Well-known former grocery supplier Alan McConnon was killed in a car crash in Central Otago late last month. The former co-owner of Mainland Products, a dairy company started by his father Peter in 1954, was 62 years old.
McConnon and his brother Baird, who joined the company out of school, helped turn Mainland into an iconic $700m dairy company that is a strong player still in the grocery industry. The company was bought in the late 90’s by Kiwi Co-op Dairies under Craig Norgate and was later assimilated into Fonterra in 2002. McConnon was a regular and popular figure in supplier activities with the FGC and the earlier GMA.
