Bowalley Free Range marketing and brand manager Anna Craig (20) relaxes with a flock of hens on her family's free-range farm. Photo / Shawn McAvinue
Anna Craig knew it was the right time to get cracking and launch a new brand to market the free-range eggs produced on her family's farm in North Otago.
The Lincoln University agribusiness and food marketing student said she was "torn" about how to spend her summer break.
She could spend it working on her family's 450ha farm in Herbert, about 20km south of Oamaru, or seek work elsewhere, which might look better on her CV.
She returned to the farm and set herself a goal of launching a new brand to sell some of the eggs laid by about 30,000 free range shaver chickens there.
"I've been working all summer to create Bowalley Free Range."
The farm growing its own grain - a mix of barley, wheat and rapeseed - to feed the chickens.
The hen's manure being used as a base fertiliser on farm paddocks.
Her family was proud of its farm and wanted to share how it operated, she said.
In a bid to be as transparent as possible, a QR code was on Bowalley Free Range cartons so customers could scan it to watch a live stream from three cameras, located in and outside the chicken shed, to see the high level of care given at any time of the day.
After the eggs hit supermarket shelves, she went on a road trip across the South Island to introduce herself to buyers, and tell the story behind the product.
Since the launch, about four times more eggs had sold than expected.
Consequently, the family had been working extra hours grading eggs to meet demand.
She had questioned if she should return to begin her final year of study in Christchurch this week.
The brand was "taking off" but she kept reminding everyone the new business had been operating for less than a month.
Rather than making any hasty decisions, she would continue her study and collect sales data, review it in six months to decide how to evolve the business.