Colcom ‘blames’ new machine for making small pies

Consumers of the colcom pies have been up in arms with the manufacturer from as late as last year.

The complaints were and still are that Colcom pies now have smaller meat than before.

A social media storm has been brewing and refusing to disappear as consumers demand a better product for their hard earned money.

The company, however, had been turning a deaf ear until recently when the complaints went into overdrive.

Yesterday they issued a statement on their official Facebook page which basically blamed new machinery for producing the smaller pies.

“We are naturally very concerned by the complaints and criticisms that Colcom’s pies are “not what they used to be”. Whilst this is true, we would like to clarify the changes that have been made, and the reasons therefore,” read the statement.

It continued “In August 2015 Colcom commissioned a new, largely automated plant to replace its previous aged and inefficient plant to increase production capacity required to meet the increase in demand.

While it was anticipated that the new plant would be able to produce similar pies, in practice this was found not to be the case.

“At the same time, we were increasingly conscious that a large proportion of our customers were asking for a more affordable pie.

“In order to achieve this, the plant was designed to produce a 100-gram pie, which at that time retailed at 39 cents to replace the previous 120-gram pie which retailed at 60 cents. (The current retail price for Colcom’s 100-gram pies, three years later, is 50 cents).

The company also said that it has trebled production to meet the substantial and growing demand for the pies owing to the upgraded pie manufacturing facility.

Said the rest of the statement:

We have listened to our customers and are well aware that there is a segment of our pie customers who would like to see the return of the “original” Colcom pies.

Whilst maintaining the original Colcom pie has been the objective since the commissioning of the new pie plant, and we have committed significant resources to achieve this result including seeking the assistance of international technical experts, it has until now not been possible to replicate all aspects of that product.