Ageing plant shuts its doors for the last time

The final curtain has been drawn on one of Western Bay's most established and biggest food-processing operations - with more than 50 staff having to find new jobs.
Most of the production at Allberry House in Owens Place, Bayfair, stopped at Easter and the last of the processing equipment will be shifted to the new factory in Auckland next week.
A small team from Tauranga has been helping with installing and commissioning equipment in the bigger factory at Mt Wellington.
The staff were given more than a year's notice that Allberry House, established in 1979, was closing.
The ageing processing plant in Tauranga had supplied all the fruit-flavoured toppings for McDonald's desserts sold in New Zealand and Australia. That production is being transferred to a Heinz factory in China.
At the time of the closure announcement, all 73 staff at Allberry House - owned by Delmaine Fine Foods - were given the opportunity of moving to Auckland with the same business. A Delmaine spokesman, who did not want to be named, said about 20 staff took up the offer.
"They were the younger ones without housing commitments. The others were paid redundancy and most of them have found jobs.
"We gave them plenty of warning and it has worked out well over time," he said.
"Losing the McDonald's contract had nothing to do with closing the Mt Maunganui factory.
"When a customer like McDonald's wants to change its supplier, then all the pleading in the world and the history behind the business means nothing," he said.
The spokesman said the difficulty Delmaine had was developing the Mount facilities.
It needed to spend millions of dollars to upgrade the cramped processing plant and it was located alongside retail and residential activity.
Instead, Delmaine elected to convert an existing building in Auckland. It is also closed one of its two factories in Christchurch.
Over the past 30 years the Tauranga food processor has had several owners, and it changed its name from Newmans Quality Foods to Allberry in early 2004.
Allberry House made fruit ingredients for yoghurt, ice cream and flavoured milk, toppings, fillings, sauces, syrups and juice concentrates, and supplied the beverage, bakery, fast-food and food service sectors.
Allberry House's annual turnover climbed above $20 million last year, after hitting $7 million in 2002, and during that time production increased from 40 tonnes to 180 tonnes of product.
Rejection frustrates old factory's owner
The owner of an old food-processing factory at Bayfair, caught between a rock and a hard place, is appealing a city council decision that declined an application for re-zoning from industrial.
BOP Holdings, which owns the large site in Owens Place housing the former Allberry House operation, wanted the property to be completely commercial - but the City Plan Hearing Panel rejected the request.
"Nothing is happening on the industrial front; it's as dead as a doornail," said BOP Holdings director and co-owner Fred Barrett, of Tirau. "The neighbours may be stuck with a toxic old factory when it could be replaced with a couple of smart furniture stores which everyone wants."
The 8742sq m site was in two lots, one side alongside Harvey Norman and the HomeZone Shopping Centre zoned commercial, with the majority of the property still industrial.
BOP Holdings has advertised the property for sale, and Mr Barrett said there was "absolutely no interest in taking over the factory".
But two large-format furniture retailers wanted to move in.
"They don't want to go anywhere else and Harvey Norman is fine with that," said Mr Barrett.
"It would create a furniture hub and a one-stop situation for the public."
BOP Holdings would be prepared to re-develop the site and build two bulk retail stores, each 2000-2500sq m in size, if it succeeded with its appeal and the property was zoned commercial.
As at July 2009, the site was valued at $4.10 million, with land value $2.54 million and improvements $1.56 million.
The factory and offices, built in 1979, take up more than 3000sq m of the site. Colliers International's Tauranga office is marketing the property and director Simon Clark said up to five interested parties were doing their homework.