12 | Taranaki: Van Dyck Fine Foods REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Thumbs up in Aussie for baked treats Kim Newth Van Dyck Fine Foods CEO Natalie Innes joined a trade mission to Australia led by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. CentrePort – the port of choice for Central New Zealand CentrePort proudly supports Van Dyck Fine Foods Proud supplier to Van Dyck Fine Foods 0800 22 56 56 www.hardypackaging.co.nz | info@hardypackaging.co.nz Natural Sugars NZ Ltd: A major supplier to the food, beverage, Viticulture, Apiculture and Agriculture sectors. 100% NZ owned and operated, we source high quality ingredients, namely sugar and oil, from across the globe to New Zealand and export customers. L1, 56 Parnell Rd, Akld +64 9 377 7009 info@naturalsugars.co.nz www.naturalsugars.co.nz Founded in 1999 by Belgian immigrants Inge Vercammen and Marcel Naenen, Van Dyck Fine Foods is an award-winning market leader in the grocery and food service arena. With a focus on the Australian market, the large Taranaki business is on a fast growth trajectory. Hotplate baked to perfection in a fully automated plant at Bell Block in New Plymouth, Van Dyck Fine Foods’ products include light and fluffy pancakes and pikelets, sweet minis, savoury blinis and crepes. Fast frozen after baking for easy thaw-back, products are sold under the Van Dyck brand – Marcel’s Pancakes – as well as into private supermarket labels and other contract brands. The scale of production is impressive, with over 15 million pancakes a year being produced from just one of their production lines. Over the past two years, the company’s focus has shifted from being predominantly New Zealand to predominantly Australia. Van Dyck Fine Foods CEO Natalie Innes says this is not because the New Zealand market is underperforming. Far from it, as the company has achieved record sales in New Zealand over the last two months. “What we are seeing, though, is dramatic growth in sales in Australia. We have really turned a corner now to a point where Australia is our biggest market and there is a lot of further growth potential for us there too. Our mini product – petite pancakes, or pikelets, and blinis – are some of our higher sellers in Australia, where they’re a popular choice for school lunchboxes and for entertaining.” Natalie observes that NZ Trade & Enterprise has been pivotal to the company’s success in the Australian market by providing insightful market research, assistance in the digital space and other expertise that supports their growth strategy plans. In July, Natalie joined a trade mission to Australia led by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and involving 31 leading New Zealand businesses. “It was the first time I’d been to Australia since Covid and it was a real boost to finally have those face-to-face meetings again with our distributors and customers there. The NZTE team did a great job of getting us up to speed with what was happening in Australia, what the future looks like and what we need to be thinking about going into that market.” Singapore and Taiwan are among other buoyant export markets for Van Dyck Fine Foods, with demand particularly strong for their grocery product. Natalie observes that the rise of Covid drove a massive transition in demand from food service into grocery across all their markets. “We were able to move fast and adapt to meet that changing demand. We now also see massive opportunity ahead as the food service side – cafes, hotels and catering - starts to find its feet again.” In New Zealand, the company has experienced strong growth in sales into the aged
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