Creaming it
The Kiwi milk bars taking China by storm
Astring of 1950s-style milk bars serving Kiwi dairy based milkshakes, smoothies and yoghurt is proving to be a smash hit in China.
The New Zealand Milk Bar brand is unknown in its home country. But its owner, Aucklandbased exporter Biopure Health, officially opened its 50th Chinese store in Shanghai last month and has announced plans to have an astonishing 1000 outlets up and running within the next couple of years.
Its two-level, 330 square metre flagship store in the city of Chengdu in Sichuan province, Southern China, features a retrostyle ‘‘milk bar’’ counter, while a retail department sells milk products from New Zealand companies, including infant formula and milk powder.
New Zealand Milk Bar cofounder and managing director Simon Page, said the opening of flagship stores was an emphatic statement by the company that it intended to be a major player in the Chinese dairy products marketplace, selling entirely New Zealand milk products.
‘‘We have now opened more than 50 Milk Bars in 13 provinces of China in the past three or four years and there is huge demand for more,’’ said Page, an IT expert turned entrepreneur, who set up the company with his partner, Jane Li.
‘‘Shanghai was hugely significant because it is China’s most populous and economically important city, with a population of more than 24 million,’’ he said.
‘‘We are growing fast because we have core stores and open up other outlets with partners.’’
The young company is beginning to attract attention thanks to its rapid success. The Chengdu store was opened by New Zealand Consul-General Alistair Crozier at a private ceremony attended by retail partners from around China.
Page and Li formed the business just five years ago after the 2008 Chinese milk scandal, which saw thousands hospitalised by melamine-tainted milk.
As a New Zealander, Li began to get requests from friends and associates to send them milk products which became the starting point for the new export firm. The first New Zealand Milk Bar was opened in 2012.
‘‘New Zealand milk products are still considered by Chinese consumers to be amongst the most desirable and the highest quality in the world.
‘‘But consumers also want to know that the products are manufactured from the best New Zealand milk and are monitored for quality and safety throughout the entire supply chain, all the way to the consumer in-store,’’ said Page.
The company gained registration for its Infapure formula brand in March, under strict new Chinese regulations that require infant formula manufacturers and brands to gain approval from China’s National Certification Authority (CNCA) in order to export. The exported milk products are processed in a Chinese-accredited factory in Auckland.
New regulations saw more than 400 brands of New Zealand origin disappear from the market, unable to secure contracts with CNCA-approved factories.
‘‘We believe the New Zealand Milk Bar is a Kiwi company showing the way in marketing added-value dairy products in China,’’ said Page.
Consul-General Crozier said New Zealand Milk Bar had become very special.
‘‘As far as I know it is the first and biggest New Zealand dairy chain store in China. ‘‘In that way, NZMB is a kind of pioneer for New Zealand-Sichuan relations.’’ Earlier this year, Page was invited to speak ona Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research to discuss the China infant formula market with 30 international and institutional investors.
‘‘It shows there is a strong interest in China still, particularly in consumer ready dairy products, despite news of a general economic slowdown,’’ said Page.
‘‘As China moves to a consumption-led economy, we are confident in the direct to consumer model, whether it be bricks and mortar stores, online channels or both.’’