Organics vegetables have been a dream for Goodness Kitchen since they launched the brand two years ago. The brand, built around honest and ethical supply, have developed the business in frozen fruit so a progression to frozen vegetables was a natural step. The problem being, New Zealand simply doesn’t grow the commercial quantities needed to supply the mainstream market. Goodness Kitchen soon realised they needed close to 200 tonnes annually to meet the growing demand for synthetic spray free vegetables.
The opportunity for organic vegetables in New Zealand is sizable. New Zealanders are becoming more and more aware around what they are putting into their bodies and are searching out wholesome artificial-spray-free options. This was highlighted by the overwhelmingly positive response Goodness Kitchen have had at The Food Show’s in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. Organic customers were excited to learn that there is now an option for them in the frozen section, allowing them to consume organics throughout the seasons. Many customers confessed that this product would draw them back to the frozen category which they had otherwise been avoiding due to the lack of organic offerings.
The trend is set to continue with total organics growing at 127% in grocery and 9.5% of total frozen fruit sales coming from organic fruit. In the most developed markets, organic vegetables make up to 10% of total frozen vegetable sales and organic produce is growing at a CAGR of 66% over the past 15 years.
“As a nation, we are wanting to make better food choices every day, not just for health reasons, food needs to check the ethical, environmental and socially responsible boxes too. It was no longer good enough just to be NZ grown, we were getting approached time and time again about artificial spray free options in vegetables. Our internal research showed that consumers were willing to pay for premium quality, frozen organics to satisfy this need," said Brand Manager, Poppy Binning.
The range has been independently certified organic in New Zealand to Assure Quality standards and carries their logo on the front of the pack. Certification means the farming processes are approved and all social and ethical practices have been met through the whole supply chain.
After exhausting local supply options, the team at Goodness Kitchen began the search globally to find good quality certified organics and landed in Europe. Binning says, “We looked at the options being sold in global markets and found that places like the Netherlands, Germany and Spain were the leading producers of Organic Vegetables. We wanted a level of product that our consumers can trust; our big drivers were quality, safety, pricing and taste. We needed to find a product that didn’t comprise on taste and delivered to our honest sourcing approach”.
Goodness Kitchen has launched five new skus into the market –Mixed Garden Vegetables, Garden Peas, Sweet Corn, Green Beans and a Broccoli/Cauliflower Blend. The range is packed in New Zealand and uses sustainable cardboard packaging and recyclable soft plastics.
The range is available in the frozen section at New World, Pak n Save, Raeward Fresh and Farro stores nationwide
