Wairau Rd, North Shore after the Anniversary Day floods in Auckland last year. Photo / Brett Phibbs
A well-organised, well-prepared Foodstuffs has taken large strides to meet the challenges of climate change and severe weather events and safeguard its century-old national operations.
Last year’s Auckland Anniversary Weekend flooding, Cyclone Gabrielle and the recent Dunedin flooding led the company to refine and strengthen its responses to protect its supermarkets and ensure food and grocery supplies get through.
“I reckon we are as well prepared as anyone,” says Lindsay Rowles, general manager retail and property for Foodstuffs North Island.
“We have great supply chain teams and a well-trodden crisis management approach. Our owner/operators are resilient because it’s their own business and they care. I can’t imagine what would catch us out today.”
The Christchurch and Kaikoura earthquakes had left staff well-practised, Tim Donaldson, general manager retail and property for Foodstuffs South Island, said.
“We hold regular emergency management meetings and run simulations on different events off the back of modelling. We monitor all weather warnings. We have incredibly capable teams and we are getting better prepared all the time.
“At the end of the day, there can’t be just one formula. We have a playbook and we will see what is presented to us and turn our minds to getting food supplies into the communities.”
Foodstuffs has 519 New World, Pak’nSave and Four Square stores employing 38,000 people, including administration staff. Foodstuffs North Island, with revenue of $10.8 billion, owns Gilmours wholesale. The South Island co-operative, with revenue of $3.6b, owns Trents wholesale. There are 5.4 million customer visits and online interactions each week.
Foodstuffs has established strong relationships with civil defence agencies and collected risk management data to secure supply chains and build resilience to future climate-driven challenges. The co-operatives have even used helicopters, a frigate and unimogs to get the supplies through.
Foodstuffs works closely with Christchurch-based software and geospatial firm Urban Intelligence to understand its risk exposure. Urban Intelligence has helped them develop a comprehensive asset database that analyses the risk exposure by property type, geographical location and the surrounding roading network.
This allows Foodstuffs to identify which stores and distribution centres are most at risk of weather-related incidents and how supply routes might be affected.
Foodstuffs also focuses on weather-related risk assessment, particularly in regions prone to landslides, flooding and road disruptions. The database helps map which sites are at the highest risk of becoming an island and cut off from supply networks due to road closure or infrastructure damage.
By assessing how many customers could be stranded in isolated areas and what impact supply chain disruptions would have, Foodstuffs can prioritise infrastructure investment to ensure ongoing supply to affected regions. Remote stores also have access to Starlink services.
Foodstuffs has built a relationship with NZ Transport Agency, National Emergency Management Agency and local councils to create co-ordinated planning and quick response efforts during severe weather events.
During the Dunedin flooding Foodstuffs distribution centre became an island through road closures for 24 hours — the delivery trucks couldn’t get in or out. “We didn’t miss a step,” Donaldson says.
“With a flick of the switch, the orders flowed through to our distribution centre in Hornby and we were able to keep delivering the supplies.
“Most of the stores have seven to 10 days of stock, so missing a day or two is not catastrophic. Through the network planning, good resilience has been built-in at the store level.
“We have built bigger storage rooms to hold more days of cover for those stores further away from the distribution centres and are at risk of being impacted by weather events. We have good network of generators that can be used to keep the refrigeration and point-of-sale going,” Donaldson says.
He has high praise for the drivers out on the road passing on real-time information on slips, damaged bridges and other incidents. “Our drivers really know the roads and the agencies like NZTA get really annoyed when they find a way in and a Foodstuffs truck is already there.
“If the Arthur and Lewis Passes are closed, the drivers will go through the Haast Pass to keep the distribution flowing. They’d rather drive the longer distance to maintain a normal routine at the distribution centres and in the stores.”
In the Auckland flooding, 18 Foodstuffs stores were closed for 24 to 72 hours, and Wairau Pak’nSave, under two metres of water, was out action for a week. The refrigeration units were rebuilt and the store was restocked with 300 tonnes of groceries in that time.
But the neighbourhood Fresh Collective Alberton was inundated and remained closed till early last month. It was re-designed and re-named as New World Mt Albert with lessons learned from the flooding.
Says Rowles: “we had to consider whether the store would flood again and should we go back in. The tenancy next door became available and we took the opportunity to expand the store with a new fit-out. It was a loved little community store. When the water was clogging around, local people were knocking on the door asking ‘what can we do to help?’”
In the $6 million refurbishment, Foodstuffs took out the jib and floor finishings and replaced them with exposed block walls and polished concrete floors. The exposed ceilings were painted black, and controlled LED strip lighting was introduced.
“From a flooding perspective, we are not expecting any issues moving forward,” says Rowles.
“We’ve installed ready-to-go flood protection barriers that can be deployed when we get heavy rain warnings, and all electrical wiring has been moved from the floor to the ceiling to safeguard critical equipment.” The barriers include L-shaped plastic flaps which click together and crystal sandbags, which expand when they get wet.
“We’ve taken an extra hard look at the flood plans to make our buildings more resilient and keep the infrastructure in good order,” Rowles said. “Our owners are going to stay on top of that, keeping stormwater drains and low-lying areas clear.
“We’ve also thought a lot about how we communicate. We spend a lot of time on weather warnings and advice and today we have a clear set of recommendations. We will get staff home early especially those who use public transport and keep a skeleton team in the store.
“Their own properties could be impacted and getting them home early is more important than getting baked beans stacked on the shelves.”
Rowles says Foodstuffs has established crisis management protocols with the executive and teams.
“The first rule is don’t panic. In a crisis situation, the facts can change multiple times in an hour and as a leadership we don’t get upset by that.
We have an absolute focus and calmness on resolving the situation — such as the safety and security of our teams, the protection of the store network, and getting essential products to the communities that need it.
“We have supply chain teams comprising 2000 people and they are a real backbone. The work they do is unsung. The speed at which they can move volumes of product on a call to arms is impressive.”
Foodstuffs preparedness goes as far as the South Island emergency management team participating in the civil defence exercise Pandora responding to the potential Alpine Fault rupture. There is a 75% probability of a magnitude 8 plus earthquake within the next 50 years.
“We need to know where the staging points are for civil defence and how we can get the food supplies through — whether it’s by barging to Queenstown, helicopter to the West Coast or other means,” says Donaldson.
● Foodstuffs is an advertising sponsor of the Herald’s Sustainable Business & Finance report
ANALYSIS: We already know what happens to NZ's economy when the borders are closed.