This grower warned the McGraths they were “crazy” for getting into the industry at all, as it was a 24 hours a day, seven-days-a-week operation.
The couple were undeterred, and this resilience, alongside the belief that the sprout industry had more potential in New Zealand, kept them going.
All these years later, the duo have become the largest sprout supplier to Foodstuffs South Island‘s PaK’nSave, New World, Raeward Fresh and Four Square stores.
Karen also sits on the board, representing New Zealand, for the International Sprout Growers Association.
Patience is important with sprouts because, while they are fast-growing, they are delicate and temperamental.
Karen said the couple spent thousands of hours honing their skills, equipment, and operation to achieve the highest level of quality possible.
“Everything from our water quality to maintaining the right consistent temperature and the stringency of our quality assurance, are all incredibly important,” she said.
“We’ve poured our heart and soul into continually building our knowledge, and I think that shows in the end product.”
The couple and their team of 10 core employees moved into purpose-built commercial premises on the outskirts of Christchurch in 2008, enabling them to expand production.
This means they are now just a short 10-minute ride to the Foodstuffs South Island’s Christchurch distribution centre which means Southern Alp Sprouts can be transported in a chiller truck and then delivered straight into another chilled environment within hours of harvesting, keeping the produce as fresh as possible.
Sustainability is also a focus for the McGraths - their packaging is recyclable, the factory has 6.5km of solar water on the roof, wastewater is recycled to put on to pasture and byproducts are used to fatten cattle.
The McGraths’ resilience was tested through the Christchurch earthquakes and most recently the Covis-19 pandemic.
“The earthquakes were very challenging with power outages and factory disruption but as strong Cantabrians, we picked ourselves up and carried on,” Karen said.
She credited Jason’s foresight in having a lot of contingencies in place in case of business disruption.
“He’s a typical Kiwi bloke, always fixing, tweaking or building to improve production.”
Karen said Jason always made sure that generators and additional trucks were available as backups, just in case.
“So we’ve always been able to carry on despite having so many disruptions thrown our way, but who could have foreseen that we’d need it so much.”
She said the pandemic majorly affected Southern Alps Sprouts’ staffing availability.
“Typically, we’d have our packers employed on working holiday visas which suddenly wasn’t an option.
“I think we both worked 24/7 for almost three years and I’m really proud of the fact that we never missed a delivery, we’ve never not supplied in 365 days of 25 years.”
The pandemic wasn’t all bad news, however.
“One of the great outcomes of the pandemic was that we brought in more machinery to help automate many of the processes for us and were so grateful for our core staff at this time.”
Karen said her motivation for such a long career was the health benefits of sprouts.
“I’m a major believer in how important sprouts can be for the diet and all the extra nutrients and benefits as they can support your health, with endless ways that they can be incorporated into our dishes.
“At home, we even use mung beans as a replacement for noodles and pasta – they’re so versatile and economical.”
Karen said Southern Alp Sprouts had created a strong foundation as an organisation and the McGraths would like to grow the business even further for the health of their customers.
“We’re concentrating on passing on our knowledge and passion to our team so we can move into the next phase of our business,” Karen said.
“It’s exciting to see where things may go from here.”
