70 | Sanitarium Pioneering foodies passionate about food Richard Loader PRODUCTION The much loved and iconic brands of Weetbix, Marmite and Skippy Cornflake are engrained in Kiwiana, but it is the story behind Sanitarium that gave birth to those products that ignites a sense of purpose. At the turn of the 20th century a small band of food pioneers from the Seventh Day Adventist Church, started manufacturing caramel cereal, gluten rolls and bread in a little oven in a little red shed in Papanui, Christchurch. They had a passion for doing good things to page 72 From paddock to plate. Corson Grain is New Zealand’s leading processor of locally grown maize ingredients for food manufacturers and distributors. Flaking Grits | Semolina | Polenta | Flour | Popcorn www.corson.co.nz info@corson.co.nz in the community and changing the lives of Kiwis for the better, particularly around diet by introducing vegetarian eating. In 1907 Seventh Day Adventist Vegetarian Cafés were started in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch to interact with the community and educate people how to prepare vegetarian foods. Sanitarium NZ GM Rob Scoines says when you look back 120 years Kiwi diet was largely meat based and those pioneering ‘foodies’, passionate about introducing vegetarian eating, were well ahead of their times. “The business you see today has come from very humble people, passionate about an idea that still exists today,” says Rob “Although the nature of the Company and Church has changed as society has changed, that was the seed of Sanitarium. That connection and purpose still remains strong.” In 1930 Weetbix was brought into the Sanitarium fold and through the generations has continued to be a basic staple that people trust and rely on. Manufacturing of Marmite commenced in New Zealand in 1945, but prior to that it was imported from the UK in bulk and repackaged as Sanitarium. “Another milestone was the foray into the beverages category in the 1980s. “People know us for cereals and spreads but, in concert with the Australian Sanitarium business, we introduced a non-dairy milk brand called So Good. “We also have a brand called Up&Go, a liquid convenience product brought into the market in the 2000s. Today beverages are at least as big as cereals in our business.” Today, all of Sanitarium’s New Zealand food manufacturing is done in Auckland, with its head office and distribution centre on the same estate.
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