Frenzs co-directors Graeme Carrie (left) and Rob Darby with their brown shaver chickens. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey
We have travelled the country to learn how people are coping with the recession. Watch the video interviews, or send us your own videos and tips, at nzherald.co.nz/go/surviving09
Graeme Carrie unabashedly comes out with the obvious cliche to explain how Frenzs, the free range egg company, has beaten the recession: "We don't put all our eggs in one basket."
Three times a week, a quarter of Frenzs' eggs fly the coop to far-off stores in the United States
and Hong Kong - since 1991 they've exported more than 20 million eggs. "Having our business spread across export and local markets gives us some guard against volatility and vulnerability in any one market," he says. So far this year, Frenzs sales are up 35 per cent.
Carrie, chief executive and co-director of Frenzs since it was formed in 1988, gives two primary reasons for the Pukekohe-based company's success in hard times.
"For one, our consumers are very loyal - we're not losing the market we have. People who buy a reliable product and believe in Frenzs as a very good brand name carry on buying what they believe; they're not easily drawn away by price and other temptations. They are people who believe in true free range and tend to keep those core beliefs," he says.
"Secondly, we've been pretty proactive over the last few years providing for growth plans. Sure, we hit the wall and had to stop and make changes - we brought in more economical packs and more products suited to the times.
"But we were prepared for change."
Frenzs - which has 20 farmers on contract in the warmer, northern areas of New Zealand - has traditionally concentrated on grading eggs to a set size, such as large or extra large.
"We decided we couldn't change the farming business, we could have only 350 hens on each acre of land, so we added a dozen pack to the range and made a 'nest lay' pack - of mixed sized eggs that you would naturally find in a nest. It's more suitable for families.
"We're going to export it, but we wanted to test it on our local market first, and the response has been good."
Frenzs, with 15 full-time staff, was the first New Zealand free range egg company to export, and has built a customer base in California, Texas and Hong Kong. The company is investigating exports to Japan and Dubai, but is tending to expand its existing markets, especially across the US.
Demand continues to grow for the organic, free range and avian disease-free eggs that many overseas suppliers cannot produce. Liquid eggs are being developed for use on boats and the food industry.
"Free range tends to be based on the beliefs of the customer. More and more people are taking the view that it's better to eat less of something good than more of something bad," says Carrie.
"After all, chickens are recession-proof. Grains have become a little bit more expensive and harder to get, but they keep on laying, every day."
