| 45 Sue Russell Vegetable based goodies in high demand Greenmount Foods is experiencing year on year growth. Tauranga: Greenmount Foods REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT www.greenmountfoods.co.nz LEADING NEW ZEALAND FOOD MANUFACTURER Food Manufacturing Specialist Rigorous Quality Control Processes Save Labour, Time and Wastage Specialist food industry project engineers & project managers. Proudly supporting GreenMount Foods www.apexeng.co.nz | 06 877 0148 Food manufacturer Greenmount Foods is breaking new ground in the production of vegetable based ‘goodies’, it’s marketing under the brand Kai Pono. The business has two manufacturing centres, one, concentrating mainly on production of protein-based stocks, glazes, sauces based in Mt Maunganui and plant-based food manufacturing, in Hastings. Leah Purcell is the Hastings HR and Health & Safety leader while Rochelle Ham oversees the Hastings facility. Rochelle says Greenmount Foods is experiencing year on year growth in sales and she puts this down to the foresight of directors who chose to invest in new processing technologies, enabling more vegetable-based food goodies to be produced. And most exciting of all is the development of their Kai Pono range, which sees raw vegetables processed only slightly and turned into a range of three flavoured vege balls - Pea & Mint, Beetroot & Plum and Smoked Chipotle Sweet Potato. “The idea for these little bundles of nourishing goodness came from our sales team who worked with our R & D people to develop the concept. We wanted to create something that gave a nod to the quality of our local vegetables and that could be used in a number of ways,” Rochelle explains. Innovation is at the forefront of how the business continues to evolve, with a strong focus on strategy and creating future opportunities. “The Kai Pono range of products mean good honest food and we’ve been delighted how our customers, such as Bidfood, are experiencing increasing demand for this range from their food service customers.” Preservative-free and only slightly processed with a special batter both ladies think they are on to a winner with this new offering. Outreach into the global market is also very much on the horizon as the business looks at lucrative markets such as Australia, Japan, Singapore and the United States. Gluten Free is the next big evolution, according to Rochelle. “We understand there is more and more interest from consumers to move away from highly processed protein based foods and a significant proportion of the population now either choose, or for health reasons, have to be gluten-free.” And with an eye to the future, the company may, in time, look at developing a retail range, though they both agree this needs a lot of planning. COVID has also impacted, but not so much on the production side, as the company supplies many large-scale industrial players around the country. Where the pinch was felt was with staffing levels, with at times, only half the team on board. The Hastings factory has a team of 45 staff and has been operational for over 25 years Like most businesses, the challenges from COVID still remain, with the labour shortage affecting recruitment. “While a manufacturing background is beneficial, we don’t need people with experience, just the right attitude and work ethic,” says Leah. “This is a great little business to be involved in and there’s a very bright future ahead. We are also very big on looking after staff because we want to retain them once we’ve invested in their training,.” Rochelle sasy that it is satisfying to see such a level of interest coming from large overseas markets. “I think with the technologies we’ve developed of late and continuing to evolve there’s every opportunity for us to grow considerably more and that’s a really good feeling.”
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