Cerebos Gregg's is a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

food and beverage company, best known for their

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

dessert Dessert is a course (food), course that concludes a meal; the course consists of sweet foods, such as cake, biscuit, ice cream, and possibly a beverage, such as dessert wine or liqueur. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly umami, ...

s, and

condiment A condiment is a preparation that is added to food, typically after cooking, to enhance the Flavoring, flavour, to complement the dish or to impart a specific flavor. Such specific flavors generally add sweetness or pungency, or sharp or piquant ...

s. The company has been in operation since 1861, making it one of New Zealand's oldest food companies. The company is now run as part of Heinz Watties Limited, a subsidiary of

Kraft Heinz The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC), commonly known as Kraft Heinz (), is an American multinational food company formed by the merger of Kraft Foods Group, Inc. and the H.J. Heinz Company co-headquartered in Chicago and Pittsburgh. Kraft Heinz is t ...

. The company employs over 200 people in its two factories. The

Dunedin North Dunedin North, also known as North Dunedin, is a major inner suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin, located northeast of the city centre. It contains many of the city's major institutions, including the city's university, polytechnic, ...

factory has operated on the same site since 1925; the

East Tāmaki East Tāmaki is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It is a largely industrial area adjacent to a rapidly growing population. Prior to the 1960s it was largely a dairy farming area. A landmark is Smales Mountain which in 2010 has the remains of ...

site in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

was opened in 1972 and now contains the current head office.

History

Company founder William Gregg emigrated from

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

to Australia's Ballarat gold fields during the 1850s, and from there moved to Dunedin at the time of the

Otago gold rush The Otago gold rush (often called the Central Otago gold rush) was a gold rush that occurred during the 1860s in Central Otago, New Zealand. This was the country's biggest gold strike, and led to a rapid influx of foreign miners to the area � ...

. There he established W Gregg & Co, with wide-ranging food interests, but most notably a coffee and spice merchants. Gregg's became a

limited liability company A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of ...

the 1920s, and in 1925 all the Gregg's operations were combined in one enterprise in Forth Street, Dunedin North (a site which still houses the company's coffee processing operations). During the 1930s to 1950s, a range of other products were launched, including

salad dressing A salad dressing is a sauce for salads, used on virtually all leafy salads. Dressings may also be used in preparing salads of beans (e.g., three bean salad), noodle or pasta salads and antipasti, and forms of potato salad. A dressing may even ...

s and

instant pudding Instant pudding is an instant food product that is manufactured in a powder form and used to create puddings and pie filling. It is produced using sugar, flavoring agents and Thickening agent, thickeners as primary ingredients. Instant pudding ...

s. Gregg's also launched their first instant coffee in the 1950s, the first such product to be made in New Zealand. In 1991 Gregg's launched granulated coffee, under the brand name of Red Ribbon Roast.

Decaffeinated Decaffeination is the removal of caffeine from coffee beans, cocoa, tea leaves, and other caffeine-containing materials. Decaffeinated products are commonly termed by the abbreviation decaf. To ensure product quality, manufacturers are required ...

instant coffee Instant coffee is a beverage derived from brewed coffee beans that enables people to quickly prepare hot coffee by adding hot water or milk to coffee solids in powdered or crystallized form and stirring. The product was first invented in Inver ...

was launched the following year. A 1970 advertisement for Gregg's coffee was the first multicultural

television advertisement A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

broadcast in New Zealand. In 1984, the New Zealand arm of international food company

Cerebos Cerebos is a brand of salt and, more recently, of other flavourings and nutritional supplements. Ownership of Cerebos brand is divided between Kraft Heinz in Asia Pacific, Australia and New Zealand, Premier Foods in UK, K+S in Western Europe, a ...

merged with Gregg's to form Cerebos Gregg's Limited. In 1990, the company added the Robert Harris coffee brand to their company, and in 2005, Atomic Coffee Roasters was also purchased by the company. In 2018, Kraft Heinz acquired most of Cerebos Pacific's food and coffee division, including Cerebos Gregg's Limited from Suntory. Subsequently, Cerebos Gregg's Limited operations were consolidated into Heinz Watties Limited.

References

External links

* {{The Kraft Heinz Company Heinz brands Food manufacturers of New Zealand Privately held companies of New Zealand Food brands of New Zealand Food and drink companies based in Auckland Manufacturing companies based in Auckland