Transcript
CORNELIA WYLLIE: How it started was the families in Vanuatu wanted to send food back to their sons, daughters, husbands and wives in New Zealand that wanted a taste of Vanuatu or wanted food from Vanuatu. The employers also wanted decent nutrition for the staff because they were either eating two minute noodles or cheaper foods and they were having a very high sickness attendance. So having natural food or nutritious food was a win-win for both sides. The New Zealand High Commission came on board and said is there any way we can export fresh, so after investigating all of the fresh avenues we realised that the keeping a cool chain wasn't going to work and we started going up the ladder of technology and we have now got equipment in from France that works on pressure and temperature to create a shelf stable product.
SALLY ROUND: Is it mainly aimed at that labour market here in New Zealand?
CW: It was originally aimed at the labour market but in the product development phase we also put samples into a restaurant and we found that the expat taste or texture was a little bit different. So we then adjusted the recipe to appeal to the European palate. And now we have both ni-Vanuatu and Europeans saying that this is a meal pack for them.
SR: So how big has your business grown?
CW: If I told you that since November last year we have exported 74 tonnes of a contract product from Vanuatu. So not tuluk but 74 tonnes of product and we have a capacity of 50 tonnes a month.
SR: I guess with more labour mobility in the Pacific, do you see that as a growth area for you?
CW: I not only see it as a growth area, because when we first sent down our first commercial shipment, we thought maybe 1000 packets a month to the RSEs , of which from Vanuatu there were 3,000. When those 1000 packets came down it just went and we found out there were 9,000 Pacific Islanders in the RSE scheme. And they all indicated that they would probably eat 3 packets a week. So we realised that having a line of women grinding by hand, scratching and grinding coconut, we were never going to make the target and that's when we bit the bullet. It is a multi-million dollar investment, there's no doubt about and we still haven't finished investing, because as we keep getting asked for more product or getting other contracts we are needing more space, more equipment, more training. It just doesn't seem to stop.
