"I joined the incubation program of ITDI late last year, which allowed my company, SPRIGS Food and Beverage Co., to use ITDI facilities and to obtain technical support for the ITDI-developed mango rolls at a subsidized rate," said Jahn.
Because it did not have to invest in equipment, the company has been able to get by with an initial capital of P500,000 instead of the P3 million required in a similarly-sized operation.
The bulk of the company’s investment has gone to the purchase of the main ingredient, mango puree, which is spread on sheets and baked until solid. The resulting mango leather is then cut into strips and rolled.
"Unlike dried mango, there are no traces of fiber sticking out in puree. Mango leather also has a shelf life of about a year," said Jahn.
"I was looking for a strawberry-based product when I visited ITDI. When I saw their mango leather technology, I decided to try that first and work with them in eventually developing strawberry and, maybe, pineapple leather in the future," said Jahn.
SPRIGS is the second producer of mango rolls under ITDI’s wings. Under the ITDI set-up, the company had to wait until the first producer had moved to its own manufacturing site before being accepted into the incubation program.
"While we were waiting to get into the program, we refined the technology and came up with a product uniquely ours," said Jahn.
Based on its agreement with ITDI, SPRIGS can stay and use its facilities for a maximum of two years. After such a head start, the company is expected to have generated enough money to put up its own plant, making room for others who would like to start their own businesses, not necessarily mango rolls production but using technologies developed by ITDI . At any point in time, ITDI has space for less than ten companies under its incubation program.
"Fruit leather has big export potential. In fact, they already make fruit leather in the US but they cannot produce enough even for their own market," said Jahn.
SPRIGS intends to sell its mango rolls in the United States at the suggested retail price of $3.25 per 135-gram pouch or nine mango rolls and $0.36 per 15-gram piece of individually packed mango roll. Because there is no shipping cost, the local retail price will be lower.
This early, SPRIGS is already thinking of investing in machinery and more manpower. It is also looking at expanding into other fruit leather products.
"We are still actually in the market testing phase but we want to be ready with our product once the orders start coming in," said Jahn.