Job cuts at pet food giant Ziwi, including its main region of Hawke’s Bay

Ziwi exports to over 30 countries. Photo / Ziwi

Pet food giant Ziwi is cutting jobs as part of a restructure, including in its main region of Hawke’s Bay.

Ziwi operates the largest pet food factory in the country at Awatoto, on the outskirts of Napier, as well as other facilities and offices around the country – employing hundreds of staff.

Its $100 million Awatoto super kitchen featured in a Hawke’s Bay Today story earlier this week as it was undergoing “production slowdowns” due to a drop in global demand. The company did not confirm job cuts as part of the move.

Hawke’s Bay Today has learned the company is also going through a wider restructure involving job losses.

While it is unclear how many jobs are going, it is understood to impact multiple sites and teams.

The company declined to comment on how many people were being made redundant and at which facilities until the “internal consultation process” ended.

As well as the super kitchen, the company operates Freeze Dried Foods in Hastings, has a corporate office in Auckland, a small operating facility in Burnham near Christchurch, and offices and a cannery next to the super kitchen in Awatoto.

Ziwi's super kitchen near Napier in late 2023 after its rebuild from Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Warren Buckland

A Ziwi facility in the Napier suburb of Greenmeadows closed in March, while a Tauranga packaging facility recently relocated to Hawke’s Bay.

It is understood one of the teams impacted includes the Freeze Dried Foods packing team, which is proposed to be reduced from 22 to 14 roles. Those staff have to re-apply for the reduced number of jobs.

Meanwhile, a Ziwi worker, who did not want to be named, claimed there were multiple redundancies in their team.

“It is a good bunch of people – that is the sad thing,” the worker said.

The worker said it had been a difficult time for staff.

The Ziwi super kitchen on the outskirts of Napier. Photo / Ziwi

Two emails sent by Ziwi executive director Benjamin Boase to staff at the start of this month and seen by Hawke’s Bay Today stated the company was undergoing a restructure.

“While the need for change is real, it’s difficult because it affects our people. It’s also difficult because it’s not where we expected to be,” one email read.

“We know this is tough, whether you’re directly affected or supporting a teammate, please look after yourselves and each other during this time.”

An earlier email cited “another challenging year for Ziwi and many other exporters around the world”.

“A proposed organisational restructure is now under way, and we will be taking the business through a consultation on proposed changes over the next three-four weeks,” the email read.

The company was founded in Mount Maunganui and is owned by Hong Kong-based investment firm FountainVest.

Ziwi exports premium pet food to over 30 countries with its biggest market being the US.

A Ziwi spokeswoman said, in the story published earlier this week, that the company had been impacted by factors “including a global downturn in consumer demand”.

“Other events, like New Zealand’s recent outbreak of the Avian influenza, have [also] had an impact.

“To-date, we’ve opted for production slowdowns at our Awatoto super kitchen, versus losing our highly trained, skilled teams [at that facility].”

Ziwi was crowned the 2024 Hawke’s Bay ASB Exporter of The Year.

Former CEO Stuart Irvine recently left the company.

As of last week, the company confirmed it employed 168 people at Awatoto and 80 people at Freeze Dried Foods in Hastings.

Gary Hamilton-Irvine is a Hawke’s Bay-based reporter who covers a range of news topics including business, councils, breaking news and cyclone recovery. He formerly worked at News Corp Australia.