RJ’s Licorice is a New Zealand business started by the Halliwell family. One bite of the soft, black and delicious treat, and Roger was hooked. Such is the magic of great licorice, that one splendid mouthful became a passion to spread licorice joy to the world.
Q: What is the brand story?
A: RJ’s was established in 1995 by Roger Halliwell. Roger ran this business with his son Regan for 20 years, before selling the business to Tony Quinn. During this time RJ’s have been manufacturing world-leading licorice products out of their plant in Levin.
Q: What is the current product range and variants and what makes these products stand out in the market?
A: RJ’s produce a wide range of confectionery products specializing in licorice, from the highest seller soft eating black licorice to traditional licorice all-sorts, soft eating raspberry licorice, chocolate covered licorice balls, and choc centered licorice. The quality of RJ’s products is extremely high and the company are very proud of this.
Q: What is innovative or unique about the product?
A: As a business RJ’s is continually innovating and seeking new ways to meet the needs of our consumer - both in NZ and abroad. RJ’s specialise in licorice products and have perfected the art of manufacturing a wide range of unique products. For example, RJ’s were the first manufacturers to put chocolate inside licorice. For some of its export customers, RJ’s now sells product in a stand-up pouch that evokes the tradition of licorice but also takes the brand into the modern world of retailing. RJ’s has been working extremely hard on differentiating the company through on-pack claims which include; free from artificial colours and flavours, nut free, suitable for vegetarians, no high fructose corn syrup, kosher and, most importantly, Project Non-GMO certification.
Q: Who is the consumer and what benefit does the product bring them?
A: Interestingly, licorice, whether it be black, red or flavoured, is consumed by a very broad consumer. There is something for everyone in the RJ’s range, even those that say they don’t like licorice.
Q: What consumer trend does the product support?
A: In early 2016 the brand started a project to better understand both its consumer as well as the competition in the countries it exports to. It became clear that RJ’s needed to premiumise and modernise the offer to differentiate RJ’s Licorice from its competition. The goal was to maintain its position of having the world’s best tasting licorice but to also incorporate more of brand New Zealand and what it stood for – RJ’s needed to be the global leader in providing customers with a “better for you” confectionery snack.
For more information please contact Jason Clements (Export Sales Manager) at jason@rjlicorice.co.nz or Amy Law (NZ Sales Manager) at amy@rjlicorice.co.nz or call +64 06 366 0270
