyle bakery has been quietly growing for over 20 years, which is definitely due to the fact that we use a lot of natural ingredients and really handcrafted products,” says Zakir. All those ingredients (except for the occasional colourant) are locally sourced from South Africa’s Western Cape region.

For the most part they’re baked and packed for that local market, though neighbouring countries such as Namibia, Botswana and Eswatini have also developed a taste for Cani’s rusks. But when it comes to the cookies, the company’s partnership with Spinneys has helped create an acute demand in the Middle East. The first kit, a few years ago, was built around the concept of the “humble Christmas house”, says Zakir, but the range has expanded to little gingerbread men and mug huggers, as well as haunted houses and related spooky shapes for Halloween.

“We do a lot of research, and I never sleep,” says Zakir. “I’m always sending the kitchen ideas for doing something different, finding other types of confectionery.” Meanwhile, on the production line, his team rolls the dough, bakes the biscuits, and packs them into beautiful presentation boxes. The scent of gingerbread makes the factory smell like Christmas already.

SPINNEYS COMMERCIAL PRIVATE LABEL MANAGER

Philip Bencini says

At Spinneys, we’ve loved working with Cape Herb & Spice, Amaro Foods and Cani Rusks – three partners who bring remarkable flexibility, creativity and initiative to everything they do. Building our private label portfolio alongside them has been a rewarding journey, whether it’s crafting bold spice blends, perfecting gluten-free breads

or creating festive biscuit kits that delight families. Their willingness to innovate and collaborate has made them an integral part of our story, and I look forward to developing many more products together.