In hotdog heaven

That humble Kiwi icon, the much revered hotdog, has been given a 21st century twist thanks to Jo and Brent Williamson. But there’s a lot more to the Howler Hotdogs story than just a battered sausage on a stick.

By Glenn Baker.

You can’t really call yourself a true Kiwi until you’ve experienced a classic Kiwi hotdog. You know what I’m talking about. The ones they serve up at events Kiwis traditionally gather at – the speedway, A&P Show, the horse races – or down at the local fish ‘n chip shop.

It’s big, crispy, juicy, and decadent; and best served dripping in good old ‘train smash’. Yum!

Hotdogs have largely remained unchanged over the decades, until now; until the arrival of Jo and Brent Williamson’s Howler Hotdogs that is.

Jo, a trained psychiatric nurse, and husband Brent, who both grew up in Ashburton, describe themselves as “serial business entrepreneurs” in the food and hospitality industry.

The Christchurch-based couple’s modus operandi over the years has been to take an average business and stir in some extra value. Brent’s first business was a takeaways; since then there’s been a B&B (in Hokitika, where Jo did her nurse training), two Robert Harris cafés (Invercargill and Timaru), picking up a Franchise Association of New Zealand Franchisee of the Year Award along the way.

The Howler Hotdogs journey began in 2009 when Jo and Brent purchased Golden Goose in Christchurch – a business producing and supplying hotdogs and complementary fast-food products to the local takeaway market.

Jo and Brent saw an opportunity. They entered into a research and market validation programme through The Icehouse Business Growth Hub in Auckland to reinvent the hotdog for the retail market.

That research revealed that consumers had very fond memories of hotdogs and liked the convenience of food on a stick leaving one hand free, but had no awareness of a hotdog brand and they don’t like frying food at home. Jo also wanted to try out new ingredients for hotdogs, without breaking too much from tradition.

After much experimentation, the first range (Original Dogs and Cheesy Dogs) of oven-bake hotdogs appeared in retailers’ freezers under the Howlers brand.

A key component of the made-over hotdogs was the use of an ingredient which prevents the uptake of fat; making the product healthier and easier to handle.

“Getting past the perception that a hotdog has to be fried was one of the first hurdles,” recalls Jo.

An added driver to improve New Zealand’s hotdog offering was Jo and Brent’s son Todd, who has Crohn’s Disease. The goal was to create a ‘takeaway treat’ that would be agreeable with his digestive system. He loved hotdogs and so a gluten-free (GF) range was launched at the end of 2009, which today includes donuts, hotdogs, battered fish and Southern-style chicken.

Jo remembers the overwhelming response the GF products received at their first trade show. “One woman was literally in tears because she hadn’t eaten a donut for 20 years.”

Business shake-up
For Jo and Brent, the biggest test of their business was triggered by the February 2011 Canterbury earthquake. Their manufacturing facility was just four kilometres from the epicentre and the jolt sent a wave of hot (180-degrees) fat from their frying line all over the floor. “It was like a swimming pool of hot fat,” says Jo. “Miraculously none of our staff were injured, but we got out of there pretty fast.”

What followed was 18 months of “survival mode”. The local food service market was in turmoil and the couple had lost many core customers, such as AMI Stadium, overnight – core business that had been helping fund new product development.

But the earthquake wasn’t going to put a complete dampener on proceedings. Jo and Brent made the most of various support seminars put on by the local Chamber, and Capability Development funding provided by the Canterbury Development Corporation. “We also spent time doing more homework,” says Jo. “So when cash became available we’d be ready to go.”

While the quake was a major setback, the Williamsons faced other challenges too – such as the reluctance by Asian takeaway owners to include gluten-free fast food on their menu. “We couldn’t convince them that people were prepared to pay more for gluten-free versions; and that our products were about social inclusion.

“That’s what really started our journey into retail,” says Jo, “along with all the requests from people wanting to know where they could buy our product.”

Today Howler Hotdogs and GFTreets are stocked in New World and Pak ‘n Save supermarkets, and are about to be trialled by Countdown. Gluten-free products represent 15 to 18 percent of total sales.

With a ‘three-tier’ approach to hotdogs, Brent and Jo have recently added their new gourmet ‘Mini Haute Dogs’ to the mix, based on premium New Zealand meats that are “an ideal accompaniment to craft beer”. Other new products are under development, and 2016 is proving to be their biggest year for momentum.

Learning curves
While Brent manages the plant, Jo handles admin, marketing and sales, and is chief product developer. (Surprisingly, there’s still time to pursue personal interests outside the business – for Brent it’s beekeeping, while Jo focuses on personal development.)

She says the big lesson in becoming a food manufacturer is ensuring you make products people want to buy, rather than creating what you think is a great product, then going out and trying to sell it.

Market validation and lean start-up principles have been crucial to their success, adds Jo. The latter referring to the “research well, fail early, limit damage” approach.
“Lean start-up is used a lot in the IT industry, but is equally applicable to food manufacturing. It’s about making a product customers want and are prepared to pay for in sufficient numbers to give you a viable business unit.”

Success in food manufacturing is not just about having the right product, it’s also about having the right distribution channel, Jo says. For a small manufacturer, even with a superior product, that’s a challenge.

Moving from retail and hospitality into manufacturing has been a major learning curve for Jo and Brent, with new legislation to keep them on their toes.

“There are a lot of romanticised stories around food and beverage out there, but the reality can be very different,” says Jo. “I feel like we made a lot of mistakes in the first five years, and progress was at times frustratingly slow.”

But, despite past challenges the couple are incredibly upbeat about the future and where the business is heading. “Having now rebuilt the foundation of the business the results are really starting to come through,” says Jo.