Jan 8 SeasoningStix Update:
Here’s the most recent information on Seasoning Stix:
Summary
"Another delay. We are going significantly out of pocket to fix these issues. As soon as the new pump arrives air freight from China we will be back into production. We are very sorry for the delays, but we are 100% committed.
The Details
As we indicated in our last update, we planned to begin production at the factory location a couple of weeks before Christmas. We spent the two-week period before Christmas making sure everything was on site. With everything on site we traveled to the factory in Florida to begin production. While we started producing and spent the holiday away from our families in a hotel room in Florida, we had to stop production due to several issues.
These included:
Seasoning Mixes - We have been very careful to source all of our seasonings domestically from reputable companies. We have been adamant about this as we are committed to only using the finest ingredients. With this in mind, we were shocked to find the shipments contained onion powder that was not listed in the ingredients. While, of course, not posing any food safety issue, the added ingredient threw off our formulations and confused us for a few days until we figured out the situation.
Ovens – After ordering and spending tens of thousands of dollars on special low temp convection ovens from the premier industry manufacturer, we found out that some of the spacers on the ovens were off center, causing some of the pans to fall through onto some of the other pans, ruining the product. It only affected some of the ovens, but we were still pretty shocked considering the ovens were produced domestically by a very large and reputable company.
Baking Sheets – The sheets we are using a special in that all are coated with a high tech, non-Teflon (PTFE) non-stick product. The pans are produced by another U.S. company and cost $25 each. We require approximately 800. That’s more that $20K of pans. When these were delivered, it was pretty shocking to find a high defect rate in these products. Many had scratches and fingerprints under the special coating, requiring us to send many back. The manufacture is replacing, but still pretty shocking that such a premium product would have such defects.
Mixers and pumps - As we have indicated several times, we have invented a new process to produce Seasoning Stix. The process requires very powerful food grade mixers and pumps. While we were able to begin production, we quickly learned producing at volume significantly overtaxed the mixing and pumping technologies. So much for the advice of our engineers, who we expected to know better.
How are we fixing these issues:
Seasonings - We have fixed the above outlined issue. The supplier has agreed to replace all incorrectly mixed products, with new batches. We are having samples sent to ensure the quality is up to your standards. We never thought we would have to go through this step as we selected some of the most reputable suppliers in the industry, but it is something we are just going to have to implement from here on out.
Ovens - We hired a local fabricator to evaluate the oven situation. Replacement ovens would be an additional four to six weeks away, so the solution is to weld custom-made brackets into the ovens. This is currently being done.
Mixers and pumps – Additional checks were written to modify the mixing and pump situation. The new motor on the mixers is one of the most powerful available for its size and it has been mated to a high torque producing transmission. We are now convinced there is no material existing on earth that we will not be able to mix. We also modified the pumping process through the purchase of a specialized pump that we had designed by a company in Shanghai. It is boarding a flight over the next 24 hours on its way to the factory. It is super expensive to air freight a 220 kilogram (484 pounds) pump from China to Miami and then truck it an additional 300 miles to the factory, but that’s what we are doing.
It is important to point out that food grade mixers, pumps, and other specialized equipment must be engineered to be completely sanitary. This requires extensive use of stainless steel and specialized plastics to ensure food safety, which adds not only to the dollar costs, but also extends the timeframe for manufacturing as these units are usually made only to order. Added costs are incurred when the specialized units are needed within a very short timeframe, as is our situation.
The Bottom Line
We are behind, but still 100% committed. We are super upset relative to these delays as we wanted to be on time with this project. This is not a “homemade” project be any means. We are working with very experienced fabricators and engineers on all of this equipment, so it is especially upsetting to us to have these set backs. They point out to us, however, that we are breaking new manufacturing ground, but it still doesn’t make us feel a whole lot better.
Our monetary outlays on this project exceed the amount we have raised on Kickstater and Indiegogo by a very significant degree. The new round of capital investment for the new motors/mixers, augers, customized pumping technology, and the oven modifications easily total tens of thousands of dollars. Prior to these additional expenditures, we had already been well underwater. Fortunately, we have outside financial resources to fix all of these issues and deliver on our commitments.
On the bright side, the number of retailer and investor inquiries we are receiving remains very strong – one of the major TV shopping channels, several major store chains/food brokers are all in the works. We even have a quite famous tech entrepreneur pushing us to take in an investment and push product into an already distro channel. As we indicated in previous updates, we have put all of these on the back burner until our fundraising delivery commitments are complete.
So, we remain very hard at work and will keep you posted. As soon as the pump arrives from China and it is mated to the mixing technology, we believe there is nothing that will not be able to mix and pump and we immediately be back at the factory site resuming production.
Thanks for you patience. Back to work.
Kathy and Team ? "
I'm pro SGMD, but I'd like a Stix update from Chan.
