kumara news

kaipara kumara trucks
17 September 2004

The beginning of September 2004, saw the introduction of the new Kaipara Kumara trucks. The trucks were officially welcomed on to the site at Ruawai by the Kaipara team and family, along with local iwi, Mick and Emily Sarich, who performed a very moving and traditional Maori welcome and blessing.

These trucks will service Kaipara Kumara’s grower / suppliers – providing all the transportation of kumara and other produce packed at the premises in Ruawai.

Along with this, the trucks will be transporting and distributing all Kaipara Kumara’s packed and processed produce in Northland and Auckland regions, with all the lower North Island and South Island services being provided by preferred contractors.

The trucks are owned, operated and managed by The Produce Connection, which is based in Whangarei. It is a small, family-run business solely focussed on servicing Kaipara Kumara’s transport and distribution requirements.

“This represents a shift away from normal industry practice. The very cost competitive concept which will increase the level and focus of service, will add value for all participants in the supply chain.” commented Anthony Blundell, Managing Director of Kaipara Kumara Ltd. “The trucks will also help profile Kaipara Kumara to the industry and region, along with generically promoting kumara to the public in New Zealand.”

Brian Henderson, who’s family has been a supplier to Kaipara Kumara for over 30 years, said “With covered transport now moving towards being a pre-requisite for transportation of produce to the pack-house, and the fact that valuable time is taken up by myself and staff facilitating the weekly consignment to Kaipara Kumara, it really means we will be able to focus and concentrate more of our resources and time on other areas of our business”

“Quality of product delivered and ‘on-time service’ is what is required by our company to meet and exceed our customers expectations at supermarket store level. Kaipara Kumara’s move to increase its focus on its transportation and distribution is viewed as very positive by our company. ” said George Cunningham, Business Manager at Progressive Enterprises Produce Division.

After the first week of service, the truck signage has already had a beneficial effect for a New Zealand family. A young mother, Belinda, who is a member of Allergy NZ and has a son that cannot eat many foods due to allergic reactions, contacted Kaipara Kumara through their web-site www.kumara.co.nz. Kumara incidentally is one food her son can eat plenty of. Belinda and her husband were driving down the Auckland motorway and spotted the truck, jotting down the website reference. Amongst general comments that were very positive, Belinda wrote “We think your company has done a great job with the truck signage which is very effective. We had not heard of you before, but really learnt a lot when we visited the website - which was fantastic. Of particular interest was the very high nutritional value of kumara. I will be letting our friends with children with allergies know about your kumara and the benefits, along with your web-site”