It’s not an easy time to run a business or launch a start-up. But amid a feeling of economic gloom, there are pockets of big growth.
Hawke’s Bay Today spoke to those who are doing just that - from bullish newbies to the old pairs of business hands
The Hawke’s Bay companies expanding in a tough economy, and their secrets to success
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These businesses across Hawke's Bay are overcoming challenges, including the cyclone and tough trading conditions, and performing well. Photo / NZME
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The company grew 30 per cent during the past financial year and is now making about 90,000 pies and sausage rolls each day, including 70,000 at its Napier headquarters and 20,000 at its Christchurch bakery.
It is the main pie maker for Z Energy petrol stations and is in about half of all Four Squares around the country, as well as plenty of dairies.
The Goodtime Pie Co managing director and co-owner Eric Hill said it had been a tough trading period for all pie makers, but they had been fortunate to continue to grow year-on-year.
Hill said there had been something of a shake-up in the New Zealand pie industry with the closure of Irvines Pies last year.
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“Irvines and Big Ben Pies are the two biggest pie makers in the country, so to have one of those two biggest pie companies deciding to shut the doors threw the whole pie industry in New Zealand into a bit of a flap.”
He said when that closure was announced, their phone “started to go”.
“A lot of people reached out to us pretty early on to make sure they could secure a supply of pies beyond that point that Irvines shut their doors.”
Popularity in their pies has continued to grow since - which Hill said proved there was plenty of demand for more up-market and high-quality pies.
Hill said what made them different was their delicious pastry.
“A really important part of enjoying eating a pie is having a yummy pastry.
“We concentrate a lot on having that nice and soft, flaky pastry, and that is the biggest thing for us that sets us apart and people seek us out for that. And obviously the fillings are yummy as well.”
Hill said most staff - of which they have about 180 - also work four days a week (10-hour shifts) and get a three-day weekend.
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As for their best sellers, some things never change.
“Steak and cheese and mince and cheese are always the two biggest sellers.”
Florence Digital - tech firm (Hastings)
Tech firm Florence Digital developed its product and launched just before Covid hit.
Like many businesses, the pandemic meant the Hastings company’s ambitions largely went on hold.
Florence Digital has now made up for those disruptions during Covid - expanding well with its self-check-in kiosks and associated software.
The company’s kiosks have been rolled out in about 30 GP practices around the country, in Christchurch Hospital’s outpatient facility, and also Radius Care aged care facilities, for visitors and patients.
Florence Digital (formerly Fingermark Health) general manager Vanessa Ngan said their easy-to-use kiosks were being well received.
“We deliver our solution on the same sort of kiosk that [sister company] Fingermark have delivered to the fast-food industry,” she said.
“A 23-inch screen which is easy to see and is a touch screen.
“Having a big-sized kiosk as opposed to an iPad - which is sitting on a reception desk - really makes a huge difference.
“And the software we have made is very, very simple - it is very easy to use.”
She said they were now looking to expand into Australia and even the United States with their product.
The company is named after Fingermark tech founder Luke Irving’s grandmother, Florence.
Furnware - school furniture (Hastings)
Leading school furniture company Furnware still proudly boasts PO Box 1 in Hastings.
“We snuck in ahead of Watties,” company CEO Duncan Hope said.
Furnware is one of the oldest companies in Hawke’s Bay, and has been running for about 90 years in Hastings.
Despite tough trading over Covid, which saw its parent company Resero close its Singapore office, and also led to a restructure, the company is now recovering well and growing the business again.
Resero CEO Hope said Furnware products were becoming more popular internationally, and the company was also investing in new school furniture products.
“Pre-Covid, we were growing very strongly internationally and certainly up through South East Asia,” Hope said.
“We have now re-opened an office in Singapore [a few months ago] and we have employed a couple more people in Singapore.”
Furnware’s furniture is made at its plant on Omahu Rd and the company employs about 100 people in Hastings.
Most schools in New Zealand currently use Furnware products, Hope said.
Long-time Furnware owner Hamish Whyte bought Australian school furniture company Sebel about seven years ago.
He set up a parent company, Resero, which represents both Furnware and Sebel.
Harvest Global - apple grower (Puketapu)
When Brydon Nisbet’s apple orchard at Puketapu was covered in more than 2m of floodwaters during Cyclone Gabrielle, the future was looking grim.
Remarkably, 15 months on from the natural disaster, his family business Harvest Global has recorded its biggest apple harvest yet and even expanded.
One of his two apple blocks was totally flooded in the cyclone but, in the months following, Nisbet managed to clear huge quantities of silt and save 5ha of that 7ha block.
“I had good-meaning people say ‘are you sure you are doing the right thing by getting the silt out - it is going to cost you a lot of money, are you better off to just pull the whole orchard out and start again?’.”
He said it was certainly a risk but he was rapt to see a “blimmin good crop” during the recent apple harvest.
He also leased a neighbouring apple orchard last year which had been badly flooded, taking another big risk.
“They [had] made the decision to just pull the whole orchard out and put it back to grass,” he said.
“I said ‘I’m interested in this’ ... and there was an agreement that I would take it on as is where is.”
He got stuck in and finished the clean-up of that neighbouring 7ha orchard. Remarkably, it also produced a good apple crop this season.
“It’s the biggest crop I’ve ever done since I’ve been orcharding,” he said, of the recent apple-picking season.
“I would never have thought in a million years when that flood happened, and my wife and I were looking down the barrel of potentially losing a lot of trees on our block, that in a year’s time I would be harvesting the biggest crop we’ve had.”
Croptide - start-up (Hastings)
It is no mean feat to raise over $4 million in seed funding for a start-up company.
That is exactly what happened for Hamish Penny’s company Croptide, which is based in Waipatu near Hastings.
The company has created sensors which plug into plants - specifically apple trees and kiwi fruit and grape crops - providing real-time information to growers about a plant’s water status, and whether it needs irrigation. It helps growers in all conditions including droughts.
Croptide has also designed the tech to go along with the sensors, with information sent directly to an easy-to-use app.
Croptide closed $4.25 million in seed funding late last year for the commercial pilots of the product.
Penny, 28, who was raised in Hawke’s Bay and has an engineering background, said a limited number of growers had used their product around New Zealand during the latest growing season - with positive feedback.
He said there was also plenty of interest in the product internationally, and they were running tests in the US and Europe.
“The indications are very positive that the product we have is something that can make a real difference for the growers’ operations, both in terms of sustainability and also efficiencies,” Penny said.
“And helping them manage their crop, dealing with extreme weather - whether that be very dry [conditions] or very wet - and understanding how their plants are responding.
“We see a huge opportunity and the feedback so far from growers has been that they see the same thing, so it is really exciting.”
The company recently went past 1000 sensors manufactured and now has a team of 12 staff.
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.
