The seventh Farro Fresh store opens at Smales Farm on Wednesday. Photo / Dean Purcell
The seventh Farro Fresh store opens at Smales Farm on Wednesday. Photo / Dean Purcell
Auckland’s newest boutique food and grocery store is due to be unveiled on Valentine’s Day, with the seventh Farro Fresh.
Farro chief executive Craig Williams said today 30 staff had been hired for the upmarket 1000sq m store on the corner of Shakespeare and Taharoto Rds, SmalesFarm, Takapuna.
About 15 staff had transferred from other Farro stores, while people had been hired to work for the business for the first time, he said.
“The store has been built to our design,” Williams said of the distinctive dark-coloured shop with 50 dedicated car parks off the busy thoroughfare between Takapuna and Wairau Park.
Smales Farm owns the building, designed by RCG and built by Rucon Construction & Property, and Farro has a long-term lease on the premises.
Farro was founded by Janene and James Draper with a single store in Mt Wellington in 2013, selling artisan food and beverage brands. In recent years it has been growing its store network.
The business started with 12 staff and has grown to employ more than 300 people.
Location of the new Farro Fresh Takapuna store at the Shakespeare Rd/Taharoto Rd intersection. Photo / Google Maps
More Auckland stores are planned, with Williams saying a southeastern site was favoured, particularly covering the Botany-Highland Park-Bucklands Beach catchment.
“We get approaches almost every day by commercial real estate agents,” he said.
Farro fans also ask on social media when the shop will open outside Auckland, but Williams said there were no immediate plans for this.
“All our stores are in Auckland,” he said, referring to a fruit and vegetable specialist at the markets about 3am on weekdays “handpicking” the best produce for all the stores. Expanding beyond Auckland would pose challenges, Williams said.
“The next one actually will be looking at another site in Auckland in about two years, but there’s nothing committed. We’re pretty particular,” he said.
The Herald reported in 2022 how an undisclosed amount of capital was raised for the Smales Farm store. Farro confirmed to the Herald then that it had completed a capital raise with Waterman Capital to accelerate the company’s growth initiatives. It would not say how much cash was raised, but it is understood to be a multimillion-dollar sum.
James and Janene Draper founded Farro Fresh. Photo / Farro Fresh
The company said it would use its new capital to expand network growth through the addition of new stores, refurbish and expand stores, improve internal systems to support growth, and further enhance its customer experience.
In 2020, Farro told the Herald it was on track to exceed $100 million in revenue for the first time in 2021.
Founders James and Janene Draper and the Farro management team did a deal with local private investor Waterman Capital to provide the growth capital to support the next phase of growth, the 2021 Herald story said in 2022.
A spokesman for Waterman Capital said then the company was “excited to have the opportunity to build on the considerable success of the business alongside Janene, James and the rest of the Farro team”.
How the new store looks, two days before opening. Photo / Farro Fresh
“We believe that consumers are looking for greater choice and there is increasing demand for Farro’s unique grocery offering,” the spokesman said two years ago.
Williams said today the new Takapuna store had innovations, and customers would notice changes.
“We’ve taken that unique, market-style atmosphere that makes shopping at Farro a pleasure rather than a chore, and made it an even more engaging experience,” he said.
Notable fixtures include a pub-themed wine and beer cellar, Farro’s first hot lunch counter, an in-house fishmonger and a butchery counter.
These features were built around a central deli offering barista-made Allpress coffee, salads, sandwiches, and sweets and Farro’s award-winning range of cheeses and charcuterie, he said.
Customers can expect to find familiar products from celebrated local producers and restaurateurs such as Daily Bread, House of Chocolate, Little and Friday, Cassia, and Gemmayze Street, an extensive artisan grocery range, fresh produce and flowers, New Zealand-raised meats, and the full offering from the popular Farro Kitchen range of ready-to-eat meals.
Williams said a dawn blessing and ribbon cutting was planned for Wednesday morning.
The new store will be fully open to the public after 8am, although that’s a one-off because the usual opening time is 7.30am.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, has won many awards, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
