Shoppers may be surprised to know that more than 70 percent of Pams sales come from products made in or sourced from New Zealand, supporting over 180 Kiwi suppliers across the country.
Pams works with a range of local growers and food processors, manufacturers and family-owned businesses, to produce products for households around the country. Value-focused supermarket brands are often assumed to be primarily imported, but by sales volume, more than 70 percent of Pams products are made in or sourced from New Zealand.
Pams is Foodstuffs’ own brand and part of the 100 percent New Zealand-owned co-operatives behind New World, PAK’nSAVE and Four Square.
The brand has been around since 1937, when it first sold baking powder. Today, Pams is known as the most popular brand in the land, with more than 2,500 Pams products across stores nationwide, from butter, milk and bread to fresh produce, sauces and household essentials.
“We work with over 180 Kiwi suppliers to develop, source and produce products our customers love to shop,” said Lisa Oldershaw, Foodstuffs Own Brands General Manager.
“Many of these relationships have been built over years. They’re partnerships that help us deliver great quality, good value and reliability our customers expect, while supporting businesses and communities across New Zealand.”
Local businesses behind the label
In Palmerston North, supplier Morgan Laurenson produces Pams salad bags and mixes, as well as potatoes, carrots and onions. The business works with growers around the country, with fresh produce arriving at its facility six days a week.
The company credits its own brand business with much of its recent growth and was named Foodstuffs’ Own Brands Supplier of the Year for 2026. Despite this, it still describes itself as a “little humble potato company.”
In Ōtaki, Dowco has been manufacturing cleaning products for Pams for almost 30 years. Today, Dowco produces Pams cleaning products and is exploring ways to incorporate recycled New Zealand kerbside plastic into its packaging.
“Foodstuffs was one of my first real customers,” said Richard Downer, Managing Director of Dowco.
“The relationship started when I went to visit them, just trying to sell my wares. It was good timing and a little bit of good luck.”
In Blenheim, family-owned Springbrook Foods makes around 20 Pams products, including simmer sauces and crushed garlic, ginger and chilli. Managing Director Jacob Johnson said the business began as a family fruit and vegetable growing operation before moving into garlic processing and then condiments and simmer sauces.
“Making sure the consumer gets a great product at a great price is a shared vision for both Foodstuffs and Springbrook,” said Johnson.
For suppliers, working with an established own brand programme can provide access to a level of scale that would take years to build independently. That scale can support investment in equipment, increased production, new product development and sustainability initiatives.
Oldershaw added that the relationship works both ways as suppliers bring local expertise and manufacturing capability, while the scale of the supermarket network can provide a more consistent market for their products.
Local first, where it makes sense
Not everything sold under the Pams brand is made in New Zealand. Around 29 per cent of Pams ' own-brand sales come from overseas suppliers.
Most of that, around 26 percent, is for products that can’t be produced here, such as rice and pasta. The remaining three percent is sourced offshore where there is a better combination of value, quality, availability, and consistent supply volumes.
Some products aren’t grown here, some are made more efficiently overseas, and others are best sourced from places with generations of expertise. The goal is to support New Zealand production wherever it makes sense, while giving shoppers access to quality products at a price they can afford.
“As locally owned co-operatives, we have a strong connection to the communities our stores serve,” said Oldershaw.
“Backing Kiwi growers, makers and manufacturers is part of that. Where we can support local production, we do.”
The businesses behind Pams may not have their names on the front of the packet, but their products are being made on farms, in factories and processing plants across New Zealand, and finding their way into Kiwi shopping trolleys every week.
Pams is more than a brand on the shelf. Behind it is a network of New Zealand businesses working together to deliver quality and value to Kiwi shoppers.
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