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Janice
Botha is a woman of many talents, with the entrepreneurial spirit breathing
through her every pore. Even at the beginning her life was the stuff
of dreams. Armed only with a Secretarial Diploma, she joined the fast
paced exciting world of film, a career which has held her captive for
the past 24 years, the last 20 of which she has been running her own
commercials film production companies, firstly in Johannesburg and for
the past 14 years, Coastal Connection Producers, the first film production
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in
Cape Town to service international clients coming to SA to produce commercials.
It
was Janice's love of food, however, that led her to her current venture.
Being an enthusiastic amateur cook, she designed, built and opened her own
restaurant in Scarborough, Cobbs at the Cape, in which she remains the majority
shareholder. Three years ago Janice extended this passion to wine, and with
the encouragement of her wine-writer friend, Melvyn Minnaar, she began the
Cape Wine Academy courses and is currently completing her final Diploma
Course. It was during this time that Janice received a cookbook as a gift,
written by Maggie Beer and Stephanie Alexander, two renowned Australian
restaurateurs. It was in her research for her cook books that Maggie Beer
rediscovered "the original acid", used in Medieval times, as a
way of adding zest to cooking, before the introduction of lemons and vinegar.
Maggie then utilised her resources and through many years of experimentation,
she eventually reproduced the original concept, and so Verjuice was reborn.
Janice's
interest was piqued, and she dreamt of introducing Verjuice to the South
African palette. She explained that Verjuice is the unfermented juice pressed
from unripe noble wine grape varieties, used primarily as a culinary condiment
as an alternative to lemon juice, vinegar or wine in cooking. However, it
is delicious as a refreshing drink with crushed ice or soda water. Janice
explains: "Verjuice contains the same fruit acid-base as wine, and
so will not distort the essence of wines served with a meal to which Verjuice
has been added, unlike lemon or vinegar."
Janice
went on to research the production process of Verjuice, with the help of
Australian wine makers who were already producing their own brands of Verjuice.
Armed with the data, she approached a well-known Paarl wine-farmer and asked
whether he would produce it: "Fortuitously, his fiancé is one
of my best friends, so she briefly became my partner in the venture (she
has since resigned from the company due to heavy work and personal commitments)
which helped to twist his arm. He and his winemaker produced a superb Verjuice
from predominantly Pinotage grapes harvested on his farm." Verjuice
was officially launched at a dinner held by the International Food and Wine
Association in March 2002, and the 2003
vintage is being produced at a wine co-op in Stellenbosch.
Along
with her experience in the commercials industry, Janice also asked her wine-writer
Melvyn Minnaar to write the initial media releases, which was positively
received by food and wine magazines. She also did a lot of marketing herself,
visiting many deli's, tasting rooms, farm stalls and restaurants to introduce
her product On marketing she says: "There's no magic formula - just
hard work and lots of talking. I've become a real motor-mouth about Verjuice."
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As
part of these marketing efforts, Janice presented Woolworths with
a couple of Australian samples, who then agreed to sell Verjuice in
5 of their flagship stores. However, based on the exciting media response,
the product was launched in 65 stores around the country! Top restaurants
are now also using Verjuice and even itemising it on their menus:
"I got a great kick out of seeing it on the 2002 Veritas Awards
banquet menu," says Janice.
The
greatest achievement, however, says Janice, is the difference Verjuice
has made to food-lovers around the country: "The emails and letters
that I receive from excited housewives and househusbands are immensely
gratifying and just confirm what I knew when I first discovered it
as an ingredient - that Verjuice makes a remarkable difference to
the taste of food."
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Things
weren't always easy for Janice, however, as harvesting was is an expensive
process and requires extra labour to catch and box the unripe grapes, which
are usually allowed to fall to the ground and rot. The natural sugar in
the fruit also calls for the fermentation process to begin, so it takes
a great deal of skill to prevent this from happening. Janice has also had
plans to use screw-caps for the closure of the bottle, but unfortunately,
being a manual capping process which limited the amount of bottles closed
in a day, Janice was forced to continue using the cork and capsule as the
closure for her 2003 harvest.
Janice
offers the following advice to aspiring entrepreneurs: Firstly learn good
computer skills so that you know how to do everything yourself. Truly believe
in what you are wanting to do, be passionate about it and be prepared to
work 16 - 18 hour days and weekends. And remember: Success is a system,
not a secret!
Janice's
love of food and wine extends to her home life in Scarborough, where she
loves entertaining and spending time with friends and family. She also enjoys
reading, watching movies and gardening, as well as attending a wine tasting
group once a week, and keeps abreast of news events by listening to the
radio.
Janice
has high hopes for the future of Verjuice, believing that it has unlimited
potential, having completely sold out the 2002 vintage and trebled production
of the 2003 vintage to accommodate the export market. London, Hong Kong
Europe and the Arab Emirates have shown great interest and Janice intends
pursuing these markets aggressively. "I predict that within the next
couple of years, no self-respecting kitchen - in the home or restaurant
- will be without a bottle of Verjuice."
