Just what baby needs - food in stages

Dana Mitchell created her own products to fill a gap in the market. Picture / Richard Robinson

Stages frozen baby food has made feeding her children such a breeze that Dana Mitchell often catches herself thinking: "Why didn't I think of that?"

Actually, she did.

And this week, judges at the 2006 Sial d'Or Food Awards in Paris were similarly impressed with the product - awarding it gold for best new product from New Zealand.

"That says we are one of the top new products introduced to the world in the past two years," said Mitchell.

Not bad for a company that's not quite a year old.

Mitchell came up with the idea when she was researching what solid foods she should be feeding her first child, Aiden, now 2.

Preparing endless amounts of baby puree at home was becoming too time-consuming, yet she wasn't happy with supermarket products .

"When I looked at the baby food available on the shelves, the content was simply not as good as I thought it would be for growing babies. And I was often throwing away half a jar at a time, as Aiden would never eat it all.

"I'd try and make my own baby food regularly but there's a lot of work involved; buying the vegetables, then the washing, preparation and cooking, pureeing and freezing. When I'm working fulltime I'd rather be spending time with my husband and kids. I thought there's got to be a better way."

So with her husband, engineer Darcy Sheffield, Mitchell decided to create her own products to fill the market gap she saw for convenient and nutritious frozen baby food.

Being the target market made her early research easy, and a lot of the ground work was done talking to other mums at coffee groups and playcentre.

Experimenting on Aiden, Mitchell found he reacted better to fresh flavours despite received wisdom that babies like bland food.

She also worked with nutritionists to make sure the products met the dietary needs of infants at their various stages of growth.

All Stages products are made from organic produce with no preservatives, sugar or salt.

The idea is they are designed to provide the right food for babies at each "stage" of their development.

Those at the four-month stage are 38g servings of individual fruits and vegetables so parents can introduce different foods and test for allergies.

At six months, portion sizes are increased and recipes are introduced such as quinoa muesli with apples and sultanas; green pea and parsley risotto; and pear and ginger compote.

At eight months, recipes include minted lamb with barley and lentils; blueberry, banana and brown rice with Greek-style yogurt.

The Sweet Sensations apple, date and coconut pudding won the frozen dessert category at the Sial d'Or.

Mitchell was able to get the products from concept to production in nine months, believing it was important to seize the opportunity as quickly as possible before someone beat her. Efficiency was, and still is, the key to the way she works, juggling the demands of being a mother - her second son was born last November - with working a 20-hour week for Xtra as an online product manager and running her other food business, Voodoo Tuesday, on top of Stages.

Voodoo, which makes a range of gourmet herb and spice products sold to restaurants, was set up five years ago, largely as vehicle for the couple to learn the ropes of running a business.

As they were working for large corporates, they felt their business knowledge was quite "insular" and having their own business was seen as having an available exit strategy up their sleeves.

Mitchell is keeping Voodoo, a "tidy" little "low-risk" business, ticking over for now as the couple focus on getting Stages established.

As well as giving them the confidence to make the "mental leap" to start Stages, Voodoo also taught them important lessons, particularly in marketing, to help with the baby food company's speed at getting to market.

Mitchell knew the packaging had to be attractive enough to grab the attention of parents who, research shows, average two minutes in the baby food isles of supermarkets.

Stages is available in 10 Auckland supermarkets but Mitchell will be working to get the range stocked more widely over the next few months.

Outsourcing the food production did not work, so the company unexpectedly moved into its own commercial kitchen in Waiuku this year.

From there, Stages produces about 300kg of product a week, with that amount expected to quadruple by Christmas.

Mitchell employs only one full-time staff member as a lot of the packaging and distribution is still outsourced, but she intends hiring more soon. The facility has the capacity for up to 35 staff, meaning there is room to grow when exports beckon.

The Sial d'Or win could bring those plans forward but, for now, broadening local distribution is the focus as Mitchell knows she will need a lot of advice before going offshore.

Adding more flavours to the range and extending the offering to toddlers is also part of the long-term plan.

Educating customers about the product has taken longer than expected, one of the biggest problems being that many parents don't scout the freezers for baby food.

Still, sales have grown by an average of 35 per cent every three months, and AC Neilsen recently listed Stages as the number one frozen infant food product by sales here.

Taking it in stages

* All Stages products are made from organic produce with no preservatives, sugar or salt.

* They are designed to provide the right food for babies at each "stage" of their development.

* The four-month stage involves 38g servings of individual fruits and vegetables.

* At six months, portion sizes are increased and more food combinations are introduced.

* That is repeated again at eight months.

* Adding more flavours and offerings for toddlers are part of the long-term plan.