14 Apr 2011 Ububele buys So Gourmet

So Gourmet, renowned in South Africa for putting sexy into condiments with its So!Go brand, has been bought by Ububele Foods, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ububele Holdings, the food group listed on the Altx of the JSE.

The So!Go brand was founded in Cape Town in 2000 by entrepreneurs Francois and Jane te Water Naude. Their vision was a range of condiments, sauces and dressings that looked as good as they tasted – and the world liked their innovation, pioneering cosmetic-styled packaging into a rather drab-looking sector.

Packed to the highest international standards in innovative, eye- catching packaging, the So!Go taste revolution and flair for design saw demand grow internationally. Their range started out with So!Go Extra Virgin Olive Oil and So!Go Balsamic Vinegar, and has today expanded to 35 lines of condiments, sauces and dressings.

In 2003 So!Go won a silver award for packaging in the South African Gold Pack awards. It was a finalist in the Exporter of the Year awards in 2004 and 2006 and winners in 2005. In 2005 So!Go won the Gold Award for product design at the Fancy Food Show in New York. In 2009 it was a finalist at the Design Iindaba’s “ Most Beautiful Object in South Africa competion.

Today the So!Go range is represented in over 30 countries.

Says founder Francois: “There are feelings of sadness – as it has been a most stimulating and exciting journey to launch a fine food brand into the international arena and we have enjoyed travelling the journey. Feelings of excitement – as we have always known that there would be another chapter to the So!Go brand. Ububele has a much larger footprint than we could ever have achieved and we know that it has the capacity, skills and resources to take the brand to the next level. We know that everyone will ultimately benefit from this new venture.

“We will continue to be the brand’s most active consumers and supporters and we look forward to watching the ‘high road’ where Wayne [new GM] and his team take the brand.”

Francois adds that he and Jane we will take some time to “Go on and live a little and then we will certainly be up to something exciting. Can’t keep creative entrepeneurs idle for too long!”

Says Wayne Keating, new general manager: “The addition of “SoGo to the Ububele Group marks the commencement of the company’s growth strategy and will allow us to take our services and product range to a higher level.”

The Ububele Group is a food processing and agri-services business that reverse-listed into the Milkworx shell in 2009. You can read more here