With an eye on the future, these businesses respond to changing consumer demand through sustainable packaging and specialist nutrition solutions.
This content was prepared by Goodman NZ and is being published by The New Zealand Herald as Advertorial.
Two very different South Auckland factories are responding to a fast-changing market with innovation.
Packaging plant Recorp is working to eliminate plastic bottles and fill a gap in the beverage manufacturing market with large-scale aluminium can production. Nearby, The Pure Food Co is solving a different problem, using food innovation to get real nutrition into older adults and people with disabilities who struggle to eat everyday meals.
Both businesses are examples of shifting demand in the food and beverage market. Both companies also work from Goodman NZ properties, customised to fit their niche requirements.
Market-shifting manufacturing at Recorp
Sustainability is at the heart of Recorp. Launched in 2024, the business manufactures aluminium cans for beverage brands, working from a vast plant in Goodman NZ’s M20 Business Park. Recorp’s ambitious goal is to eliminate plastic bottles from the New Zealand market by 2030.
The concept came from ex-Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe, who realised that New Zealand was lacking in sustainable packaging options for beverages. While brands and consumers were both positive about aluminium packaging, previous suppliers couldn’t keep up with market demand. This meant brands had to use less-sustainable options like glass and plastic, or import cans from overseas.
Recorp CEO, Bruce Parton, is clear about the disadvantages of other packaging materials, and the potential of aluminium.
“Plastic is bad for the environment and bad for health. Glass is heavy, so needs more fuel to transport. They’re dinosaurs who haven’t been told they’re dead. Aluminium is the way of the future.”
Recorp is helping to solve the problem with its large-scale manufacturing facility. The Manukau plant was designed for high volumes and flexibility, with a vast footprint and specialist packaging machinery. This means it can serve both large beverage producers and small boutique brands.
While Recorp has yet to rid New Zealand of all plastic bottles, it’s already making a difference in the beverage market, with the capacity to manufacture half a billion cans every year.
Serving an ageing population at The Pure Food Co
Ten minutes away at Goodman’s Savill Link in Ōtāhuhu, The Pure Food Co is carving a very different space in the market.
The company produces texture-modified meals for older adults and people with disabilities who find chewing and swallowing difficult. Every recipe is a chef-developed familiar favourite, made safe to eat to the standards used by hospitals and aged care providers, so people get the protein and energy they need to stay healthy and independent for longer.
“We wanted to show that with the right nutrition, you could actually reduce the impacts, and you could allow people to be more independent for longer,” says founder Sam Bridgewater.
Twelve years into its journey, demand for The Pure Food Co products has already gone beyond New Zealand. The business has around 50 employees at its Auckland facility, along with growing teams in Australia, France, Belgium and Switzerland.
Goodman has supported the business to keep up with this growth, helping it build a customised facility for large-scale, cutting-edge product testing and production.
Like Recorp, it’s a business with an eye on the future and a keen awareness of shifts in consumer demand.
Expanding production capacity has been critical to supporting The Pure Food Co’s continued growth.
To find out more, or to discuss your manufacturing, warehousing or distribution space requirements, please contact portfolio manager Sebastian Nakielski at +64 21 541 006 or Sebastian.Nakielski@goodman.com