Lewis Road creaming it in US
Boutique Kiwi dairy company Lewis Road Creamery has hit the shelves in United States in a deal worth up to US$5 million (NZ$8m) in its first year.
The company has been pursuing a slow push into the United Since for the past 18 months, first appearing in California’s premium organic grocer chain Erewhon and specialty supermarket Central Markets in Texas. Sales took off, with the Lewis Road brand selling twice as fast as it did in New Zealand, founder Peter Cullinane said.
As a result the company caught the attention of Whole Foods Markets, a large US supermarket chain specialising in natural and organic food. The butter is now in 271 Whole Foods stores across 37 states.
Cullinane says the deal is proof of concept for an idea that he founded the creamery on: That New Zealand should be exporting finished branded products rather than commodities for the lowest possible price.
Awareness of New Zealand had grown in recent decades and consequently the US packaging features slightly larger text for New Zealand than the local version does, to capitalise on the fact, he said. ‘‘The interest in all things grass-fed is extraordinary. US consumers are really savvy and they appreciate that there is a significant difference between grass-fed and grain-fed,’’ he said.
The yellow colour of grass-fed butter is a selling point because it contrasts with the pale appearance of US domestic grainfed butter, he said.
The other big selling point was having US GMO free certification, which Cullinane said is huge in
America. ‘‘We take it for granted here. The way US consumers think about it is it’s the first step they apply to food before they ask if it’s organic or anything else. If it’s GMO free, it’s like OK we can play.’’
The butter will be coming up against Irish grass-fed butter brand Kerry Gold, which is the number two selling butter in the US, Bloomberg reported in October last year. But Cullinane says anything the Irish can do, ‘‘we can do better’’. Unlike in New Zealand, Irish herds are kept in barns over winter because of the colder climate.
Westland Milk Products also sells several thousand tonnes of butter under specific brands to the US worth tens of millions of dollars each year, chief executive Toni Brendish said.
She would not disclose the names of those brands.
The Lewis Road butter range will sell for US$6.99 for an 8oz pack, making it the most expensive grass-fed butter per pound being sold nationally by Whole Foods. General manager Nicky O’Rourke said Lewis Road expected to export 400 metric tonnes of butter to the US this year.