A group of students from Year 12 Business Class at Waimea College pitched their frozen yoghurt project at the Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme.
“There were 41 businesses from the Nelson and Marlborough regions, and we ended up second,” says the 17-year old Meila Picard, who is part of the group with her colleagues Quilah Bruce, Amber Field and Trinity Cooper.
“We went through a lot of planning and different business ideas to get to this one,” says Meila.
They wanted to do something related to healthy eating and sustainability. “So we came up with this and it’s been good ever since.”, she says.
According to Meila, after doing some experiments, they’ve got two flavours which they are happy with: mango, and berry and banana. “We tried to make it as simple as possible. When we look at food labels, there are so many ingredients and there is a lot you don’t understand, so this is made only with three ingredients,” says Meila.
“Our business is called Frost Bite Frozen Yoghurt. Basically, we are making a frozen yogurt, a healthy alternative to all the sugary ice creams. We noticed a gap in the market for this. We wanted to create a healthier version of the ice cream,” says Quilah.
Their first product sales will be next Saturday at the Nelson market, and after that it will be sold at a kiosk at the Waimea College.
“We plan to continue our business until Year 13 Business Studies and I think next year is when we want to try to expand it in to cafes and other kinds of stores”, says Amber.