Guacamole maker dips into Oz market

Graeme Laurence, general manager of Pukekohe based guacamole maker Fressure Foods. Photo / Supplied

Pukekohe guacamole maker Fressure Foods has landed a deal with Australian supermarket giant Coles which this month has seen its products hit the shelves of more than 800 Colesstores.

General manager of Fressure Foods Graeme Laurence said the initial order of about 15,000 cases to fill up the stores was a 30-40 per cent boost to business.

"For us to get into there is a real vote of confidence by the Australians," Laurence said. "We're obviously stoked about it, getting into Coles."

The deal with Coles was the company's first win in Australia and would bring production up to a full capacity of about 60 tonnes of finished product per month.

More than $6 million had been invested in the company, including additional equipment to speed up production which would increase capacity by 25 per cent from December, Laurence said.

Fressure, which employs 45 fulltime and casual staff, was planning to launch a new range of food-related, predominantly avocado-based products within the next six months.

"We're an avocado business but we're not constrained by avocado because of the technology we have here, with the high-pressure pasteurisation we can do all sorts of products, you can put anything through the machine."

The company, based at Paerata near Pukekohe, started manufacturing in November last year and its 250 shareholders are predominantly growers.

"There's always hiccups but fundamentally the business has got strong customers, blue chip customers and we've got a fantastic crop this year, a world-class product ... and a good team of people out here in Paerata."

A start-up, high-technology food processing company that wants to export is capital-intensive, according to Laurence.

"It's a very hungry business and there's high upfront overheads and quite high ongoing overheads. Balanced with that is the need to find customers quickly and dealing with supermarkets around the world is not as quick as you envisage," Laurence said.

"The process is up to 12 months of quite a lot of negotiation."

Fressure supplies supermarkets, food service and hospitality businesses in New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong, with customers in Malaysia and Korea waiting for supply available from the additional capacity in December.

The company's product was at least 96 per cent pure avocado whereas many other products were overly processed and not fresh, Laurence said.

"Our product is as good as you could make at home."

Fressure, which sourced its avocados in New Zealand, was expected to operate profitably this month and for the 12 months ending June 30 next year, said Laurence, and was looking to double capacity within 12 months.

Fressure foods

* Guacamole maker.
* Based near Pukekohe.
* Employs 45 people.
* Exports and domestic sales.