Foodstuffs (NZ) Ltd is a New Zealand grocery company owned by the

retailers' cooperatives A retailers' cooperative is a type of cooperative which employs economies of scale on behalf of its retailer members. Retailers' cooperatives use their purchasing power to acquire discounts from manufacturers and often share marketing expenses. A r ...

, Foodstuffs North Island Limited and Foodstuffs South Island Limited. Together, the two cooperatives collectively control an estimated 53% of the New Zealand grocery market. The group owns retail franchises

Four Square Four square is a team sport played among two teams with two players each on a square court divided into four quadrants: A, B, C, and D (usually numbers 3, 4, 2, and 1, respectively, depending on the court.) The square that a player gets to befo ...

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

and

Pak'nSave PAK'nSAVE (stylised PAK'nSAVE, originally PAK 'N SAVE) is a New Zealand discount food warehouse chain owned by the Foodstuffs cooperative. It is one of the three main supermarket chains, alongside Countdown and New World. There are 56 stor ...

, in-store private labels

Pam's Pams (previously Pam's) is a New Zealand company, owned by Foodstuffs, which also owns the New World, Pak'n Save and Four Square supermarket chains. Pams sources and brands a wide range of supermarket goods as a house brand. History Pams was ...

, Pam's Finest, and Value (formerly named Budget) Foodstuffs' major competitor is the

New Zealand division The New Zealand Division was an infantry division of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force raised for service in the First World War. It was formed in Egypt in early 1916 when the New Zealand and Australian Division was renamed after the detachmen ...

of the Australian

Woolworths Group Woolworth, Woolworth's, or Woolworths may refer to: Businesses * F. W. Woolworth Company, the original US-based chain of "five and dime" (5¢ and 10¢) stores * Woolworths Group (United Kingdom), former operator of the Woolworths chain of shops ...

through their main supermarket chain

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...

, creating an effective

duopoly A duopoly (from Greek δύο, ''duo'' "two" and πωλεῖν, ''polein'' "to sell") is a type of oligopoly where two firms have dominant or exclusive control over a market. It is the most commonly studied form of oligopoly due to its simplicit ...

in New Zealand's supermarket industry.

History

The first Foodstuffs co-operative was formed in Auckland in 1922. On 6 July 1922, Foodstuffs founder J Heaton Barker called together members of the Auckland Master Grocers' Association to discuss plans for the formation of a co-operative buying group. The buying group expanded in 1925 with the introduction of Four Square branding on members' stores. Similar co-operatives were set up in other parts of the country, with Wellington commencing also in 1922, Christchurch in 1928 and Dunedin in 1948. Initially, the buying groups traded under different names, but in 1935, the name Foodstuffs was applied to all the original co-operatives. There have been various mergers between the small regional co-operatives, and until recently there were three co-operative companies: Foodstuffs (Auckland) Ltd; Foodstuffs (Wellington) Co-operative Society Ltd, and Foodstuffs South Island Ltd. Each operated independently and autonomously with its own board of directors, chief executive officer and management structure. There were no common members or shareholders. The organisation has continued to evolve, adopting supermarkets early in their evolution with the formation of the New World group in 1963. The Pak'nSave group began later, and the first store was opened in Kaitaia in 1985. On 7 February 2013, Foodstuffs (Auckland) Ltd and Foodstuffs (Wellington) Co-operative Society Ltd announced that a merger was being planned to bring the two companies together under the name Foodstuffs North Island Ltd. The merged Foodstuffs North Island started trading on 1 September 2013.

Four Square

Four Square is a trans-Tasman chain of small scale grocery stores – ranging from small dairies to small supermarkets. During the 1950s the Foodstuffs advertising department designed the famous "Mr 4 Square" who initially appeared only in newspaper advertising and posters, but was developed to become part of the Four Square identity, appearing in every Four Square store and eventually becoming a nationally recognised symbol in New Zealand, remaining famous to this day. The image is often closely associated with the art of New Zealand artist

Dick Frizzell Richard John Frizzell (born 1943) is a New Zealand artist known for his pop art paintings and prints. His work often features Kiwiana iconography combined with motifs from Māori art traditions, such as the tiki and tā moko. He is based in ...

, who has used the iconic character in many of his works. The current Four Square brand was designed by Auckland branding and design studio Sanders Design.

New World

New World is a full-service supermarket chain. Founded in 1963, New World was the first American-style full-service supermarket brand of Foodstuffs, and the second in New Zealand (after

Foodtown Foodtown was a New Zealand supermarket chain owned by Progressive Enterprises. As with Woolworths, the Foodtown brand was phased out in the late 2000s, with all stores rebranded as Countdown by the end of 2011. Foodtown supermarkets were t ...

). There is a total of 140 New World supermarkets across the North and South Islands of New Zealand (as of October 2017). New World stores tend to be smaller () and more upscale than their competitors. Prices tend to be higher in most stores, due to the cost of upscale presentation, large employee numbers (200–300 in some large stores), and often a lack of competition, especially in smaller towns. New World has been a member of the Fly Buys programme since the programme started in September 1996; Foodstuffs has a 25% stake in the Fly Buys company. The New World brand was designed by Auckland design and branding studio Sanders Design.

Pak'nSave

Pak'nSave is a New Zealand discount supermarket chain owned by the Foodstuffs cooperative. Founded in 1985, Pak'nSave is the most recent of the three current major New Zealand supermarkets (

, and Pak'nSave) to be founded. There are 57 Pak'nSave stores operating across the North and South Islands of New Zealand as of September 2017. Stores are large and have a no-frills environment, often with unlined interiors and concrete floors. Customers are left to pack their own bags or boxes. Pak'nSave was developed following a trip by a group of Foodstuffs executives to the United States in 1985. On that visit they saw

Cub Foods Cub is an American supermarket chain. It operates stores in Minnesota and Illinois. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of SuperValu Inc., based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. History Beginnings Cub Foods was founded by Minnesota-based Hool ...

, operated by SuperValu, Pak 'n Save operated by

Safeway Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, d ...

, and other box warehouse supermarkets. Foodstuffs then copied this format in New Zealand. The original Pak'nSave format was almost an identical copy of Safeway's Pak 'n Save chain in

Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...

. The PAK'nSAVE brand was designed by Auckland design and branding studio Sanders Design. The stores are supplied daily from their co-operative distributor Foodstuffs. Pak'nSave stores often buys stock in bulk. This process means that stores don't offer a wide variety of products as full-service supermarkets – a 2009 ''Consumer magazine'' survey noticed this especially in the pet food and toilet paper categories. On September 13, 2017, Levin's Write Price supermarket was rebranded as Pak'nSave Mini. Pak'nSave Mini is a small format store that stocks around 2,500 products. In comparison, standard Pak'nSave stores stock approximately 8,000 SKUs.

On the Spot

On the Spot is a chain of over one hundred convenience stores in the South Island.

Liquor retailers

Foodstuffs operates two

franchises Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television ...

of independently owned

liquor stores A liquor store is a retail shop that predominantly sells prepackaged liquors – typically in bottles – usually intended to be consumed off the store's premises. Depending on region and local idiom, they may also be called an off-licence ( ...

: LiquorLand and Henry's Beer, Wine & Spirits. LiquorLand is run by Foodstuffs North Island and Foodstuffs South Island. It has 147 stores, including 45 Auckland stores. The chain sells a range of

spirits Spirit or spirits may refer to: Liquor and other volatile liquids * Spirits, a.k.a. liquor, distilled alcoholic drinks * Spirit or tincture, an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol * Volatile (especially flammable) liquids, ...

liqueurs Liqueurs are alcoholic beverages that are bottled with added sugar and have added flavours that are usually derived from fruits, herbs, or nuts. Liqueurs are distinct from eaux-de-vie, fruit brandy, and flavored liquors, which contain no add ...

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

cider Cider ( ) is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of apples. Cider is widely available in the United Kingdom (particularly in the West Country) and the Republic of Ireland. The UK has the world's highest per capita consumption, ...

, RTDs and

snack food A snack is a small portion of food generally Eating, eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at home. Traditionally, snack ...

, including

confectionery Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categories ...

. Henry's Beer, Wine & Spirits is run by Foodstuffs South Island. It has 16 stores in the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

and sells a range of

and

Wholesalers

* Gilmours (part of ''Foodstuffs North Island''). * Trents (part of ''Foodstuffs South Island'')

References

External links

* /www.foodstuffs.co.nz/ Foodstuffs* /www.foodstuffs-si.co.nz/ Foodstuffs South Island
Henry's Beer, Wine and Spirits
* /www.gilmours.co.nz/ Gilmours
Trents
{{Supermarkets in New Zealand Retail companies of New Zealand Companies based in Auckland Supermarkets of New Zealand New Zealand brands New Zealand companies established in 1922 Retail companies established in 1922