58 | Smallgoods champs with a team of 30 Current market conditions are excellent with sausage sales up. Beard Brothers has grown significantly since its founding by CEO Rob Beard in 2015. Rob’s journey began in 2012 with Wild Game Salamis, his first venture into smallgoods. As the focus shifted towards sausages, the business evolved into Beard Brothers—named in honour of Rob’s three sons, Max, Ned, and Sam Beard. Rob, a former viticulturalist, is a self-taught butcher and smallgoods maker. Rob says: “I’m a keen hunter. I taught myself how to make sausages. I had a few butchers show me how to do things and help me out”. Based in Hastings, Beard Brothers is a medium to high-end smallgoods business with a team of 30. The company specialises in fresh, frozen, and precooked smallgoods crafted from the finest local produce. Every product is made with pure ingredients, natural casings, premium seasonings, and contains no added MSG, no filler meats, and is gluten free. The product range includes a variety of precooked sausages, three types of frozen sausage rolls, fresh sausages made from beef, pork, lamb, or venison, a selection of gourmet sausages, two styles of Boerewors sausages, and fresh beef patties. Current production averages 35–40 tonnes per week across all product lines. Rob leads Beard Brothers’ product development. Rob states: “I come up with all of my recipes myself. I’ll go for months without any inspiration and then I’ll come up with some ideas, and then I’ll test them out in-house. My sons are crucial to product development—they give honest feedback”. Rob adds: “Product development really excites me. It really spins my wheels”. Beard Brothers has nationwide distribution across New Zealand, with products sold through Foodstuffs, Four Square, New World, Pak ‘n’ Save, Gilmours, and Trents. Giving back to the community is also a priority, with Beard Brothers donating stock to foodbanks through its supermarket partners. Rob managed all distribution and partnerships on his own until three years ago, when he brought salespeople on board. Rob reflects: “I grew the business by focussing on customer service. The quality of the products is also key”. T T Nicki Woodlock Regarding what distinguishes Beard Brothers from competitors, Rob says: “It’s our recipes. It’s our service. It’s the quality of our products. We keep really humble and keep our feet firmly on the ground”. Current market conditions are excellent with sausage sales up. Rob states: “We’re not seeing any slow down. In 56 days I’ve had only 2 days off. It’s a lot of hard work. We do a lot of travelling around New Zealand in May, June, July, and August. We travel to see customers across New Zealand. We have barbecues outside with the owners”. Rob adds, “We also have four demonstration ladies that work five days a week across New Zealand”. Beard Brothers is experiencing unexpectedly high demand for its precooked sausages, driving rapid growth in the category. In just five weeks, production has scaled from 50 kilograms to 2.2 tonnes per week. To cater to demand, Beard Brothers is currently expanding its precooked sausage range, with three new flavours now available: Beef, Bacon & Chunky Cheese; Pork & Watercress; and Beef & Chicken. Rob explains: “They are convenient. They are perfect every time. They don’t split. They cook through properly. They are great on a barbecue”. Future plans include global expansion. Rob states, “I want to export venison salami to the United Arab Emirates, and I want to expand into the Australian market”. Beard Brothers FOOD PRODUCTION Proud to support Beard Brothers We cover the whole process chain with our innovative solutions for processing and packaging food products. Sales • Service • Training 0800 696 858 info@multivac.co.nz multivac.com/nz MULTIVAC New Zealand ATI ENGINEERING LTD Proud to support Beard Brothers Fancy lettuce & Cos lettuce | Watercress | Mesculun www.gtgreens.co.nz | samuel@gtgreens.co.nz | Twyford, Hastings GT Greens is a premier producer and supplier of fresh hydroponic table greens. Our mission is to deliver a reliable supply of quality fresh hydroponic produce 365 days of the year with zero harm to people or the environment. all year round enjoy fresh
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