Business Central December 2021

| 31 Rangitikei: Speirs Foods REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Delivering healthy freshness to Kiwis T Sue Russell Proudly supporting Spiers Foods with all their laundry requirements. www.apparelmaster.co.nz 06 327 7387 or 0275 992 633 stewart@manawatuam.co.nz A s an essential business, Marton-based food production company Speirs Foods is continuing to produce their comprehensive range of salad and specialist products through the resurgence of the Covid virus, for the New Zealand consumer to access from the country’s two major supermarket chains, Food Stuffs and Countdown. The company formed in the early 1970s by two brothers in the Speirs family, to supply salads for a group of restaurants. Soon, a Whanganui supermarket saw the benefits that would flow from providing its customers with the salad mixes, bagged up and supplied fresh. The rest, driven by a strong innovative vision, is history. The raw ingredients that form the basis of the wide range of salad mixes are grown on farms in the Rangitikei district, under contract to Speirs Foods. Quality and Compliance Manager, Gareth Lewis says the company nimbly handled moving into lockdown conditions for working at the factory. “We had a comprehensive plan in place to manage working under the strict guidelines of Level 4 and our staff have been integral to us being able to successfully continue produc- tion,” says Gareth. Over the years there has been a really strong move by consumers towards wanting to buy convenient and healthy locally sourced food. Speirs Foods supplies consumers with plenty of options, from bulk products at supermarket delicatessens to its ‘The Whole Mix’ range of salad kits, snack pot salads and grab-and-go salads. Speirs Foods also produces Own Brand products for the supermarkets. In 2018, the innovative nature of the business was recognised at the New Zealand Food Producers Awards for its Spiralised Vege Noodles. Shelley Gower, Finance Manager, says that key to the company’s success has been an ability to respond to shifts in consumer eating trends. “We’re very interested in identifying these trends, often driven by the younger genera- tion who these days are much more open to the benefits that come from eating a diet rich in plant-based foods.” Gareth says that when he started working at Speirs Foods consumer demand was for more heavily dressed salads but when people started experiencing ‘cafe-style’ salads, they wanted the option to purchase food of similar look and quality Speirs Foods has a team of 84 working from its Lower High Street, Marton, facility. “We’re always open to opportunities and we understand we’re operating in a very compet- itive market, so adapting to what the market wants is vital.” The factory operates two shifts five days a week, to keep up with demand and to ensure products produced and packaged at the site arrive at their destination in the freshest pos- sible condition. “We know that consumers demand fresh, high quality, products and so our processing systems are geared to be very fast, with mini- mal handling of the vegetables.” “We had a comprehensive plan in place to manage working under the strict guidelines of Level 4 and our staff have been integral to us being able to successfully continue production.”