Linda Peers knew there had to be better way.
For years, Linda Peers struggled with lactose intolerance, a condition which is associated with uncomfortable gut symptoms. To avoid this, she turned to making coconut milk in her home kitchen as a dairy alternative. By chance one day, she became inspired to try her hand at fermenting it to create a source of natural probiotics called kefir.
She chose to make it the traditional way by using kefir ‘grains’ which naturally contain bacteria and yeast and are reusable. That inspiration resulted in the creation of The Cultured Coconut, a coconut milk–based probiotic kefir, which she originally made for personal use.
Starting small initially, Linda founded her company and hired her older sister in 2015. She began selling the Cultured Coconut at a small farmers market and a few local health food stores. Sales exploded via word-of-mouth, with Peers’ background in marketing also helping grow the company. With national grocery chains knocking on the door, it was time to take the Cultured Coconut to the next level and into a commercial facility. She left the rented licensed kitchen in 2018 and now operates out of a 5,200-square-foot production facility.
“I was making so much product that I couldn’t consume it all myself, so I just gave it away to friends and family.” – The Cultured Coconut founder Linda Peers
The Challenge of Scale
Linda Peers now had a problem that entrepreneurs only dream of – how to scale?
She had done everything right.
She had identified a unique market opportunity, focused on product quality and differentiation, emphasised the health benefits, and participated in business competitions.
In 2023, her company won the Atlantic regional scale-up pitch competition at the Canadian Export Challenge which led to even more exposure.
With national grocery chains knocking on the door, it was time to take The Cultured Coconut to the next level. But fulfilling increasing customer demand comes with a new set of challenges.
Precision Fermentation
There are two strict parameters to heed during the fermentation process, temperature and pH. All fermented foods must have a pH below 4.6 and in the early stages of the product development, Linda’s team had managed to achieve this handily.
Throughout the fermentation process a delta of just a few degrees is the maximum amount of variance, anything greater compromises the whole batch.
Optimising production and consistency between batches would be important for the continued success of the company – enter the Enginuity Automation Team.
Real Time Process Improvement
A large part of that challenge is optimizing production to keep up with demand.
To ensure that the fermentation process would yield a consistent product, the Enginuity team offered a simple solution of installing the temperature sensors directly into the fermentation tanks.
These sensors would send an email to her production manager should the temperature change exceed a specific threshold, giving the operators an increased ability to consistently monitor the fermentation process, even remotely. Using programmed logic in conjunction with Opto 22’s groov Rio allows for additional monitoring. More tanks may be added, or other parameters may be monitored, for example pH.
Today the Cultured Coconut continues to ease the discomfort of tummies in an ever-broadening market. By staying true to its mission, keeping things pure and pre-emptively preparing for inevitably increased demand, Linda and her team are well poised to keep delivering a healthy, quality, lactose free probiotic kefir to all bellies asking for relief.
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@Photo Courtesy of Cultured Coconut
Digital Transformation can be as big or small as you want it to be.
Enginuity Automation & Robotics Engineer, Ahmad Kammonah
One of the many by-products of this technical improvement was the forward-looking ability to scale. Using programmed logic in conjunction with Opto 22’s groov Rio allows for additional monitoring. More tanks may be added, or other parameters may be monitored, for example pH. This is a logical integration for a company that has recently signed with Empire Foods, Costco and is inking deals in the Pacific US market.
Today the Cultured Coconut continues to ease the discomfort of tummies in an ever-broadening market.
By staying true to its mission, keeping things pure and pre-emptively preparing for inevitably increased demand, Linda and her team are well poised to keep delivering a healthy, quality, lactose free probiotic product to all bellies asking for relief.
Need to Scale Production While Keeping Quality in Check?
Enginuity helped The Cultured Coconut maintain product quality as they grew, using a simple yet powerful temperature monitoring system to prevent waste and ensure consistency. Let us bring the same smart, scalable solutions to your business, so you can expand confidently with quality intact.
