Five years ago Nigel and Christynn Jacobs decided to start a jam company.
The couple respectively had careers as a food technologist and food marketer.
“We moved to Ceres 11 years ago because I got a job opportunity at a major food company. Christynn later took a job as a food technologist at a different company.” Nigel pointed out.
The pair always knew they would start their own business one day.
“In 2018 we finally decided to start the company. That May our company was registered. We continued working our jobs that year so that we would have the chance to exercise our business plan while we were still earning our salaries,” Nigel said.
Jacobs Jam started in the couple’s kitchen, where Christynn would test various recipes and, two years later, they started building their factory.
“We had to get loans to be able to build,” Nigel continued. “We launched with only three products – apricot, strawberry and pomegranate jam. The pomegranate jam was unplanned. My wife was busy making apricot jam, but ran out of apricots. She wanted to continue cooking and decided to use the pomegranates. I remember telling her it would’t work and she said she would prove me wrong. And she did. It is the only pomegranate jam we’ve heard of.”
They have since added mixed-fruit jam to their inventory and will also make single-portion jam sticks, which will be available next month.
The Jacobses have been trying to get their products sold in Checkers for a while now.
“We have been knocking on Checkers’ door with no success. Then one of its employees tasted our jam and went straight to a Checkers buyer and said it needed to stock it. The buyer also tried the jam and liked it. That is when the supermarket contacted us.”
Jacobs Jam is now available at 20 Checkers stores across the Western Cape and will soon be available at Spar and Pick n Pay stores.
“We are elated,” Nigel declared. “All the hard work finally paid off.”
He also attributes the business’ success to help received from the South African Government and Western Cape Department of Agriculture in terms of funding and a grant. The pair use only fruits grown in the Western Cape.
They also have a few new products planned for the near future.
“We are looking into developing a sauce range very soon,” said Nigel.
On why they chose jam: “There are few things more South African than jam.”
