Goedgedacht Trading's products were previously only available through leading retailers. “It was time for Goedgedacht Trading to focus on building its own brand,” says Rob Templeton, whose father, Peter, co-founded the Goedgedacht Trust near Riebeek Kasteel with his wife Anne, in 1993.
It is from the name 'Goedgedacht' that the new brand's look and feel was derived. “The word goed in a local context means good and we’ve always wanted this brand and this company to do goed in our communities, on our farm and for our consumers,” says Rob.
The heart of the Goedgedacht Farm are the olive trees planted on its slopes. Olives were chosen as the preferred crop because of their resistance to the impact of climate change on the West Coast.
“It takes the olive tree years to bear fruit,” says Rob. “And when that happened there would need to be a business to process those olives into oil. That is how the idea for the trading company came about.”
In 2003, Rob, under the guidance of his father, established Goedgedacht Trading. The first harvest produced 4L of extra virgin olive oil, and today the business produces over 50,000L of extra virgin olive oil from the 33ha of trees on the farm.
A guiding light in Goedgedacht Trading’s journey to quality was the 2016 appointment of Michael van den Langenbergh, now the factory manager. During his 13-year career, Van den Langenbergh has made extra virgin olive oil for several of South Africa’s top producers and beaten some of the top producers in the world to win awards in the US, Israel and Italy.
An important part of working at Goedgedacht is mentorship, and a few years ago Van den Langenbergh started handing over oil production to Brendon Geduld. “He has done an awesome job and reminds me a lot of myself when I started. I see a long and good future for him in the industry,” says Van den Langenbergh.
Goedgedacht's extra virgin olive oils are renowned thanks to the awards they have won. These oils are now available online along with a diverse range of related products, including table olives, olive paste and fruit-infused oil-free salad dressings.
Proceeds from the sale of these products go back into the Goedgedacht Trust to enable the NPO to build vibrant, thriving, self-sustainable rural communities in South Africa.
Derick Botha, the designer responsible for the vibrant goed branding, says he wanted the new look and feel to capture the goed brand’s "feel-good, happy vibe".
“The brand is focused on helping communities to thrive. Goedgedacht Trading has been operating for 17 years supporting the Trust, all geared towards giving back and helping those in need. It is deeply rooted in heritage and has many stories to tell about the vision, the farm and the people. We wanted to create a visual language that encapsulated that," Botha says.
