Food & Beverage Producers Invited to Join North Canterbury Provenance Brand

MADE NORTH CANTERBURY is an Enterprise North Canterbury (ENC) initiative, created after a study found local food and beverage producers wanted a unifying brand that would offer them opportunities in marketing, promotion and collaboration.

ENC Food & Beverage Business Development Manager Alissa Miller is putting the call out to producers, manufacturers and hospitality venues to come on board to help showcase the breadth and depth of what the local sector has to offer and to connect with others in the industry.

“North Canterbury has a vast array of top-quality food and beverage producers. We are inviting them all to come on board as MADE NORTH CANTERBURY members. The brand will act as a platform for storytelling, food tourism trails and marketing activities so that we can increase awareness of our local producers and products to consumers,” Alissa said.

“In addition, a key part of the MADE NORTH CANTERBURY member offering is the B2B online platform which allows food and beverage businesses to connect with one another to create direct buying and selling opportunities, collaborative value adds and consolidated export shipments. Our goal is to see an uptick of local B2B sales through this platform and an overall shortening of the food and beverage supply chain.”

Twenty-seven top local food and beverage producers have already signed on as members and will feature on the brand’s website and social media when they launch to the public in September. They will also have access to the website’s business portal which contains opportunities to engage with other members and local trade.

MADE NORTH CANTERBURY is an initiative of Enterprise North Canterbury – the local economic development agency for the Waimakariri and Hurunui District Councils. Sidekick Rangiora and Meridian Energy have come on board as sponsors for this project along with contra sponsors Croft Print, The Mark and Leading Label. A successful bid to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) Provincial Growth Fund has allowed for the employment of a dedicated project manager for an initial two year period to achieve the goals set up by local food and beverage producers.

“Industry members told us that this is what they need to better their offering and work collaboratively to share North Canterbury food and beverage with a wider audience. We’re excited to see producers coming on board so we can achieve this goal together to tell their story about them and their products,” said Alissa.