July 25, 2023 • 32 mins
Today we speak to Dianne Downey, one half of the duo that makes up the Limery. Dianne is based in Wairoa with her husband Paul, where they create 100% pure New Zealand citrus products and juices.
As the business has grown, Dianne and Paul have helped grow their community too. They developed Te Rau Haumako, an on-site programme which offers industry experience to local rangitahi. The Limery also collaborates and encourages smaller growers, something that is very important to Dianne and Paul.
Dianne chats to us about why the Limery’s Business model works, her advice for those looking to run their own business, and how herself and Paul have built up the Limery to where it is now.
You can check out the Limery here: https://www.thelimery.co.nz/
You can listen to the episode here: https://linktr.ee/ruralwomennz
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to the Black Heels and Tractor Wheels podcast, where
we are sharing stories from a range of women from
around New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
For nearly a century, Rural Women New Zealand has been
dedicated to strengthening and supporting women and children to become
empowered members of their communities.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
We hope that by hearing these stories from inspiring women
all around the country, you'll feel inspired yourself.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
We're your hosts, Emma Higgins and Claire Williamson and would
love for you to join and subscribe to our podcast
so you don't miss our rural stories.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Hey, Dike, So the first question that we want to
unpack for you is tell us about your early childhood experiences.
You're obviously living a bit more rurally these days, but
have you always been part of the rural community.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
My early life while I was born and bred in
Glenfield or on the North Shore in Auckland, and yeah,
mine early life was pretty standard, I guess, living in
more of a residential setting than a rural scenting. My
(01:12):
parents certainly weren't from rural backgrounds, although it was my
grandparents that cleared the land to plants and farm in
the early days and I spent a lot of time
with my grandmother who used to breed goats for milking
and milked for the hospital wards then, which wasn't too
(01:35):
far from where we were living and where I grew up.
So other than that, really my mum was the ideal homemaker.
My dad was away overseas a lot with business, and
so I guess my journey seeing home wheeling and dealing
(01:55):
and spending a lot of time overseas working for big
corporate companies and that sort of thing always sort of
inspired me in the marketing and sales side of it,
and that's sort of the path I headed down, first
in finance and banking when I first left school, and
(02:17):
then more into sales roles and things like that.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Tell us a little bit around how you went from,
like you say, on the banking side of things and
then sales. Tell us a little bit about how you
made that jump from there to meeting your husband Paul
and establishing what's now the Limry.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Okay, so yeah, Paul is my second husband. My first
husband I did a variety of different things with. Mainly
it was getting ourselves out of the cactus when we
had a board a business that didn't really stack up,
and it took my twelve years to turn that one around.
(03:01):
But always I have enjoyed business per se. And with Paul,
he was in sales and marketing, and when you're in
a similar industry, I was in refrigerator commercial. I had
a commercial refrigeration business at that stage, which i'd just
sold out of, and I met Paul, who was one
(03:22):
of my customers. Actually funny how things turn around. But yeah,
So with Paul and I, you know, we're we're sort
of older in our lives, and we were wanting to
do something rather than working for corporate and other things.
And I've always admired people that could grow a raw
(03:47):
ingredient and then processed that into a form that was
a product that you could sell. I always thought that
was absolutely amazing, and so been in the laster part
of our days, I thought, well, we've still got, you know,
a bit of spring in our steps. Why don't we
try doing something where we're growing something and producing something ourselves.
(04:11):
And so that's what we said about doing and we
really didn't, you know, know much about wirel or anything
like that. It was more of betrayed me special as
far as the land was cheap here, and if we
were going to do anything at all, it needed to
be relatively an expensive land on which to do it,
because otherwise, you know and c these it's always way
(04:35):
too expense as the land. And so that's really what
led us to Wiral. And then it was okay, so
what are we going to grow and what are we
going to do? And we looked around wirel drove around
the place and every backyard had fruit trees, in particular
citrus trees, and there were lemons and oranges and the likes,
(04:56):
all just falling onto the ground. And I thought to myself,
well that's a real indicator, isn't it, and what we
should be growing. And so we we thought, well, you know,
been at that stage both of us have moved from
refrigeration into the beverage sector and was working for Shop
Beverages at the time as their national sales manager, and
(05:21):
I you know, they brought in a lot of raw ingredients,
and I thought, well, you know, we needed to find
out a bit more about citrus and what could be
done and the pricing and you know, would it make
a business or not make a business. So we discounted
oranges because there really wasn't enough land. Number one, we
(05:45):
only had four heat DearS, and number two, you know,
everybody sort of seemed to be squeezing oranges and the
value of an orange really wasn't what even a lemon was,
or even furthermore, alime. At that time, limes were very
expensive in the shops and we thought, wow, you know
(06:07):
that thirty dollars a kiload, it's got to be a winner.
It started to do the numbers, but most of the
lines that come in.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
That are.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Imported come via air, and of course most of that
price is actually on air freight, not actually on the
fruit cost. So still looking around, we went to the
likes of Brazil and Mexico. We went to Thailand and Australia,
looking at orchards and seeing how the other half of
(06:40):
the world grew and processed fruit and whether or not
we could do something similar in Wirral. And as it
turned out, we thought, yeah, we could do a mini
one of these large scale processing units on our piece
the land. And that's kind of where the past we talk.
(07:05):
And it's mainly because we were doing the whole fruit
to start with, and then our second grave fruit was
getting so hammered by the winds that we needed to
have an outlet for that as well. So hence the
juice sector or side of our business came.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
So I have a confession to make you my partner.
He quite likes Margarets, so obviously lime is a big
part of that, and he so that you must have
your juice. So we've tried a couple of brands over
the years, and so I just actually would like to
talk a little bit about like quality control and sustainability
(07:47):
and how that how you've gotten your business to the
to the stage that it's in, but also how you
maintain that because I know that you take a real
hands on approach, So can you tell us a little
bit about how the business works in that respect and
also how the marketing into that sort of really really
good quality product has come about.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Well, it's a bit of a process. Like when we
put together our joice plant, I knew a little bit
about processing, but we only had so much money in
capital to start it with, so I had to think
outside the box. And when most big companies in processing,
they have finishes or we could only really afford a filter.
(08:29):
But yeah, the filter actually gives it, you know, a
nice finish and Also the way I pasteurized, it's more
like the slow cooker of cooking rather than a fast cock.
If you slow cook something, it actually has much better
flavor than something that's been zacked in the microwave, for example.
(08:53):
So the processing and all that side of it is
really ended up, my baby. We had equipment that came
tick in hand from everywhere. Really, I mean that's from farms,
and we had basketfilters from seaweed laboratories. They had conveyors
from pharmaceutical companies. Our original parts pasteurizer it was Institute
(09:18):
Keery fruit and came from a cannery down on Hastings.
But again it was forty five years old, and I
had to try to figure out how to work the
jolly thing because no manuals come when they's forty five
years years old. Since well and truly lost those manuals.
But the quality itself, I think is from the process.
We don't have any water added to it. It's pasteurized
(09:43):
to coloss the bugs and things that could potentially come
in on the fruit. And yeah, then it's bottled with
very little air in it. Because oxygen is u nemesis,
it will turn a product. So that's part of the process.
(10:05):
And the other thing that we do as well with
our product is we to ensure food safety. We put
it under UV light, So in the finishing stages it
goes under UV lights and the submersible lights that are
actually within the tanks, and that destroys the DNA of
(10:25):
any pathogens that may still linger after the semial process,
because some of them in food can be quite gnarly
and they are quite resistant to that. So keeping the
quality is a really big thing for us. And and
thank you very much to your partner for his support,
(10:47):
because we are getting an underdated with bars and even
other artists and producers that we supply products and botanicals
toe for that same very reason is that you know,
it's got no added water. It is what it is.
It's just been gently pasteurized to a point and salted
(11:09):
where it ends up as it ends up, you know.
And I do pat myself on the back from time
to time. And it's kind of hard to believe that
it has formulated at such demands now that you know,
to be a national brand and to have such demand
within hospitality. For example, we in twelve months we sold
(11:31):
over five thousand cartons of our larger bottles into Queenstown alone,
you know, and that was you know, that was quite
staggering really to think that that's just going to the
bars and that around Queenstown, you know, without Auckland and
some of the other areas that we have hardly touched
on yet. So yeah, it's quite exciting really for us.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Yeah, and so you should put yourself on the back
because it's such an amazing journey from what you've just
talked about in those formative years to where you are now.
That's such an amazing achievement. So from my perspective, I'm
quite keen to know what do you think has been
one or two of the key things that you attribute
(12:16):
to your success. Apart from obviously the technique, the taste
and the high quality and those standards, what else do
you think has really contributed to how successful It's been?
Speaker 4 (12:26):
Given me a lot of hard graph getting out of
bed every day and getting out there. Hard graph, but
quite fortunate. Like you know, you can grow anything you like,
but if you haven't got a market, you might as
well grow nothing at all. So the market and the
marketing side of it, or just even getting out there
(12:46):
and selling and introducing the product is what has really
got it off the ground. I started doing it myself,
and then Paul when he later on joined me and
gave us his role and work. He went out there
and that's been his baby. He's been hitting it and
(13:07):
I've been in the engine room in the background. And
so as a tag team, both Paul and I really
really well. And you know, we're always buzzing about what's
going on in the marketplace, and you know how you
take a commodity product and convert that into into a brand.
So it's quite a daytime conversation all day really of
(13:31):
what's going on and within our little world. Yeah, but
you know, without paula I certainly need him. You can't
do everything yourself. And both of us have really just
dug deep and wanted to make a success of it.
And today here we are and it has has certainly
become that way, which is very exciting for us.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Yeah. And I think one of the things that I
read about you, I think quite early on in the process,
is how collaborative you are, And I mean that's it's
just evident even in the partnership between you and Paul,
but I hear that you also support other smaller growers
and enable them to one obviously help to continue the
(14:15):
supply into your markets and your contracts, but also to
support them to grow as well. So what does that
look like in your business? Is it is this other
businesses who are growing fruits coming into the processing side.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Yeah, so we've got well we did have before the
cyclone came through, fourteen other growers, a few of them
we actually lost six growers and amongst that not just
the fourteen around that, a few of the ones around us,
but also we have up in Gisbon we have quite
a few supplying growers that seem fruit now some of
(14:51):
them have lost There's a couple that have lost all
of the orchard of their six and others that have
lost significant parts of the orchard which is really quite
tragic as well as losing their home. So it's been
quite difficult of late and put us under quite a
bit of pressure ourselves. So we've got that going on.
(15:14):
We've also got a development further up the coast at
Tierra Roa with the Tierriuma Trust It's Marria Trust up
there and they've planted out with our assistants over two
thousand trees so far and putting in another two thousand trees,
but they've had dear challenges with weather up there as well.
(15:36):
So we're just working with those local growers, the Tierra
rower growers at Tiuma Trust, and also with the pack houses.
We take from the Gisbone pack houses, we take all
the reject lemons and any reject lines that they may
have from the export orders and that all comes here
for processing as well. So most days we can process
(16:01):
about ten tons goes through the through the juicer a day.
And during this time, which is our busy time right now,
we you know, can have about eighty bins coming through
in the week and that keeps everybody on their toes
processing that. And so what we do is we process
it and then we freeze it down for later on.
(16:24):
So we have a constant stream of growers, local ones
bringing in even on trailers bins of fruit for us
to process in one form or another, whether it be
a tag one which goes out to the whole fruit
market or for the juice processing as well. So we
sort of go through their bins and we grade out accordingly.
(16:46):
But what it means to them as an individual grower
that every piece of fruit has a doll of value.
It's not just here's the good fruit and the rest
of it, Well, what am I going to do with that?
It's a stop shop for them as a grower. And
obviously every year now we pay out over a million
(17:08):
dollars into the local economy here in the way of
grower renumeration and wages and all that sort of stuff
that's connected within that. So it's come a long way
just in the last few years even to see those
sort of numbers starting to be you know, recirculated within
(17:30):
the community.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Yeah, that's fabulous. That's such an awesome way to really
help your community grow. And there's another way that you're
also helping support your local community too, as I understand it.
So you're hoping to give back to local rang attah.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
Yeah, well we have head up until recently we've had
the terror Harmaco as a program we have for local
rang atae coming here to give them a hands on
experience about what our industry is about. So when in
Wirral they're very limited on career options, you know, you
(18:10):
it's sort of been historically f CO which is the
meat works, you know, forestry farming maybe to a lesser degree,
but there's there's not a lot of avenue other than that,
you know, so this sort of opens up the door. Well,
it doesn't have to be that we're processing meat, you know, Hey,
(18:30):
we're processing fruit here and this is what it looks
like and smells like, and this is where it can
take you. So with the rangatahi that we have heads through,
we've taken them from the grassroots of the growing side
of it. This is the growing side. Now we process
the fruit and this is where it goes to, and
then the deucing side of it. So they get a
(18:51):
chance in the processing room they're working, you know, work
through with us there. And then also Paul is very
kindly taking them out on the road with home things,
supermarket buyers, seeing some of our hospitality customers, and so
they can see where the end product ends up as well.
And that's out of that. We've actually had a couple
(19:12):
of apprentices come who are still with us today and
that's very exciting for them and for their fun now
as well, because it's just a whole different avenue to
what traditionally has been in the Wild District. And for that,
you know, again, we're pretty proud of what we've done there.
We also have international students that come each year and
(19:35):
they come from a university in Angrees, which is south
of Paris, and they are obviously the French students. They
come here for three months internship. They stay and live
on site as well, and they work through the day
and have missions in which they need to accomplish, which
are then taken back home and published in the university library.
(19:57):
So it becomes part of a public viewpoint on what
the outcomes they've achieved, why they've been here in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Wow, that is so awesome. So I didn't know all
of the intricacies of how that worked, but that's incredible
and so many people able to benefit from that as well.
And I suppose speaking of bringing people through and showing
them about the industry and about what your business does
and what those outcomes are. Did you have anyone or
(20:29):
multiple people even as you were growing up us who
supported you as mentors or champions if you like, and
helping you out with moving your career forward or getting
started in business.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
Not really, I think that. I mean, my dad was
great with the masses and marketing, because you know, he
was one of the big wins sort of people win
the sales and marketing for keeps and paper modes, which
was quite international at that time, and fruit wrap and
taught it to show all those sorts of things that
they have been doing in the carrow and and that.
(21:06):
But you know, I've always admired what he did in
that form. But to be honest, a lot of it
you've had I've had to find out myself been in business.
I mean I've had multiple different businesses, like with my
first husband as well as with Paul and and even
on my on my own when in between. And I
(21:30):
think you learn every time you learned something new, whether
it's somebody's not paying you and how to how to
deal with that. Today was a bad experience, well it's
a bad experience. It was something that I had to
do from a business decision, and that was to let
a staff member go just because it wasn't working out
(21:50):
for us and it wasn't working out for the rest
of the team. And it was, you know, a thing
I didn't really want to have to address. But and
you never liked doing doing that to a person, but
you know, by the same token, it was too much
distruction and that was just the way it was. But
you know, you learn all the time, and I've had
(22:12):
to learn to drink a little bit of butch on
myself at times to get things happening or to you know,
get something in particular that we needed for the business
that wasn't we were being messed around. But you know,
you learning all the time, whether it's financial or whether
it's processing, learning about gas, learning about the pressures and
(22:37):
all the science that goes behind putting together the plant
and having to you know, supply your food safety certifications.
And at the moment, we were actually dealing a bit
with Japan and we were exporting to some our and
those sorts of things. So even with the documentation within
those exports and you know, experts for those two it
(22:59):
and those cases it's about expert But we're also on
the other hand importing to blend and do other things
for other artisan producers because we don't have enough of
our own law ingredients. So we should of say, well, okay,
I can't play with this, but I can blend something
else for you if that's acceptable. So we're doing I'm
(23:23):
doing a lot of those sorts of things as well.
And yeah, so you're learning just all the time every day.
The learning day, And I guess it's part of the
satisfaction of being in business is that your mind is
forever active and always thinking. Sometimes at night it's not
such a good thing, but you know it's there and
(23:46):
it's happening all the time.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Yeah, that's such an honest comment about there's always something
going on, right and sometimes it's not conveniently just between
the hours of nine till five.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
That's for sure.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Really interested in if we fast forward to where clear
and I met you was at the end of my
Real Woman Business awards and I just wondered, what made
you apply for that particular award.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
Well, I had had a couple of people reached out
to me and sort of, you know, so you should
be applying for this, And it actually came in a
really bad time because Paul was having open heart surgery
at an Auckland hospital and it was pretty touch and
go there, and because I always decided be and had
(24:34):
had received the application and was trying to full it
in and that was okay. But but case lock, if
this happens, it's great, but you're my first priority here anyway,
and if we get through this, we're on a winner,
you know. So it didn't really. It didn't really worry
me so much about winning the awards to getting Hume
(24:57):
back on house because together we could we could go forward.
So that was it was just such a bonus, and
it was so neat to be recognized by my peers
and everything like that. And when I had one that
a would and I had, you know, quite a few congratulates,
(25:18):
congratulations phone calls from people I hadn't heard from the
ages and things like that, and one of them was
a cousin that I hadn't heard from for a long time,
and he said, you know, Diane, who said Nana and
grand Air would be really really proud of you now.
And that was the sweetest thing that anybody had sort
(25:39):
of said to me because that particular Nan and Granddad
were the ones that grew up and lived in Foon
borrow and cleared the land by hand in order to
farm and you know, provide an income and in many
ways with what we're doing here, I feel exactly the same,
you know, we had this was just a lifestyle block
(26:02):
and I had Paul and I we had to get
the land cleared of the eucalyptus trees and the maze
and everything can drain it and do everything to be
able to plant one block after another, you know, show
that we could actually or prove to ourselves that we
could actually grow citrus for a start, or lines in
(26:26):
our case, and you know, and then go forwards from there. So,
you know, winning the award has certainly been an amazing thing.
And the fact that you are rare finally recognized by
your peers and that because when you heat it down
and your bottoms up, you really don't think too much
about yourself or those around you, sort of trying to
(26:50):
just focus on the doing. And every day is a
bit like that and you don't look for recognition, but
it's sort of found on me in this case, and
for that, I'm very proud.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yeah, and so you should be. I think, you know,
you've achieved a lot. And it's beautiful to hear the
synchronousities of where you came from with your family as well.
So that's a really neat, neat connection point.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
Now.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
I know that in the last probably six months or so,
you've had some really big challenges in your business with
obviously the big cyclones that have come through and how
they might have impacted you. But what I'm also interested
in is you've talked a lot about moving forward and
the way forward and how how you sort of get
(27:42):
up and get the next thing done and move move
into something else. So I'm really interested in what the
next twelve months might look like for you. I know
there's probably been some disruption, but I've just got this
feeling that something more is coming.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
Oh I hope so too. Yeah, we've got it. We've
got a lot going on. I mean, sitting now, our
team has increased where there's now twelve or twelve thirteen
of us. You know, you're here in the business where
it was just me to start with net this year coming,
we're in the throes of working through putting in another
(28:20):
big building with a massive, great big freezer and it
forth freezing down more jokes, you know, rather than having
multiple containers that we've got in addition to our big
shed and you know, things like that. So we've got
all that going on, but it's a necessary step forward
so we can continue to employ and have area we
(28:42):
can put some of our packaging and different things. You know,
where it used to be one palette coming, now it's
like twenty pallets of the same thing coming, you know,
it's so we continue to continue to evolve there. I mean,
we can only evolve as much as we've got raw
materials as well. So as more growers come on board
(29:06):
and they are, you know, inquiring all the time that
they've got fenera, it isn't in use that they want
to plant out. It's quite an encouraging thing for us
as well because we can certainly do the marketing and
sales side and grow the business, but without the raw
ingredients and behind and that part of it growing as well,
(29:28):
we can't be one hundred percent successful. So yeah, it's
forever evolving, you know. So you need. The bigger you get,
the more things you need, so more staff, more bigger buildings,
more packaging, you know, all that sort of stuff. And
like I say, we've started exporting to Samoa. We're in
(29:53):
conversations and negotiations with Japan at the moment. We've also
been Pauls actually just went up on my behalf to
Vanuatu recently and was talking to growers up there and
looking to help them establish some of the growing methods
(30:13):
but better so he did a both talk up there.
We've done the same in Vietnam for another bunch of
growers and people that we were invited up to go
and talk to as well. So yeah, it is very exciting. Yeah,
I mean we're only in food stuff. We haven't touched
(30:33):
countdown yet, but we need to make sure that we
can execute any volume at the crook of the thing,
at the crook of your fingers, rather than just second guessings.
So you have to be cared for your growth as well.
And yeah, you don't go there until you're ready, you know.
(30:53):
So yeah, it's it is exciting times coming up.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
Still, Absolutely well, Dive, thank you so much for your
time today. I have loved hearing about your journey, particularly
loved the teamwork aspect that you have with Paul, plus
obviously your community come back as well. And all the
very best for the future, growing domestically, growing those export markets,
(31:19):
fine tuning the business. We really can't wait to see
the evolution of the limeriy and also your personal story.
And hey, in the meantime, we'll just keep sipping our
Margie's with your beautiful products.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
You're welcome and then joy.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Rural Women New Zealand is a community of like minded
women who are doing amazing things in their respective regions
in communities.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
This podcast celebrates the achievements, successes, and stories of our
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Speaker 2 (31:53):
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so please join us by clicking on the link and
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and its the Fault h
Welcome to the Black Heels and Tractor Wheels podcast, where
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Speaker 3 (00:37):
Hey, Dike, So the first question that we want to
unpack for you is tell us about your early childhood experiences.
You're obviously living a bit more rurally these days, but
have you always been part of the rural community.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
My early life while I was born and bred in
Glenfield or on the North Shore in Auckland, and yeah,
mine early life was pretty standard, I guess, living in
more of a residential setting than a rural scenting. My
(01:12):
parents certainly weren't from rural backgrounds, although it was my
grandparents that cleared the land to plants and farm in
the early days and I spent a lot of time
with my grandmother who used to breed goats for milking
and milked for the hospital wards then, which wasn't too
(01:35):
far from where we were living and where I grew up.
So other than that, really my mum was the ideal homemaker.
My dad was away overseas a lot with business, and
so I guess my journey seeing home wheeling and dealing
(01:55):
and spending a lot of time overseas working for big
corporate companies and that sort of thing always sort of
inspired me in the marketing and sales side of it,
and that's sort of the path I headed down, first
in finance and banking when I first left school, and
(02:17):
then more into sales roles and things like that.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Tell us a little bit around how you went from,
like you say, on the banking side of things and
then sales. Tell us a little bit about how you
made that jump from there to meeting your husband Paul
and establishing what's now the Limry.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Okay, so yeah, Paul is my second husband. My first
husband I did a variety of different things with. Mainly
it was getting ourselves out of the cactus when we
had a board a business that didn't really stack up,
and it took my twelve years to turn that one around.
(03:01):
But always I have enjoyed business per se. And with Paul,
he was in sales and marketing, and when you're in
a similar industry, I was in refrigerator commercial. I had
a commercial refrigeration business at that stage, which i'd just
sold out of, and I met Paul, who was one
(03:22):
of my customers. Actually funny how things turn around. But yeah,
So with Paul and I, you know, we're we're sort
of older in our lives, and we were wanting to
do something rather than working for corporate and other things.
And I've always admired people that could grow a raw
(03:47):
ingredient and then processed that into a form that was
a product that you could sell. I always thought that
was absolutely amazing, and so been in the laster part
of our days, I thought, well, we've still got, you know,
a bit of spring in our steps. Why don't we
try doing something where we're growing something and producing something ourselves.
(04:11):
And so that's what we said about doing and we
really didn't, you know, know much about wirel or anything
like that. It was more of betrayed me special as
far as the land was cheap here, and if we
were going to do anything at all, it needed to
be relatively an expensive land on which to do it,
because otherwise, you know and c these it's always way
(04:35):
too expense as the land. And so that's really what
led us to Wiral. And then it was okay, so
what are we going to grow and what are we
going to do? And we looked around wirel drove around
the place and every backyard had fruit trees, in particular
citrus trees, and there were lemons and oranges and the likes,
(04:56):
all just falling onto the ground. And I thought to myself,
well that's a real indicator, isn't it, and what we
should be growing. And so we we thought, well, you know,
been at that stage both of us have moved from
refrigeration into the beverage sector and was working for Shop
Beverages at the time as their national sales manager, and
(05:21):
I you know, they brought in a lot of raw ingredients,
and I thought, well, you know, we needed to find
out a bit more about citrus and what could be
done and the pricing and you know, would it make
a business or not make a business. So we discounted
oranges because there really wasn't enough land. Number one, we
(05:45):
only had four heat DearS, and number two, you know,
everybody sort of seemed to be squeezing oranges and the
value of an orange really wasn't what even a lemon was,
or even furthermore, alime. At that time, limes were very
expensive in the shops and we thought, wow, you know
(06:07):
that thirty dollars a kiload, it's got to be a winner.
It started to do the numbers, but most of the
lines that come in.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
That are.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Imported come via air, and of course most of that
price is actually on air freight, not actually on the
fruit cost. So still looking around, we went to the
likes of Brazil and Mexico. We went to Thailand and Australia,
looking at orchards and seeing how the other half of
(06:40):
the world grew and processed fruit and whether or not
we could do something similar in Wirral. And as it
turned out, we thought, yeah, we could do a mini
one of these large scale processing units on our piece
the land. And that's kind of where the past we talk.
(07:05):
And it's mainly because we were doing the whole fruit
to start with, and then our second grave fruit was
getting so hammered by the winds that we needed to
have an outlet for that as well. So hence the
juice sector or side of our business came.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
So I have a confession to make you my partner.
He quite likes Margarets, so obviously lime is a big
part of that, and he so that you must have
your juice. So we've tried a couple of brands over
the years, and so I just actually would like to
talk a little bit about like quality control and sustainability
(07:47):
and how that how you've gotten your business to the
to the stage that it's in, but also how you
maintain that because I know that you take a real
hands on approach, So can you tell us a little
bit about how the business works in that respect and
also how the marketing into that sort of really really
good quality product has come about.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Well, it's a bit of a process. Like when we
put together our joice plant, I knew a little bit
about processing, but we only had so much money in
capital to start it with, so I had to think
outside the box. And when most big companies in processing,
they have finishes or we could only really afford a filter.
(08:29):
But yeah, the filter actually gives it, you know, a
nice finish and Also the way I pasteurized, it's more
like the slow cooker of cooking rather than a fast cock.
If you slow cook something, it actually has much better
flavor than something that's been zacked in the microwave, for example.
(08:53):
So the processing and all that side of it is
really ended up, my baby. We had equipment that came
tick in hand from everywhere. Really, I mean that's from farms,
and we had basketfilters from seaweed laboratories. They had conveyors
from pharmaceutical companies. Our original parts pasteurizer it was Institute
(09:18):
Keery fruit and came from a cannery down on Hastings.
But again it was forty five years old, and I
had to try to figure out how to work the
jolly thing because no manuals come when they's forty five
years years old. Since well and truly lost those manuals.
But the quality itself, I think is from the process.
We don't have any water added to it. It's pasteurized
(09:43):
to coloss the bugs and things that could potentially come
in on the fruit. And yeah, then it's bottled with
very little air in it. Because oxygen is u nemesis,
it will turn a product. So that's part of the process.
(10:05):
And the other thing that we do as well with
our product is we to ensure food safety. We put
it under UV light, So in the finishing stages it
goes under UV lights and the submersible lights that are
actually within the tanks, and that destroys the DNA of
(10:25):
any pathogens that may still linger after the semial process,
because some of them in food can be quite gnarly
and they are quite resistant to that. So keeping the
quality is a really big thing for us. And and
thank you very much to your partner for his support,
(10:47):
because we are getting an underdated with bars and even
other artists and producers that we supply products and botanicals
toe for that same very reason is that you know,
it's got no added water. It is what it is.
It's just been gently pasteurized to a point and salted
(11:09):
where it ends up as it ends up, you know.
And I do pat myself on the back from time
to time. And it's kind of hard to believe that
it has formulated at such demands now that you know,
to be a national brand and to have such demand
within hospitality. For example, we in twelve months we sold
(11:31):
over five thousand cartons of our larger bottles into Queenstown alone,
you know, and that was you know, that was quite
staggering really to think that that's just going to the
bars and that around Queenstown, you know, without Auckland and
some of the other areas that we have hardly touched
on yet. So yeah, it's quite exciting really for us.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Yeah, and so you should put yourself on the back
because it's such an amazing journey from what you've just
talked about in those formative years to where you are now.
That's such an amazing achievement. So from my perspective, I'm
quite keen to know what do you think has been
one or two of the key things that you attribute
(12:16):
to your success. Apart from obviously the technique, the taste
and the high quality and those standards, what else do
you think has really contributed to how successful It's been?
Speaker 4 (12:26):
Given me a lot of hard graph getting out of
bed every day and getting out there. Hard graph, but
quite fortunate. Like you know, you can grow anything you like,
but if you haven't got a market, you might as
well grow nothing at all. So the market and the
marketing side of it, or just even getting out there
(12:46):
and selling and introducing the product is what has really
got it off the ground. I started doing it myself,
and then Paul when he later on joined me and
gave us his role and work. He went out there
and that's been his baby. He's been hitting it and
(13:07):
I've been in the engine room in the background. And
so as a tag team, both Paul and I really
really well. And you know, we're always buzzing about what's
going on in the marketplace, and you know how you
take a commodity product and convert that into into a brand.
So it's quite a daytime conversation all day really of
(13:31):
what's going on and within our little world. Yeah, but
you know, without paula I certainly need him. You can't
do everything yourself. And both of us have really just
dug deep and wanted to make a success of it.
And today here we are and it has has certainly
become that way, which is very exciting for us.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Yeah. And I think one of the things that I
read about you, I think quite early on in the process,
is how collaborative you are, And I mean that's it's
just evident even in the partnership between you and Paul,
but I hear that you also support other smaller growers
and enable them to one obviously help to continue the
(14:15):
supply into your markets and your contracts, but also to
support them to grow as well. So what does that
look like in your business? Is it is this other
businesses who are growing fruits coming into the processing side.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Yeah, so we've got well we did have before the
cyclone came through, fourteen other growers, a few of them
we actually lost six growers and amongst that not just
the fourteen around that, a few of the ones around us,
but also we have up in Gisbon we have quite
a few supplying growers that seem fruit now some of
(14:51):
them have lost There's a couple that have lost all
of the orchard of their six and others that have
lost significant parts of the orchard which is really quite
tragic as well as losing their home. So it's been
quite difficult of late and put us under quite a
bit of pressure ourselves. So we've got that going on.
(15:14):
We've also got a development further up the coast at
Tierra Roa with the Tierriuma Trust It's Marria Trust up
there and they've planted out with our assistants over two
thousand trees so far and putting in another two thousand trees,
but they've had dear challenges with weather up there as well.
(15:36):
So we're just working with those local growers, the Tierra
rower growers at Tiuma Trust, and also with the pack houses.
We take from the Gisbone pack houses, we take all
the reject lemons and any reject lines that they may
have from the export orders and that all comes here
for processing as well. So most days we can process
(16:01):
about ten tons goes through the through the juicer a day.
And during this time, which is our busy time right now,
we you know, can have about eighty bins coming through
in the week and that keeps everybody on their toes
processing that. And so what we do is we process
it and then we freeze it down for later on.
(16:24):
So we have a constant stream of growers, local ones
bringing in even on trailers bins of fruit for us
to process in one form or another, whether it be
a tag one which goes out to the whole fruit
market or for the juice processing as well. So we
sort of go through their bins and we grade out accordingly.
(16:46):
But what it means to them as an individual grower
that every piece of fruit has a doll of value.
It's not just here's the good fruit and the rest
of it, Well, what am I going to do with that?
It's a stop shop for them as a grower. And
obviously every year now we pay out over a million
(17:08):
dollars into the local economy here in the way of
grower renumeration and wages and all that sort of stuff
that's connected within that. So it's come a long way
just in the last few years even to see those
sort of numbers starting to be you know, recirculated within
(17:30):
the community.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Yeah, that's fabulous. That's such an awesome way to really
help your community grow. And there's another way that you're
also helping support your local community too, as I understand it.
So you're hoping to give back to local rang attah.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
Yeah, well we have head up until recently we've had
the terror Harmaco as a program we have for local
rang atae coming here to give them a hands on
experience about what our industry is about. So when in
Wirral they're very limited on career options, you know, you
(18:10):
it's sort of been historically f CO which is the
meat works, you know, forestry farming maybe to a lesser degree,
but there's there's not a lot of avenue other than that,
you know, so this sort of opens up the door. Well,
it doesn't have to be that we're processing meat, you know, Hey,
(18:30):
we're processing fruit here and this is what it looks
like and smells like, and this is where it can
take you. So with the rangatahi that we have heads through,
we've taken them from the grassroots of the growing side
of it. This is the growing side. Now we process
the fruit and this is where it goes to, and
then the deucing side of it. So they get a
(18:51):
chance in the processing room they're working, you know, work
through with us there. And then also Paul is very
kindly taking them out on the road with home things,
supermarket buyers, seeing some of our hospitality customers, and so
they can see where the end product ends up as well.
And that's out of that. We've actually had a couple
(19:12):
of apprentices come who are still with us today and
that's very exciting for them and for their fun now
as well, because it's just a whole different avenue to
what traditionally has been in the Wild District. And for that,
you know, again, we're pretty proud of what we've done there.
We also have international students that come each year and
(19:35):
they come from a university in Angrees, which is south
of Paris, and they are obviously the French students. They
come here for three months internship. They stay and live
on site as well, and they work through the day
and have missions in which they need to accomplish, which
are then taken back home and published in the university library.
(19:57):
So it becomes part of a public viewpoint on what
the outcomes they've achieved, why they've been here in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Wow, that is so awesome. So I didn't know all
of the intricacies of how that worked, but that's incredible
and so many people able to benefit from that as well.
And I suppose speaking of bringing people through and showing
them about the industry and about what your business does
and what those outcomes are. Did you have anyone or
(20:29):
multiple people even as you were growing up us who
supported you as mentors or champions if you like, and
helping you out with moving your career forward or getting
started in business.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
Not really, I think that. I mean, my dad was
great with the masses and marketing, because you know, he
was one of the big wins sort of people win
the sales and marketing for keeps and paper modes, which
was quite international at that time, and fruit wrap and
taught it to show all those sorts of things that
they have been doing in the carrow and and that.
(21:06):
But you know, I've always admired what he did in
that form. But to be honest, a lot of it
you've had I've had to find out myself been in business.
I mean I've had multiple different businesses, like with my
first husband as well as with Paul and and even
on my on my own when in between. And I
(21:30):
think you learn every time you learned something new, whether
it's somebody's not paying you and how to how to
deal with that. Today was a bad experience, well it's
a bad experience. It was something that I had to
do from a business decision, and that was to let
a staff member go just because it wasn't working out
(21:50):
for us and it wasn't working out for the rest
of the team. And it was, you know, a thing
I didn't really want to have to address. But and
you never liked doing doing that to a person, but
you know, by the same token, it was too much
distruction and that was just the way it was. But
you know, you learn all the time, and I've had
(22:12):
to learn to drink a little bit of butch on
myself at times to get things happening or to you know,
get something in particular that we needed for the business
that wasn't we were being messed around. But you know,
you learning all the time, whether it's financial or whether
it's processing, learning about gas, learning about the pressures and
(22:37):
all the science that goes behind putting together the plant
and having to you know, supply your food safety certifications.
And at the moment, we were actually dealing a bit
with Japan and we were exporting to some our and
those sorts of things. So even with the documentation within
those exports and you know, experts for those two it
(22:59):
and those cases it's about expert But we're also on
the other hand importing to blend and do other things
for other artisan producers because we don't have enough of
our own law ingredients. So we should of say, well, okay,
I can't play with this, but I can blend something
else for you if that's acceptable. So we're doing I'm
(23:23):
doing a lot of those sorts of things as well.
And yeah, so you're learning just all the time every day.
The learning day, And I guess it's part of the
satisfaction of being in business is that your mind is
forever active and always thinking. Sometimes at night it's not
such a good thing, but you know it's there and
(23:46):
it's happening all the time.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Yeah, that's such an honest comment about there's always something
going on, right and sometimes it's not conveniently just between
the hours of nine till five.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
That's for sure.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Really interested in if we fast forward to where clear
and I met you was at the end of my
Real Woman Business awards and I just wondered, what made
you apply for that particular award.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
Well, I had had a couple of people reached out
to me and sort of, you know, so you should
be applying for this, And it actually came in a
really bad time because Paul was having open heart surgery
at an Auckland hospital and it was pretty touch and
go there, and because I always decided be and had
(24:34):
had received the application and was trying to full it
in and that was okay. But but case lock, if
this happens, it's great, but you're my first priority here anyway,
and if we get through this, we're on a winner,
you know. So it didn't really. It didn't really worry
me so much about winning the awards to getting Hume
(24:57):
back on house because together we could we could go forward.
So that was it was just such a bonus, and
it was so neat to be recognized by my peers
and everything like that. And when I had one that
a would and I had, you know, quite a few congratulates,
(25:18):
congratulations phone calls from people I hadn't heard from the
ages and things like that, and one of them was
a cousin that I hadn't heard from for a long time,
and he said, you know, Diane, who said Nana and
grand Air would be really really proud of you now.
And that was the sweetest thing that anybody had sort
(25:39):
of said to me because that particular Nan and Granddad
were the ones that grew up and lived in Foon
borrow and cleared the land by hand in order to
farm and you know, provide an income and in many
ways with what we're doing here, I feel exactly the same,
you know, we had this was just a lifestyle block
(26:02):
and I had Paul and I we had to get
the land cleared of the eucalyptus trees and the maze
and everything can drain it and do everything to be
able to plant one block after another, you know, show
that we could actually or prove to ourselves that we
could actually grow citrus for a start, or lines in
(26:26):
our case, and you know, and then go forwards from there. So,
you know, winning the award has certainly been an amazing thing.
And the fact that you are rare finally recognized by
your peers and that because when you heat it down
and your bottoms up, you really don't think too much
about yourself or those around you, sort of trying to
(26:50):
just focus on the doing. And every day is a
bit like that and you don't look for recognition, but
it's sort of found on me in this case, and
for that, I'm very proud.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yeah, and so you should be. I think, you know,
you've achieved a lot. And it's beautiful to hear the
synchronousities of where you came from with your family as well.
So that's a really neat, neat connection point.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
Now.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
I know that in the last probably six months or so,
you've had some really big challenges in your business with
obviously the big cyclones that have come through and how
they might have impacted you. But what I'm also interested
in is you've talked a lot about moving forward and
the way forward and how how you sort of get
(27:42):
up and get the next thing done and move move
into something else. So I'm really interested in what the
next twelve months might look like for you. I know
there's probably been some disruption, but I've just got this
feeling that something more is coming.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
Oh I hope so too. Yeah, we've got it. We've
got a lot going on. I mean, sitting now, our
team has increased where there's now twelve or twelve thirteen
of us. You know, you're here in the business where
it was just me to start with net this year coming,
we're in the throes of working through putting in another
(28:20):
big building with a massive, great big freezer and it
forth freezing down more jokes, you know, rather than having
multiple containers that we've got in addition to our big
shed and you know, things like that. So we've got
all that going on, but it's a necessary step forward
so we can continue to employ and have area we
(28:42):
can put some of our packaging and different things. You know,
where it used to be one palette coming, now it's
like twenty pallets of the same thing coming, you know,
it's so we continue to continue to evolve there. I mean,
we can only evolve as much as we've got raw
materials as well. So as more growers come on board
(29:06):
and they are, you know, inquiring all the time that
they've got fenera, it isn't in use that they want
to plant out. It's quite an encouraging thing for us
as well because we can certainly do the marketing and
sales side and grow the business, but without the raw
ingredients and behind and that part of it growing as well,
(29:28):
we can't be one hundred percent successful. So yeah, it's
forever evolving, you know. So you need. The bigger you get,
the more things you need, so more staff, more bigger buildings,
more packaging, you know, all that sort of stuff. And
like I say, we've started exporting to Samoa. We're in
(29:53):
conversations and negotiations with Japan at the moment. We've also
been Pauls actually just went up on my behalf to
Vanuatu recently and was talking to growers up there and
looking to help them establish some of the growing methods
(30:13):
but better so he did a both talk up there.
We've done the same in Vietnam for another bunch of
growers and people that we were invited up to go
and talk to as well. So yeah, it is very exciting. Yeah,
I mean we're only in food stuff. We haven't touched
(30:33):
countdown yet, but we need to make sure that we
can execute any volume at the crook of the thing,
at the crook of your fingers, rather than just second guessings.
So you have to be cared for your growth as well.
And yeah, you don't go there until you're ready, you know.
(30:53):
So yeah, it's it is exciting times coming up.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
Still, Absolutely well, Dive, thank you so much for your
time today. I have loved hearing about your journey, particularly
loved the teamwork aspect that you have with Paul, plus
obviously your community come back as well. And all the
very best for the future, growing domestically, growing those export markets,
(31:19):
fine tuning the business. We really can't wait to see
the evolution of the limeriy and also your personal story.
And hey, in the meantime, we'll just keep sipping our
Margie's with your beautiful products.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
You're welcome and then joy.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Rural Women New Zealand is a community of like minded
women who are doing amazing things in their respective regions
in communities.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
This podcast celebrates the achievements, successes, and stories of our
rural women, which are also the foundations for our organization's
rich history.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
We want you to be part of our future story,
so please join us by clicking on the link and
the show notes and we look forward to welcoming you
and its the Fault h
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