About the company
Maynard's company was established in the early 1800's in Yeovil, Somerset, to manufacture a range of handmade sweet and savoury traditional products. By the late 1800's the business had expanded into restaurants and outside catering. Today, Maynard's is still privately owned and has grown into a multi-million pound frozen food business based in Taunton, Somerset. They manufacture desserts and vegetarian products primarily to the catering market with a wide customer base throughout the UK. This includes the Cash and Carry trade (egs. Booker, Makro and Landmark), Food Service distribution (egs. Brake Brothers and Cearns & Browns) Direct Food Service (egs. Unigate and Debenhams restaurants), retail (egs. Asda and Safeway) and Maynards' own-branded products which make up components of other companies.

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About the product
Maynard's premium hand finished, baked cheesecake is a 'menu cycle product', commissioned by Whitbread Inns to sell in their restaurants under their 'Brewers Fayre' logo. It is a novel product in that it contains an injected swirl of strawberry not previously manufactured.

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About the design and development process

Dec 1999

• Whitbread Inns request a new cheesecake for the coming summer menu
• a general brief is provided for Maynard's Account Manager and Development Manager with a target retail price of £4.93

Jan 2000

• ideas are generated and gathered, with a maximum of eight to be pursued
• market analysis is carried out and logistical, cost and other implications considered

Feb 2000

• feasible product ideas are made in the development kitchens
• new ingredients needed are sourced
• flavour profiles and internal reviews are carried out
• packaging/palletisation and distribution are considered
• concept costings are calculated
• technical and quality control expertise is brought in, and HACCP introduced
• the product is trialled in the factory and necessary adjustments made
• shelf-life and labelling are considered and quality control parameters set - the product has an 18 month shelf life from date of manufacture when stored at less than minus 18 degrees C

March 2000

• cheesecake is presented to the customer (Whitbreads) and accepted
• the first production date is set and guidance on quantities required is sought using annual sales predictions
• purchasing and development managers and other technical staff examine various stages over two days and do any necessary troubleshooting
• Whitbread representatives are also present and produce a report about the process and product (looking at process control, baking, portioning, packing, quality parameters and finished product in particular)
• samples are taken for testing in an external microbiology laboratory
• slight alterations are made to the specification where necessary and the strawberry sauce deposit heads adjusted inwards and preventing dripping noticed during the trial

April 2000

• product available to customer

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About the manufacture

The following flow diagram shows the unit operations in the manufacturing process.

Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake Manufacture
BASE		FILLING BATTER	SWIRL SAUCE
Biscuit crumbs measured into foil tray		Ingredients weighed	Ingredients weighed
Compress crumb base into tray		Mixing	Mixture heated
Batter deposited onto base
		Inject sauce into centre of batter
		Placed on racks and baked in a 4 rack, gas-fired rotary oven (40 cakes per rack)
		Cooled, then blast frozen
		De-foiled and cut
		Packaged, labelled, batch coded, metal checked and palletised

The ingredients list for the Strawberry cheesecake is: Medium fat soft cheese (35%), Sugar, Strawberries (17%), Wheatflour, Pasteurised whole egg, Wholemeal, Modified maize starch, Water, Hydrogenated Vegetable oil, Flavouring, Modified tapioca starch, salt, Vegetarian Whey Powder, Stabiliser (E415, E410, E407), Raising agent, Acidity Regulator (E330), Emulsifier (E471, E475), Preservative (E202), Colour (E120).

The key ingredients (the soft cheese and strawberries) are declared according to their percentage content of the cheesecake, in line with new food labelling rules. These rules require the provision of information about the quantity of certain ingredients in foods. Generally, any reference to an ingredient in the name of the product (ie. Strawberry Cheesecake) will trigger the QUID rule (Quantitative Ingredients Declaration). So, these named ingredients have to be given in the form of a percentage.

The product specification includes:

• a description of the product (base, filling and components), being a New York Vanilla style Cheesecake batter with cream
• storage conditions (frozen)
• defrost instructions, whole and per slice (eg. do not re-freeze)
• best before date

A detailed product description is issued to Whitbreads stating:

• target weight and tolerances
• actual weight and declaration
• height to shoulder of cake
• height to the centre of the cake (allows for a slight dip)
• 18 outer sauce injection spots, 14 pots and 8 inner spots
• shelf life of 18 months from date of manufacture
• number on a pallet (240)
• price

Stephenson weighing system for measuring out ingredients	Vessels for mixing batter

Foils with cheesecake bases	Batter is deposited in measured amounts onto the bases

Injection of strawberry swirl into cheesecake batter	The stawberry sauce is swirled by hand using a two-pronged fork

The foils are placed on trays and baked in a four-rack rotary oven	Frozen cheesecakes are defoiled ready for cutting and packaging

Frozen cheesecake is cut into ten portions each	A collar is placed around the cut, frozen cheesecake prior to bagging and boxing

Frozen, cut and collared cheesecakes are packaged in blue freezer bags prior to boxing	Boxing of frozen cheesecakes - note that, since these are for the catering trade they need only a functional, plain package

Boxed, frozen cheesecake is conveyed from high risk packing area, through metal check for batch coding	Boxed, frozen cheesecakes are coded and palletised (240 per rack), ready for storage and despatch

This particular cheesecake is usually manufactured one day a week during the 2-10pm shift where 1200 to 2000 cheesecakes are made. As such it is described as a batch process, even though many aspects of it are on a continuous line. The mixing and cooking operations are batch only, but the freezing and packaging operations are carried out on continuous conveyor systems.


A product packaging batch-coded report is produced each time for the purpose of traceability (to trace work in progress throughout the manufacturing process to finished product). This includes details about how many cakes are cut, how many are rejected, who counted them and signed them into the cold store. The report is date-stamped by the team leader.

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About the marketing
The original recipe has recently been adapted by the medium fat soft cheese being replaced with Quarg. This is a 0% fat soft cheese and results in a lighter, reduced fat product.

Maynard's are developing two new recipes for their own 'Fairways' brand, launched in August 2000. These are a Blueberry Toffee Cheesecake and a Caramelised Peach Cheesecake. A further eight different recipes are being formulated to present to Whitbreads later in the year ready for inclusion in their winter menu. These are likely to be an adaptation of the current product with a winter theme and may include chocolate.

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About issues and values
Consistency of quality in mass-produced food products is important because consumers expect an identical sensory experience each time they eat a particular food. If products are not as expected, consumers may exercise their choice not to make a repeat purchase which has implications for the manufacturer. Consistency can be achieved in numerous ways, egs. by standardising ingredients, proportions, size, shape, texture, flavour and unit operations. Quality assurance procedures are used throughout the manufacturing process to check that the product is within the quality parameters set for it during the design and development stage.

Another way that manufacturers maintain quality is by use of additives, egs. colourings, flavourings, thickeners etc. The use of these standard components gives them greater control over the finished product. However, consumers may be concerned about the widespread use of additives in processed foods. In particular, their cumulative effects on health. Consumers may want products of a consistent and high quality, but may not be prepared to pay the price for this with their health. There is an increased awareness of food, health and diet issues and manufacturers have a role to play in producing foods using methods and ingredients that take account of this. They may give particular thought to whether to use additives and which to use.

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Making use of the case study - things to think about and do
Using this case study for the following tasks will help to develop your understanding about:

• product development - designing for the retail, catering and food service markets
• industrial practices - manufacturing, unit operations, systems and control
• quality control and quality assurance, HACCP
• values issues - possible differences between the consumers' and manufacturers' perspectives