NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Business / Small Business

Small Business: Peter Cullinane - Lewis Road Creamery

NZ Herald
17 Mar, 2013 04:30 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Peter Cullinane is considering a market float in the next 12 months for his artisan butter company, Lewis Road Creamery. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Peter Cullinane is considering a market float in the next 12 months for his artisan butter company, Lewis Road Creamery. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Export is the next step for artisan dairy brand which is less than a year old and already turning a profit.

Peter Cullinane, co-founder of the premium butter manufacturer Lewis Road Creamery, has a dream that one day his artisan butter will be flown to top restaurants worldwide as happens with the Buerre Bordier of French artisan Jean-Yves Bordier.

"We have got to do the same thing," says Cullinane.

The entrepreneur is no idle dreamer. He is the co-founder of Antipodes Water, a board member of SkyCity Entertainment Group and was formerly chief operating officer of Saatchi & Saatchi worldwide. Since 2002, he has had his own creative strategy company, Assignment Group.

Cullinane and business partner Andrew Railton launched Lewis Road Creamery last July, initially manufacturing the butter near the Antipodes bottling plant in Otakiri. They are now making it from the Kaimai Cheese Plant in Waharoa where there is butter-making expertise and a good milk supply.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Though the company is not yet a year old, Cullinane is contemplating a flotation in the next 12 months with the help of his "smart finance guy", recent shareholder Stephen Panckhurst, a company director.

"One direction is to go to fund managers and the other is to do a Moa. My gut is to do a float. I love the idea," says Cullinane.

"One of the things that makes Lewis Road very interesting is it's profitable already," he says. The next 12 months' sales target of 300,000 packs is double the current run rate. Turnover in the next 12 months, meanwhile, should total $1.5 million in retail sales.

"We want to be the premium dairy brand in the country. No one is in this space," he says. "It was crazy that the best butter in New Zealand was from Denmark."

Early on, the ad-man sought advice from Ross McCallum, founder of Kapiti Cheese, who devised the original Lewis Road premium butter recipe from a blend of more than 10 Fonterra export butters.

The butter was runner-up for the Cuisine Artisan Award 2013. "What makes the butter work is the taste, the consistency," says Cullinane.

Discover more

Small Business

Small business: Simon James

10 Mar 04:30 PM
Small Business

Small business: Jan Harrison - Cactus Equipment

12 Mar 12:30 AM
Small Business

Small business: John Wyma - CRONZ

11 Mar 01:00 AM
Small Business

Small business: Helen and Dave Morgan - Scooterack

11 Mar 01:00 AM

Lewis Road's artisan butter, made of 100 per cent jersey cream, is due to be taken around the country in the next three weeks.

Mike Lawson, the cheesemaker at Kaimai, is taking over the butter-making from Lewis Road co-founder Andrew Railton.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The artisan butter is in restaurants such as The Grove and The Engine Room and is likely to be stocked in outlets "where they take their food seriously", Cullinane says. Food specialists such as Farro Fresh and Sabato are likely stockists.

The Lewis Road brand, meanwhile, has been in supermarkets almost since day one, priced at about $5.80 for a 250g pack. Victoria Park New World owner-manager Jason Witehira has been an excellent supporter, says Cullinane, encouraging his colleagues in Auckland to stock it and enabling Lewis Road to reach central distribution at Foodstuffs. "It was a huge turning point," says Cullinane. The brand is now also in Progressive Enterprises supermarkets.

Exporting is a real opportunity, says Cullinane, who is meeting distributors in Sydney this month.

Also on the cards are two new products: a clotted cream and double-cream, without thickeners.

"At the moment Fonterra look at us and say, 'That's nice, there's something good happening in dairy.' Once we get to a 10-15 per cent market share, they may not see it like that," says Cullinane.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Small Business

Premium
Business|small business

'Change their footprint': Kiwi start-up's plan to shave $1200 a year off household power bills

30 Jun 05:00 PM
Premium
Small Business

Small Business: Kiwi pickle brand processes 100 tonnes as business booms

29 Jun 05:00 PM
Premium
Small Business

On The Up: A royal new venture with King Bees Honey

22 Jun 05:00 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Small Business

Premium
'Change their footprint': Kiwi start-up's plan to shave $1200 a year off household power bills

'Change their footprint': Kiwi start-up's plan to shave $1200 a year off household power bills

30 Jun 05:00 PM

Basis plans to install over 50,000 smart panels globally in the next 24 months.

Premium
Small Business: Kiwi pickle brand processes 100 tonnes as business booms

Small Business: Kiwi pickle brand processes 100 tonnes as business booms

29 Jun 05:00 PM
Premium
On The Up: A royal new venture with King Bees Honey

On The Up: A royal new venture with King Bees Honey

22 Jun 05:00 PM
Premium
Controversial Kiwi start-up, once worth $38m, folds in New York

Controversial Kiwi start-up, once worth $38m, folds in New York

19 Jun 02:37 AM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP