“It was a big decision, and we’ve talked about it for a while - but now that it’s on the market, we’re really excited.”
South Taranaki family-run Salad Brothers lettuce farm is up for sale as the owners choose to go their separate ways.
The 1.1ha property includes tunnel houses, hydroponic infrastructure, a packhouse, chiller, staff facilities, and a 110sq m two-bedroom house.
The sale will include other business assets - specialised plant equipment, refrigerated delivery trucks, brand and marketing assets, and intellectual property for a special fertiliser recipe and growing, harvesting and packaging techniques.
The business employs about nine people, including growers, pickers and delivery drivers.
The farm has been a working lettuce farm for the past 30 years.
After the previous owners were forced to halt operations during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We were just excited by the prospect of it,” Marianne Archibald said.
“It seemed a real shame that there was this cool thing [that] had been built in Waverley and... probably someone would have bought her and just knocked down the lettuce farm and done something else there.”
From left: Kristine Bell, Marianne Archibald, Chris Carrick and Garth Archibald of Salad Brothers
The team combined separate professional backgrounds, including horticulture, sciences, surveying, gardening and law, with Archibald’s nephew who studies engineering, to make up for their lack of professional farming experience.
“If someone wants the good life… they should sell their city home and come live in Waverley.”
