Genoese Pesto Production

Ron Parkin and his family moved to Horowhenua in 1980 and started to grow asparagus, one of the first in the area to do so. He also became involved in the exporting of asparagus, particularly to Japan. In the late 80’s he saw an opportunity to supply asparagus into Japan outside New Zealand’s growing season by growing it offshore. After considering a number of countries he decided that Fiji would probably meet most of his criteria. He established an experimental block and after three years it looked so successful that he leased some land and started planting commercial quantities.

“It turned out that was a mistake because although the asparagus plants grew well the yield was quite low. So we had the land and 45 acres of asparagus but it was not a paying proposition,” says Ron. “So we started growing herbs including basil, which grows all year round in Fiji and has a very strong flavour. Then in about 1992 pesto appeared on the culinary scene in New Zealand and we started supplying Fijian basil to the manufacturers. One of them, who had got in really early but didn’t want to carry on, suggested that we start making it ourselves.”

Ron did a business feasibility study and found that pesto was a high value product with good margins, so he thought he should give it a go. Starting in a shed on the farm with a kitchen whiz and some teaspoons, he and his future son-in-law made 35kg in the first week.

“We realised that we knew nothing about food science and food safety so we went to Massey University and they were tremendously helpful. The biggest issue was sanitising the fresh basil, and with that solved away we went,” he says.

“Initially many people tried the product and said it was excellent. We got the endorsement of chefs and early on we also got the endorsement of Singapore Airlines because we were able to meet their requirements, so we decided that our best bet was to supply the foodservice market – hotels, restaurants and airlines.”

For a time the company supplied bulk products to industrial customers and also made retail products for other companies’ brands but after a while Ron decided they should have our own brand because that was where the real value was.

“We prevaricated on this for quite some time but in the end we took over a small pesto maker in Nelson with its own brand. Our strategy was that we would also make our own brand and run the Nelson brand alongside it,” says Ron.

“However, it became pretty clear that running a two brand policy in retail is difficult so we morphed the other brand into the Genoese brand and today Genoese is the number one brand on retail shelf.”

Today the company imports about 1.2 tonnes of fresh basil each week from Fiji and processes it at the Levin factory over three or four days, leaving one day for manufacturing other food products. The company produces 5 tonnes of upmarket pesto along with a number of other specialty food products.

With Massey’s help they developed a fresh chilled pesto with a shelf life of at least three months, which Ron says is quite unusual.

“Only one of our products contains preservatives, the rest are preservative free. They are very natural products and that is another point of difference,” he says. “They are also residue free, and our goal is to be fully organic.”

Ron has now stepped aside into a “special projects” role and his son Andrew Parkin is the company’s general manager. He says that the farm at Nadi currently grows 33 acres of basil, but although it is very close to the airport shipping the fresh product to New Zealand can be fraught with problems. Airfreight space is sometimes short, planes can be delayed, and biosecurity issues can sometimes hold the load up at Auckland airport.

“The basil arrives in Levin on big pallets and is stored in a refrigerated container. When the pallet is broken open the basil is carefully washed and then enters the factory and goes through various processing steps. We have quite a large staff, and the products could almost be described as hand made,” says Andrew.

“The final product goes into pots that are packed into cartons. We have very little stock on hand – as fast as we make it, it is shipped to customers.”

The company also makes an olive tapenade, sun-dried tomatoes, and consumer oriented variants of their classic pesto. They use local ingredients like Parmesan cheese and garlic but the olives and olive oil are imported – as Andrew explains, the oil is just a carrier of other flavours and so the bland imported oil is preferred to the high-flavour local product.

While most of Genoese’ products are sold within NZ about 7% goes offshore. An export manager based in Auckland is now working to increase that figure towards 50% with the emphasis on Australia and Asia.

Looking ahead, Andrew says that they could produce up to 2 tonnes of fresh basil per week in Fiji but at some point at least some of the processing may be done there to reduce the volume of airfreight.