Best Commercialisation of Intellectual Property in International Business

BurgerFuel Worldwide has a single mission: engineering the ultimate burger experience.

The company was established on 1995 and now has 34 stores worldwide, most in New Zealand and one in Australia, three in Saudi Arabia and three in Dubai.

Chief executive Josef Roberts and Dubai-based founder Chris Mason are focused on further expansion in The Middle East, with Master Licence agreements in place for Egypt, Iraq and Bahrain.

BurgerFuel not only exports its brand, vision and 21 flavours of burger, but also the wares of some of its Kiwi suppliers such as 100 percent pure New Zealand ground beef, ice cream and Phoenix’s organic drinks.

Exports include batch-brewed tomato relish, tonnes upon tonnes of New Zealand ground beef to the Middle East alone, and recycled, recyclable and biodegradable packaging made in Christchurch.

Mr Roberts says through the process of exporting, BurgerFuel has transitioned from a burger factory to an ideas factory. “BurgerFuel is a specialist exporter, marketing agency, product and systems design house, construction management advisor and intellectual property merchant.”

The company has developed a toaster (the Bunmaster 2000) and an avocado dispenser (the Avo-matic) to add to an impressive array of custom designed BurgerFuel equipment which is bought by each new store from BurgerFuel headquarters.

“We own these ideas and have executed vertical integration so that we are also benefitting financially here in New Zealand,” Mr Roberts says.

The BurgerFuel system employs around 500 people in New Zealand and has 2,584 shareholders after its float on the New Zealand Stock Exchange in 2007.Revenue in 2011 – the company’s first year of profit since going public - was $8.3 million, of which $2.1 million was earned offshore.

EverEdge IP was founded when chief executive Paul Adams came across the concept for a new collapsible food container. Recognising the potential, Mr Adams established a team of experienced engineers, marketing experts and IP managers to commercialise the technology. They called the product CrushPak® and it has now shipped more than 400 million units globally.

EverEdge IP then recognised the potential in helping other New Zealand companies deliver their innovations to the world.

EverEdge IP has advised, represented and delivered to over 140 clients – ranging from large corporates to individual inventors. It specialises in intellectual property (IP) commercialisation, management and advisory services. It identifies, funds, develops and commercialises both its own and its clients’ intellectual property. It also offers counsel, valuations, portfolio management and facilitates intellectual property transactions.

EverEdge IP has successfully licensed its own and its clients’ intellectual property in every continent except Antarctica. It recently signed a deal with the largest dairy company in China, Bright Dairy.

The company also won the Supplier of the Year title from the world’s largest dairy company, Danone, beating more than 5,000 other Danone suppliers.

“As they are a licensee of CrushPak, this is the ultimate testament to the success of our product and their satisfaction with the product,” Mr Adams says. Other clients include Coca-Cola and medical equipment suppliers Covidien.

CrushPak® delivers food products with a thick or viscous consistency to customers in an easy-to-use pack without spoons, satisfying growing demand for “on the run” foods.

CrushPak® requires up to 30 percent less plastic to generate the same packaging strength, resulting in substantial cost savings for manufacturers and a much smaller environmental footprint. EverEdge IP is continually on the lookout for new innovations to take the world.

About 10 years ago Auckland company EasiYo approached Westland Milk Products looking for a commercial source of very high quality skim and whole milk powder which would be suitable for its do-it-yourself home yoghurt kit.

There was a considerable amount of innovation required on Westland’s part in order to get its plant to yield powders which set correctly into yoghurt when combined with EasiYo’s yoghurt culture.

Seeing the potential of the product, Westland’s research and development team devoted considerable laboratory time and rounds of testing to fulfill all of EasiYo’s very specific powder requirements. 

Considerable intellectual property (IP) surrounds this innovation and Westland is now the world leader in producing powders for this application.

Westland’s chief executive Rod Quin says the plant innovations proved to be a strong strategic and commercial fit, Westland decided to buy EasiYo. The purchase created an integrated vertical supply chain from the farm to the customer.

“With sales of EasiYo projected to increase rapidly within three years in line with a push into Italy and selected Asian markets, the development of IP surrounding EasiYo powders has been a very successful commercial exercise for Westland.”

There are 1.4 million EasiYo yoghurt makers in homes around the world and, although never patented the inventor’s secret recipe – built around Westland grass and a probiotic culture blend– continues to delight consumers.