Food supplier brings in jobs

The country's leading supplier to the food service and hospitality sector is setting up in Tauranga and will be creating 60 new jobs.
Some Bidvest NZ staff will transfer from the Hamilton and Rotorua operations, and the wholesale distribution company will begin recruiting 40 more people at the end of the month.
Construction of Bidvest's new distribution centre in the Tauriko Business Estate is nearing completion, and it will be supplying frozen, chilled, dried and fresh food items in the Western Bay and Coromandel areas by the start of May.
Up till now the restaurants, cafes, bistro bars, rest homes and other customers in Tauranga have been serviced by Rotorua, with seven delivery trucks making the hour-long drive each day - four of them leaving at 5am.
The Coromandel peninsula has been serviced by the Hamilton distribution centre. Both Rotorua and Hamilton are operating to full capacity and it was time to make a move into Tauranga.
"We can get closer to our customers and respond more quickly - the lead time for orders is quite short and providing a good service is the key to this business," said Bidvest managing director Nigel Boswell.
"We are delighted with our location. It gives us good access and good roads - down the toll road and straight into the city, and also heading north to the Coromandel," he said.
Bidvest, part of an international food-service group, has invested about $7 million to build a 3000sq m distribution centre on a 1ha site at Tauriko. The centre includes a dry store, freezer, chiller and temperature-controlled load out area.
A fleet of 10-15 multi-temperature delivery trucks will operate from the centre and service up to 600 customers in the Western Bay and Coromandel. Tauranga is Bidvest's 22nd distribution centre in New Zealand and one of its largest. It will be managed by Ken Buckthought, who has been the long-time manager of the Rotorua distribution centre. He has already sold his home in Rotorua and bought one in Tauranga.
"Ken's one of our best guys," said Mr Boswell. "He's been with the company 20 years and he's pretty focused on developing the Tauranga business."
Overall, Bidvest stocks 20,000 product lines and supplies 11,000 customers in the country, including prisons, army camps, BP service stations, schools, hospitals, Subway and Domino's Pizza.
Bidvest's products range from baking supplies, bread and pastry products, herbs and spices to desserts and ice cream, sauces and condiments, fresh fruit and vegetables, seafood and meat.
The New Zealand operation started 28 years ago in Rotorua as Crean Seafood, which became Crean Foodservice. It was set up by Bob Crean to service the tourist/hospitality sector in Rotorua but has spread significantly since then.
Bidvest, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, operates Foodservice wholesale businesses in 16 countries, making it the largest outside the United States.