Wattie’s celebrates 90 years in Hawke’s Bay

A saucy celebration of Wattie's 90 years as a Hawke's Bay and New Zealand food producing icon.

It was about as Wattie’s as it gets at Tomoana Showgrounds on Sunday as the iconic Hawke’s Bay food giant and almost 2000 of its family celebrated 90 years since the company was founded in Hastings.

It was designed as a fun day for about 900 fulltime employees and their families, to celebrate the legacy established by Sir James Wattie as Hawke’s Bay bounced back from the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake.

Wattie started a small factory just three years later, making jam, irked that an Auckland company was going to source its jam pulp from Tasmania.

The rest is history, including the fire of 1962 that destroyed two thirds of the by-then substantial factory and plant, the industrialist’s New Zealand Honours recognition with the CBE in 1963 and knighthood three years later, the fact that Wattie’s became the country’s most recognisable food brand, and his passing in 1974 at the age of 72.

Thus it was with the fruit of his endeavours that the day was celebrated – lots of Wattie’s rich tomato sauce and the sausage sizzle, burgers, Wattie’s spaghetti toasties, Wattie’s Crisp Golden Chips and drinks that included a Wattie’s peach mocktail.

To keep the show rolling, there was live music, a photo wall, face painting, a magician and bouncy castles, giant games of quoits, Jenga, cornhole and Connect Four and 45 long-service awards presented by Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst.

Managing director Neil Heffer said the company is “immensely proud of Wattie’s tradition, and its evolution”.

“This is a chance to celebrate and honour our staff who champion Wattie’s quality and values every day,” Heffer said. “Many of them have been with the company for decades, or from generation to generation.”

Among them were Matt Duncan, with 31 years’ service, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, who worked on the harvesters, tractors and fleet vehicles, and his mother and father, who also worked at Wattie’s. He met wife Rodina at Wattie’s, and the eldest of their four children did a stint with the company.

Duncan said some of his earliest memories were of “hanging out” in the corridors during school holidays with the children of other staff, waiting for parents to finish their shifts.

The Wattie's 90th birthday celebration at Tomoana Showgrounds, Hastings, on Sunday.

He started as an operator on the factory floor, and is now a “process owner”, managing complex recipes such as canned sauces and soups, but his favourite, he says, is the baked beans.

Some of his proudest moments came when the company and staff responded to the plight of those affected by Cyclone Gabrielle, as management delivered food parcels to stricken families at marae and temporary shelters.

Frozen goods shift leader Kushla Paku says among the earliest memories she has of her 22 years is seeing women coming out of retirement for six weeks each year to work the seasonal line – hard work, wearing gumboots on a concrete floor, without complaint despite every reason to do so, but a work-ethic inspiration Paku lives to “this day”.

She was the third generation of her family to work at Wattie’s. Her grandmother worked with Sir James Wattie, who she says treated them all like family. Her husband works there, and her three children have worked there.

“Every day you come through the gate is another good day,” Paku tells her team. “Who else loves their job like this after 22 years?”

The tradition – Wattie's 90 years celebrated, and the birthday cake.

In true birthday tradition, a giant cake was cut and shared.

According to informed sauces, er, sources, everyone left with a smile on their face with lots of great memories made.