A GREAT NEW ZEALAND BUSINESS

NZ Truth, Issue 849, 25 February 1922, Page 5

A GREAT NEW ZEALAND BUSINESS

m MILLION TSNSjOUTPUT PER ANNUM MRFUL RECORD Of EDMONDS BAKING POWDER \ (By Our Special Representative.)

Knowing that\Messrs. T. J. Edmonds, l,td., the proprietors of Edmonds's 3aking Powder* h'&4,.recently erected .vhat is probably the most.ffnod#rn bakng powder factory m the world, a spqeial representative of various New Zealand newspapers journeyed out to .the new factory. • ./ ... The story of the' growth and development of Edmonds's Baking Powder reads like a romance, and it is safe to say that no business m New Zealand has- built up such ari^ extraordinary output m its own territory. The flrst year's output, m" 1879, Was about 1000 tins; ten years ago, m 1911, ; 878,000 tins were being sold per annum; last year the output reached over one and three- quarter million . tins; while this year it 1-s confidently expected' that the sales m this Dominion will reaoh over two million tins. - When one feanembers that this represents an average consumption of over seven and a-half tins per annum for every fk&ily m the Dominion, it must be recognised that .no higher tribute can be given to , the extraordinarily _ high, quality and remarkable value of -the- product, The newspaper man had c long chat with the managing director of the firm, Mr. A. L. Cropp, andiwas interested to hear that the. new fiactpry has an output, capacity of oyer six million tips per annum. The reporter asked Mr, Cropp why. such a big, output capacity had been provided "for; atid was interested to hear. that, one of the biggest Knglish firms selling to grocers arid [storekeeper^ had 'been making careful rests of Edmonds's Beukirig. Powder for p. very considerable period, and had Ibome to the conclusion that there was 'nothing on the English market which could even compare with, it. As ft result they had decided to take the line up' ahd place it throughout England, as they were confident that sales could be expected m the Motherland. The firm will ship- supplies 'from the Dominion to its English selling organisation. .-■

Mr. Cropp; "has just recently returned from a trip round the. w'prld, and P ur " chased samples of every brand of baking powder -which he cohld procure m Canada, the United States, England, and elsejwhere. These -were tested by expert chemists, m competition with Edmonds's, with the result that the New Zealand product proved superior m every instance. Indeed, Mr.' Cropp has oome back fulljr convinced ithat Edmonds's "Sure to Rise" is the finest baking powder m the world. The very greatest care' 4p taken to maintain this high Quality. During the war regular supplies of cream of tartar were difficult to obtain, and Messrs, Edmonds were .urged to use cream of tartar substitutes by various manufacturers, knowing hoiw (unsuitable were these substitutes for a high-grade'pro-duct like '.'Sure to* Rise," they absolutely refuged to use them, and rather than do so decided that they would close the factory doiwn when they were short i of the highest, grade genuine cream of tartar./ This course had to ibe pursued, several, times until . regular supplies arrived, and these suspensions naturally gave the directors considerable anxiety. After- events, however, have definitely proved the wisdom ot doing so, and have established the fact, that the maintenance of quality must! be the first consideration, m buHd in £ permanent. business. •-.,-_. ... ■..../, „

THB AFFECT/ OP THE NEW .;'•'•' > TARIFF. '' , . '.-. •As an instance: showing how legis*latlon may affect the health of the people, it is interesting to note that the revised Tariff which was introjduced m f December last places a duty of 20 per cent, on cream of tartar which is. not - made within the. Empire. This duty had evideritly been imposed without due inquiry into the, facts- Cream of tartar is not a British product,' and there is no manufacturer m the British I Empire able to supply sufficient rajw material of high quality to- even keep i Edmonds's . Baking Powder Factory' going at normal pressure. After due consideration, the Minister of Customs removed the duty for a period of twelve ■months. If it is again imposed after this period, it (will certairily have the .effect of nullifyirig the efforts of .this splendid New Zealand business to extend} its operations and supply the overseas market. •Not only would T. J.-Edirionds, JLtd., be unable to secure sufficient supplies of British-made' cream of tartar, but. the additional cost of the product wduld make it absolutely impossible for them- to place "Sure to Rise" on the English market. ■ It is certainly to be hoped, that nothing will be done to prevent New Zealand building up trade I for this highr quality line m Great Britain. v ■./:

A TRIP TjaROUGH THE FACTORY. Accompanied by M|r. Cropp, our representative . then went through the" great factory., First of all he w-s conducted through the office bl6ck,^"Which is a separate section m a ; separate building. Every modern appliance for laborsaving has been installed, and -the greatest care, has been taken by the arohitects to l see v that ' the greatest amount of natural light is secured. Separate offices -are provided for the main executives; and Mr. A. L. Cropp's room contains some exceptionally fine pieces of New Zealand-iinade furniture, The lb oar d room is impressive,' with its large dimensions and its huge boardroom table. The new factory itself is some three stories high, built on the latest .principles for..secur'ing(ithe largest possible amount of natural * light. The most modern machines' . for weighing and handling are installed, and everything

has been done to reduce duplication of effort. Spotlessly clean; the building is a credit' to the mana-gor and (members of the factory staff. An interesting feature is the laboratory, (where air materials are most carefully tested and analysed, • the greatest care being taken that , every ingredient isof the highest quality. • I .'Both the office block and the factory ..building area credit to the architects, Messrs. J. S. and M. 3i Guthrie. The extelicirs m every Jnstance are of toned brick, Aiving a jaoat attractive appearance. Ivmme space has been left for lavms and/gardens. These are now m the coma^: of preparation, aijd when bo amongst the most attractive m New Zealand- .-■■.-' ; As some indication of the magnitude of the grin's operations, pur representative was interested to, hear that every year 24,300' cases are riiade on the premises. Timber is cut at the mill to specifications' and turned into cases m the factory with up-to-date case-mak-ing machines. , Over two million labels are printed m the Doriiinion, while this year two million tins will be- made In the factory. Over 680 tons of baking powder are sold - every year, which means that 14;000 tons of carting and handling bas to be done by shipping companies and railways from one end of the Dominion to the other. To give 1 an idea of what this means, Mr. Cropp mentioned that it one-top motor trucks were loaded up with raw material brought into the factory, an 1 also with the manufactured baking powder, they would form a procession five miles long, and would- require approximately 1360 motor-lorries; wnile the tins used ."Would cover an area approximately (MM million square yards,

In addition to baking powder, Messrs. Edmonds ido an extensive business m ou'star'd powder. The old factory is now Used for its production. The sale for custard powder' has increased recently beyond all expectations", and cp.n be attributed to the high quality of the line and the fact that it costs less than imported brands; Throughout the big factory all Uie machinery is run iby electric motors, thus eliminating smoke and dust associated with fuel engines.

, When asked the reasons for thb extraordinary growth of the firm's product, Mr. Oropp said that he attributed this, flrst, to the fact that they have the highest quality line m the world, but he must also give credit to the part that the newspapers played m the development of the business. He mentioned,that their entire advertising had been handled for many years by J. Ilott, Ltd., the well-known Arm of advertising agents, Wellington, Chrlstdhurch, Auokland, and Dunedin, and with perfect satisfaction to themselves. - The business was first placed .with J". ••'•Ilott,- Ltd., m 1911, and the output was then 878,000 tins . per annum. The firm felt that they had reached the maximum that .could be done iri New 'Zealand, but the results of the first campaign increased their output by another 25 per cent. Since then still larger sums have been spent m newspaper advertising each year, but at a progressively lowpr advertising post

(Wellington.) O, woe to the copper that's slack, Who isn't bang up to the minute. For when "Mac" comes down on his track, ■■ s • ' ' . Why, a hundred of bricks isn't m iti The whole bally force must be slippy and spry Or "Mao" is the laddie who wants to know, why.

per tin because of the steady increase of output. .

.'.*'. BUSINESS HISTORt. ' Our representative was interested to meet Mr. T. J. Edmonds, the founder I of the business and chairman of direc- j tons of the company. It *s to M.r. Ed- | monds's ingenuity and acumen that the foundations were, laid .which made ! the rise" of this splendid 'business pos-^ ■■! sible. ; \ " ','■ ! Asked for some information regarding the growth of the firm, Mr.. Edmonds said: "Oh 26th September, 1879, I landed m Lyttelton on the ship Waitangi, after a three months' .voyage from London. "Beiriga married man m my twentieth year,'.and realising my resppnsiT_)ilities, I at Once set about devising ■means to provide the necessary .' loaf, and started my' business career m a small grocer's- shop, with a turnover of "about £20 per week. . /'Finding this iwas not a paying concern, ,1 had to look about and, find means to increase my income. My business m the grocery line bought me m contact, with baking powder, and the idea, came to me that if I could manufacture a satisfactory article of this sort there should be a fair sale. ,

"Previous to leaving Lbndon I had j spent some time m one Of the largest confectioner's business, that of Messrs.' Allen and Sons, arid became acquainted with the use and riiixing- Of powders relative to sherbert making. "Having decided to tackle the baking powder-business, I at once started operations, and one of the chief difficulties that I was confronted with was what name to give it. ,

HOW "SURE TO RISE" 'ORIGI- , NATED. , ''.

"Recognisirig that a good name is an asset/not only to man, but also to an article, long deliberation was indulged m before deciding. One day a lady cus-tooner, when being persuaded by me to purchase a tin, complained' that when using other brands the scopes 'were very flat. I assured her that if she used my brand her scones would be sure 1 to rise. The nairie "Sure/to Rise" hit me very forcibly, and Edirionds"s "Sure, to Rise" it has been from that day forward-. '•

"My first mixing of baking powder consisted of about ,200 tins, which found a ready sale among .my own customers* and as time went on the clients would take two or three tins each for friends. Business steadily increased. \ v.

Encouraged by the testimonials and inquiries for' my baking powder, I de-t cided to concentrate my energy exclusively on the scientific blending of the ingredients " that go to make my EdV morids's '"Sure to Rise" bakirig" powder. "I was* for thre6 years or more studying the problem, < ..ring "./which time various other brands began to creep m. This gave mean impetus m my investigations arid eriableci m© to produce at the end of the period" the powder which has become a Dominion favorite, and known by one and ail as Edmonds's "Sure to Rise," and also resulted m my working out a formula for es& powder; custard powder, and selfraising flour. On completion of the forrriula, I immediately approached the merchants regarding stocking "Sure to Rise," and succeeded m inducing several of them to place trial orders on their shelves. By this step I considered that good fortune had turned my

way, and that all I would have to do was to manufacture for the demand.

"Three months elapsed and no orders arrived from the merchants. Wondering what could be the 'matter, I at once went to them, and was informed that they had never been asked for Edmonds's I'Sure to Rise." Realising that it iwas not" known on the market, it became necessary to. create- a demand.

"The (method adopted was a~ personal canvass. It .was my custom, if people whom. I saw would not buy, to leave the powder .with them without payment, on the understanding that if they did not like it I wbuld take.it back next visit. ' • / "It is with a certain amount of -pride that I look back on these days and remerritaer that never one tin was returned, but instead- they asked for more.

''Soon after this • tlje. business began to grow, and necessitated- me putting all my time and energy into the manufacture of "'Edmonds's "Sure to Rise." Inquiries began tp come m from all parts of Canterbury, including orders from -the merchants, and it was from this point that the business began to assume dimensions which have since grown beyond all expectations"From 1879' to 1889 the output grew per annum steadily from a few hundred tins to 21,000.' From 1889 to, 1905 the output grew to 370,600, and from 1905 to 1915 1,250,000 for the twelve months.

' "It was m 1911 that I was first induced by Mr. J. M. A. Ilott, of. J. Ilott, Ltd., to authorise a campaign for newspaper advertising. In that year the increase m sales \vas .more than douhlp that attained) in. any previous year m the history of the : business. It was this fact that so strongly-illustrated to me the- benefits of advertising when executed by capable hands, and turned me into an ardeiit believer m advertising, ':'-*■' '■

_ "When the output of "Sure to Rise" was selling 878*268 tins -per annum it was my firm belief that the maximum had been reached, but it has gone ahe,ad, and tlie,aniiual output, has grown to jUst on 2,000,000 tins, and , it looks as. if regular increases are going to.be made every year." ■''•'.

. In these times of talk of depression knd falling business , it was very pleasant indeed for oui' representative to meet the principals 1 of a concern which is still steadily going pn increasing .its business arioVoutput, arid which*- has realised the*" fact that there is. still much, business to he "got m hard times, but it is not going to be secured by stopping off effort and relinquishing push.; It is fine to. think that this great business was established m New Zealand, is operated by New' Zealanders, and from the original li^'le factory m Christchurch has conVp Suffthe product Which 'must eventually become one of the world's great brands. '.',-'