1. CHOCOLATE SWEET POTATO
FROSTING PROPOSAL
Phoebe Unger
NOVEMBER 13, 2017
DUGGITA’S COOKERY
427 E. Duggita Ave., Boise, ID 83703
2. Dear, Management Team
My name is Phoebe Unger and am currently a product development intern here at
Duggita’s Cookery. I believe that we currently have a strong presence in the baby food market,
but I believe we can expand our market. By adding a new product, Chocolate Sweet Potato
Frosting. This product will give us a foot in the dessert market, and be appealing to people
looking for healthier options to original chocolate frosting. There are two ways of implementing
this product into our current processing. One is using the old equipment from the old baby food
desert line, which would provide all the machinery. The second option would be to use our
current process line for baby food one day on the weekend, which could be weekly, or monthly
depending on how much product is being sold. This product would be processed liked sweet
potato baby food, but before the heat exchanger, it would be mixed in the mixer that is currently
used for mixed fruits baby food. After the mixer it would then be processed normally, but filled
in to bigger containers. There would not be significant capital cost to implement this new line,
but there are operational costs. One day of processing would cost the company $58,752 including
the labor, energy, ingredients, and packaging. The company will only need to sell 15,502 units
out of the 27,200 made to make a profit. This product could potentially make the company
$44,335.42 off each day of processing. The baby food that is currently being sold is only making
us $30,000 of each day being processed. My recommendation would be to implement the second
option to produce Chocolate Sweet potato frosting, by using the current line with minor
adjustments to the sweet potato baby food. I urge you to continue reading and discover the
process and benefits from the process in detail.
3. Justification
This new product line is necessary to our company because it will help expand our
variety of products and potentially reach new consumer that do not know about our company.
This product will put our name in a dessert market which we are currently not a part of. The
target market for Chocolate Sweet Potato frosting would be people looking for a new healthier
alternative to regular chocolate frosting. This is the perfect product because it will still give
consumers a sweet chocolaty frosting, but with less sugar and fat, and more vegetables. Another
target market of this product are vegans and those exploring vegan options, because this product
won’t be containing milk or butter, which frosting normally contains.
This product could also potentially replace the old product line of dessert baby food,
which was dropped due to low sales. Chocolate Sweet Potato Frosting could also utilize the
excess capacity that we currently have in our facility. There is a whole processing line of
equipment that is currently not being used due to the discontinued line of dessert baby food.
Description
Currently at Duggita’s Cookery, we are producing top of the line baby food made from
fruit and vegetables purees. These products are currently being aseptically filled and hot sealed
in a resealable pouch, with a screw top. The most similar product to Chocolate Sweet Potato
Frosting that is currently being produced in our facility is sweet potato baby food, which is a
sweet potato puree. The Chocolate sweet potato frosting will be taking this product before the
heat exchanger, and adding semi-sweet chocolate chips to the hot mixture, and then passing the
product through the heat exchange, after the chocolate is melted and mixed in with the sweet
potato puree. No new equipment would need to be purchased for addition of this new product.
4. The mixer needed to blend the semi-sweet chocolate chips with the sweet potato puree would be
the same mixer that is used to make mixed fruit baby food, such as strawberry banana. The
packaging will also be different from the baby food packaging, instead of 4-ounce resealable
pouches, the sweet potato frosting will be packaged in 24-ounce resealable pouches. They will
however have the same size nozzle and cap, so they can be filled with the same aseptic filling
machine.
The sweet potatoes will be first taken in from the shipments, and stored in a large storage
facility for up to 6 months at a temperature of 13-15 degrees centigrade with a 80% relative
humidity. This facility already exists and is where the current sweet potatoes for baby food is
being stored. There is more than enough room to double the capacity that it is currently holding.
The potatoes will then be moved by truck to the loading bay, where they will be dumped and
sorted throughly to remove possible contaminations like sticks, dirt, and vermin. After they are
sorted they will be then shoveled into the Tummer washing line for processed vegetables, This is
done at 75 pounds per a minute using two people. This machine first makes the sweet potatoes
go through a dry washing that removes all the dust, and possible stones from the product, it then
does wet washing, that cleans the dirt that is stuck on the potatoes, and then puts the product
through a quick air-drying tunnel which removes excess water from washing. The sweet potatoes
come out this machine at about 75 pounds per a minute then travel on a conveyer belt where they
are inspected manual by workers who remove any sweet potatoes with deformities. The sweet
potatoes that make it past inspection then fall on to another conveyer belt which runs through the
“GEA-CFS” type FLC 10000/600, a hot air oven. This machine bakes 75 pounds of sweet
potatoes per a minute. After they are baked, the potatoes travel on another conveyer belt, which
leads them to the Carborundum SKC Peeler, a mechanical peeler with abrasion. They cannot go
5. through a wet blancher because it would ruin the texture of the sweet potato. After they are
peeled they poured on a conveyer belt, about 50 pounds per a minute where they are manually
inspected for any flaws that may have been under the skin. The conveyer belt then drops these
potatoes into bin, once this bin is reaches 150 pounds, it dumps it into a large-scale food
processor, and then starts getting filled up for the next batch. The potatoes in the large-scale food
processor are still hot from the oven, and keep their warmth due to the metal mixer they are in.
This pureeing usually takes about 3 minutes. After the potatoes are pureed they moved to a
mixer, 100 pounds of semi-sweet chocolate chips are added where they are gentle heated, and
thoroughly mixed. Once they have formed a smooth mixture the mixer is dumped into the feeder
of the transfer pump that sucks up the frosting, and pushes the product through a tubular heat
exchanger. This heat exchanger uses counter current flow, hot water is going the other direction,
and is being reheated by passing in between hot plate and heats the sweet potato frosting up to
121 degrees centigrade. This heat exchanger produces roughly 85 pounds of chocolate sweet
potato frosting per a minute. The product is then pumped into the aseptic filling machines, which
will fill the resealable pouches, and place the screw caps on them. These products after they are
filled will be cooled, and then boxed in cases of 24.
6. Figure 1: Chocolate Sweet Potato Flow Chart
Blue: Minor Adjustment to existing Processing Line
Black: Current Processing line
: Step removed for new process
Storage Sorting Washing Manual
Inspection
BakingMechanical
Abrasion + Peeling
#2 manual
Inspection
Blending
Heat Exchanger AsepticFilling Boxing
Storage
Mixing
7. Figure 2: Budget for Implementation of Chocolate Sweet Potato Frosting
Option 1: Use Old
Equipment from Previous
Pine
Option 2: Minor Alteration
of the Existing Line
Monthly Cleaning $500 per day in production
($2000 a month/ four day a
month=$500)
$0.00 (currently already
happening, no added cost)
Sweet Potatoes $5,400 per day $5,400.00 per day
Chocolate Chips $50,000 per day $50,000 per day
Packaging $2,176.00 per day $2176.00 per day
Maintenance Labor $400.00 per day $400.00 per day
Processing labor $592.00 per day $592.00 per day
Energy Increase Cost $0.00 (grandfathered in) $0.00 (grandfathered in)
Total cost per a day of
operation:
$59,068 $58,568
Units made per a day: 27,200 units/day 27,200 units/day
Cost per unit to make: $2.17 $2.15
Sale price per a unit: $3.79 $3.79
Profit: $1.62 per a unit $1.64 per a unit
How many will need to sold
at retail price before profit?
15,586 units at $3.79 15,453 units $3.79
*(A day is an 8 hour work day, Monday through Friday. The first option would operateonce a week during theweek day, and the
second option would operateon Saturday’s when theplant is normally closed.)
The implementation of this product would have no capital costs because we will not need
to purchase any new equipment. The equipment that we currently own can be used for this
8. product. For the first option, the old equipment from the baby food dessert line would be used,
and this has all the machines that are needed to produce Chocolate Sweet Potato Frosting. The
second option would be to use the existing line and take the sweet potato puree, and add
chocolate chips, blend it, then continue to the heat exchanger, and package using the same
aseptic filler as the baby food.
There are however operational costs for the implementation of this product. These costs
are essentially the same for the first and second options, except there will be more upkeep cost
for the machines for the first option because they are currently being not being deep cleaned
monthly, like the current lines’ machines which cost $400 a month. The company will also need
to purchase semi-sweet chocolate chips, more sweet potatoes, the packaging for the product, and
pay for labor. The processing facility would not have any extra energy cost because the deal they
made with the city, that was grandfathered in, so they always pay a set cost for energy. So, this
product would cost $2.17 to produce each unit if the first line is implemented, or $2.15 if the
second option is implemented. It will be then turned around and sold on the market for roughly
$3.79, which is competitive for healthier frostings, because organic frosting usually goes for
$4.25 a container. This new product will cost use $1.00 more per unit than the baby food, but we
will make a $1.64 more per a unit.
It will not take long for the capital outlay to be recovered. A little over half of the product
made in a day would need to be sold to cover the ingredients and operating cost. Overall, I
believe the second option, using the current line with minor adjustments on Saturdays is the best
option for our company. I believe that this product will help our company make a large profit in
a short amount of time by just by adding on step into our process.
Thank you for your time, Phoebe Unger
9. References
Fresh Sweet Potato Price Ton 70gr Up - Buy Sweet Potato,Fresh Sweet Potatoes 70gr Up,Sweet
Potato Price Ton Product on Alibaba.com. (n.d.). Retrieved October 14, 2017, from
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Fresh-sweet-potato-price-ton-70gr_60716294479.html
L., Y., N., S., P., J., R., N., P., J., C., G., . . . W., K. (2017, February 09). Pure Semi-Sweet 4M
Mini Chocolate Baking Chips 25 lb. Retrieved November 14, 2017, from
https://www.webstaurantstore.com/pure-semi-sweet-4m-mini-chocolate-baking-chips-25-
lb/711CHOCHIP4M.html
Ramirez, G. P. (n.d.). Cultivation harvesting and storage of sweet potatoe products. Retrieved
October 19, 2017, from http://www.fao.org/livestock/agap/frg/AHPP95/95-
203.pdfhttps://www.uline.com/BL_620/Clear-Plastic-PET-Round-Wide-Mouth-
Jars?keywords=food+packaging
Washing lines for processing fruit and vegetables. (2017, August 23). Retrieved October 21,
2017, from https://www.potatopro.com/tummers-food-processing-solutions/washing-lines-
processing-fruit-and-vegetables
