By Steve Best
Continued export growth for its value-added chicken products prompted Tegel’s $20 million investment in building, plant and processing equipment at its Henderson plant in Auckland.
Officially opened by prime minister John Key last month, the plant will not only boost production but has resulted in 300 new jobs throughout the company. Of that number 160 jobs have been created at Henderson with the remaining 140 made up of more staff in warehousing, sales, administration and farming.
Tegel chief executive Andrew Stevens says the $20 million upgrade includes a combination of $10 million in building works and $10 million for new processing equipment such as ovens, formers, fryers and packaging machinery, as well as a product development facility dedicated to the creation of new products.
The plant will now process over 350 tonnes of chicken per week and 75 percent of that is headed off-shore to Australia, Japan and Hong Kong. The company expects to realise sales of over $100 million in the next 12 months from the Henderson plant alone and Mr Stevens says the sizable investment to increase production is only possible because of the scale of Tegel’s exports.
“You can’t build to that scale to service New Zealand alone,” he says.
“There is a lot more growth in Australia for us and in the last six months we’ve begun exporting to Japan and Hong Kong.” Mr Stevens says that Tegel’s export success is due to a combination of factors. 
“Primarily, we’ve gone out and tried very hard. We’re a large scale chicken producer and farmer – with highly sophisticated processing capabilities and extremely robust food safety. It’s expensive to export but we have the skills to do it and we also turn over $450 million in New Zealand a year.
“We also have the experience in dealing with large scale global companies in New Zealand and that allows us to deal with them overseas. If you meet standards here then you can meet them anywhere. We’re also helped in this country by a very good rule of law and an educated workforce.
“New Zealand’s strict bio-security controls and food safety regulations have earned us a reputation for producing the world’s safest chicken and that, in turn, has boosted orders globally for Tegel products.
“New Zealand is unique in the world in being free from all the major chicken diseases. Our geographic isolation and strict biosecurity controls keep New Zealand chickens the healthiest in the world,” Mr Stevens says.
While he admits many in the manufacturing sector are still struggling due to challenging issues, Mr Stevens is optimistic that Tegel’s hard work and forward planning will continue reaping dividends and more export orders.
“We’re not the cheapest but we’re highly competitive where quality matters,” he says.
“You have to find a place where you can be competitive and do it very well and we are very good producers and farmers of chicken in New Zealand.
“We are already a major contributor to the local and national economy and are anticipating considerable further growth in the next two to three years, which will bring in millions of dollars to New Zealand.”
The new third processing line at the Henderson plant will produce value-added chicken for specific customers, many of them quick service restaurants (QSRs), as well as Tegel’s Tempura Battered Nuggets, Take Outs & Cuisine ranges.
