Food Factory opens for businesses
A purpose-built factory for budding food businesses has officially opened in Nelson with three tenants in place.
Called The Food Factory, the development at Stoke consists of four commercial food-grade kitchens, warehouse and chiller space, staff amenities, and a presentation kitchen to enable the food and beverage entrepreneurs to display and wow visitors, customers and other interested parties.
Startup Mad Melon, which processes and bottles watermelon juice, is one of the three inaugural tenants along with two businesses aiming to increase in scale – Little Beauties, which processes and packs dried feijoa, kiwifruit and boysenberries, and organic food deliverer Fresh2U.
To be operated as a charitable trust, The Food Factory was spearheaded by Pic Picot, of nearby Pic’s Peanut Butter World, who is one of four trustees. The other trustees are business leaders Julian Raine, of Oaklands Milk, and Mark A’Court, of FreshChoice Nelson, along with public relations and communications consultant Debbie Hannan.
The $2.1 million project attracted $778,000 from the Provincial Growth Fund as part of a $4.5m investment package for the top of the south that was announced in August.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced the funding in August and was back in Nelson on Friday for the official opening of The Food Factory.
He acknowledged Picot’s idea for the development and the work involved to bring it to fruition so quickly.
‘‘It’s actually quite emotional to be in this place this morning and to be able to say: ‘You did it’,’’ Tabuteau told the crowd at the opening. ‘‘I’m so glad that I could be here today with ... all of you to celebrate, to say congratulations to those amazing risk takers who have already put themselves into the kitchens.’’
New Zealand needed such ‘‘entrepreneural risk-takers’’.
‘‘Our hard and early health response to Covid-19 means the economy is fully opening up and so it is crucial to find new ways to stimulate our economic recovery, including supporting our innovators and entrepreneurs,’’ Tabuteau said. ‘‘The top of the south region is known for its high-value horticulture products, as well as artisan products such as cider, cheeses, olive oil and baked goods.
‘‘The Food Factory is an enabler for business development for those entrepreneurs with a vision for their products and a penchant for small business success.’’
Mad Melon director Jamin Brown said food manufacturing legislation and marketing could be complex to understand when starting out.
‘‘Already, The Food Factory has exceeded my expectations of helping us work through these requirements and strategies,’’ Brown said.
Fresh2U owner-operator Lucy Maxwell said before The Food Factory, she had been operating her business from a ‘‘cramped old shed’’ on a farm at Appleby.
That shed had muddy surrounds, occasional floods, broken windows and ‘‘no easily accessible toilet’’.
‘‘From that to this: a brand new and clean building, amazing facilities; it’s such a fantastic progression professionally,’’ Maxwell said.
Already delivering 140 to 150 boxes of organic produce a week to customers from Picton to Hokitika, Maxwell said that she hoped to grow her business, ‘‘now that space is not an issue’’ and there was easy access for courier companies and customers.
As Fresh2U grew, Maxwell hoped to take on new produce suppliers, encouraging the growers to ‘‘take the leap into organics’’ and helping them navigate organic and Ministry for Primary Industries’ regulations.
‘‘This is a win-win for Fresh2U, the growers and Nelson-Tasman residents alike, not to mention the soil, rivers and wildlife,’’ Maxwell said.
Little Beauties managing director Rob Simcic said the company was selling its dried fruit through about 150 stores across New Zealand and to customers around the world, to US and Japanese markets in particular.
‘‘We’re on a mission to create the world’s finest dried fruit right here in Nelson,’’ Simcic said.
‘‘We’ve been struggling to meet the demand, and we needed a site where we could focus 100 per cent on product development and product finishing and The Food Factory has come around.’’
Picot said he was very pleased to have The Food Factory open and thrilled to have attracted tenants so soon after moving from Covid-19 alert level 3.
‘‘It’s encouraging that these businesses have optimism for the future and their products in this Covid economic recovery phase,’’ he said.
As well as supporting each other, tenants of The Food Factory also had the mentor support of an on-site business manager to help navigate the vagaries of the marketplace.