Award honours 20-year relationship supplying daily Luv’ya apples
Leading New Zealand retail co-op Foodstuffs held its annual National Partnership Awards on 5 March, honouring the contributions of its supplier partners.
More than 400 suppliers attended the award show which was part of the co-ops’ biannual Expo trade show at Hamilton’s Claudelands Event Centre.
“Every day, our suppliers bring quality, creativity, and passion to the table,” Chris Quin, chief executive of Foodstuffs North Island said at the event. “It’s this dedication that ensures we can offer Kiwis the very best products, value and experiences.”
The evening featured 15 awards highlighting standout achievements from suppliers who are setting the benchmark in New Zealand’s fast-moving consumer goods industry.
Under the fresh produce category, The Foodstuffs North Island Fresh Partnership Award went to Gopak and Heartland Fruit received the Foodstuffs South Island Fresh Partnership Award.
Heartland Fruit, a grower-owned producer and marketer of apples based in Nelson, grows ten different varieties of apples including Ambrosia, Smitten and Eve.
“Heartland Fruit has been supplying Foodstuffs South Island daily with Class 1 Luv’ya brand apples for over 20 years,” the marketer said in a release. “Last week’s award covered the entire fresh category for Foodstuffs South Island and Heartland was honoured to receive the recognition given very strong competition from other companies in the fresh category including seafood, meat and produce.”
As a Foodstuffs VMI (Vendor Managed Inventory) partner, Heartland ensures Luv’ya apples are available for Foodstuffs South Island consumers throughout the entire year. This consistent supply is achieved by placing a portion of the crop in CA stores immediately after harvest and releasing stored fruit from June, so consumers can rely on a great eating experience through the whole year.
Foodstuffs South Island features Heartlands’ Luv’ya branded apples across all 140 stores under five banners.
This year Heartland will also work with Foodstuffs South Island to bring EverCrisp apples to consumers. According to Heartland, the variety has “explosive sweetness” reaching a Brix of 15o at harvest, and excellent crispness providing a long shelf life.
“EverCrisp has been a huge hit in with Asian customers during the first two years it has been exported,” the company added.
Heartland’s Ambrosia export harvest began in the second week of March, with the first containers due to be leaving Port Nelson for customers in Asia the following week.
“The Ambrosia crop is looking very good this year with slow fruit maturity leading to great colour and good fruit size and with the CA rooms starting to be filled it is expected that this great eating apple will be available to consumers through to the end of 2025,” Heartland said.
