‘Banjo’ plays top tunes for Carob Kitchen

About 20 years ago, inspired by Mrs Solomon's brother-in-law Andrew Gebhardt, they decided to plant carob trees, to supply his carob syrup business at Burra.

But before the trees could reach maturity, a change of focus at the Burra operation caused them to change their target market.

Ms Richards, a wine marketer by trade, joined the operation, helping build the fast-growing business The Carob Kitchen.

She briefly considered selling the product as a high quality stock feed before deciding to look at the health food sector.

"The quality of the beans and the taste was sensational so we wanted to pursue further markets," she said.

They started out with three products in the Pure range - kibble pieces, syrup and raw powder - in 2012.

"The quality of the powder was so good compared to any other imported product so we decided to try making confectionary," she said.

They linked in with a chocolatier in Vic to start producing bars.

From the start Ms Richards ruled out using palm oil, preferring cocoa butter in the process.

Mrs Solomon said this was a good decision when looking at their target market.

"We didn't ever want to use it; it would have been cheaper but it wasn't a way we wanted to go," she said.

Mr Solomon said one big win was an unused mould of a little bear at the processor.

"We had been looking to do a smaller product," he said.

The little bear was nicknamed Banjo and Mr Solomon said it had "really taken off".

Mrs Richards said carob bars and the Banjo bears were The Carob Kitchen's biggest sellers, with the bears worth about 40 per cent of their sales and the bars about 20pc.

"The branding of the bears is what we've been known for," she said.

Mr Solomon said the "almost immediate" success of the bars really surprised them.

"We'd focussed on the syrup and had slow growth but nothing like the bars," he said.

The Carob Kitchen stocks three flavours in the bars - milk, almond and mint - with the fourth, coconut, about to launch.

The Carob Kitchen is also launching into new markets.

After covering most of Australia through independent stores and health shops, about 1.5 years ago they started selling in New Zealand.

Ms Richards said the trans-Tasman market was similar to Australia, and brand labels could stay the same.

They are also breaking into the Northern Hemisphere.

In mid-October the first load of stock arrived in the United Kingdom.

The three travelled to England in April to take part in European trade shows to test the market.

Ms Richards said this was a chance to show people the product.

"When you mention the word carob people went cold, but when we allowed people to taste the product and see it, we had a huge amount of interest," she said.

"We're working with (an importer) who wanted to grow the brand the way we did here, in health shops and independent supermarkets."

Mr Solomon said they originally considered carob while thinking about retirement plans.

"It seemed unattractive to invest in pure superannuation," he said.

"We decided to invest in something for my retirement which I could also enjoy in the years preceding retirement."

Mr Solomon said timing was key to their success.

"People were looking for a healthy product and we had something different," he said.

Ms Richards agreed.

"I think if we'd done this 10 years ago instead of five it would have been much slower," she said.

"It was perfect timing with people looking at what they're putting in their mouths, how much sugar, and how it's processed."