Tauranga bottler aims for the top

James Greenlee, Grove Manager

AVOCADO FEATURETauranga bottler aims for the top

It’s the good oil – Avocado Oil New Zealand Ltd selling under the ‘Grove’ label, based at Te Puna near Tauranga.

Words by Geoff Lewis : Photographs by Trefor Ward

Founded by entrepreneurs Doug Batchelor, Brian Richardson and Harman Grouwstra, Grove now produces and exports avocado oil to more than 20 countries worldwide including China, Japan, Russia, Australia and the Middle East. Global sales and marketing manager Greg Ryan says the avocado oil extraction business started off as a small-scale enterprise more than 20 years ago using a reconditioned German Flottweg olive oil press which is still in use today. “We believe we were the first in the world to produce extra virgin avocado oil, and aim to produce the best quality avocado oil in the world.” The avocados go through the machine and the extracted product is stored in one-tonne, 1,066 litre bags or ‘intermediate bulk carriers’, packed in onecubic-metre square boxes before being bottled.

The raw material comes in the form of 2 million kilograms of ‘processor grade’ fruit, mostly from Bay of Plenty avocado packhouses – fruit which is not up to standard for sale and export as fresh produce. “We started to go around the world and see if we could sell it. At that stage there were very few people producing extra virgin avocado oil and the industry was in its infancy.” Ryan says avocado oil has become sought-after in culinary applications as it has the second highest ‘smoke point’

Water is separated from oil Robin Tessendorf, Production Manager Greg Ryan, Global Sales and Marketing Avocados being cleaned prior to processing

– the point at which it will begin to smoke during cooking applications like frying (it is peanut oil that has the highest smoke point) and is a healthy choice for baking and in searing foods at high temperatures.

...We believe we were the first in the world to produce extra virgin avocado oil, and aim to produce the best quality avocado oil in the world

“For cooking, avocado oil is superior for flavour. Customers in our Asian markets love it. We are now finding different applications globally in baking where avocado oil is used in place of butter.” Grove markets its oil in 250 ml bottles as extra virgin, or with lime, garlic, lemon pepper or chilli flavourings. In New Zealand the product goes out through both the major supermarket chains, which account for 80% of national sales. Production manager Robin Tessendorf says that following oil extraction, the pulp (the remains of the fruit), the skins and pits, are provided to a Mount Maunganui-based compost manufacturer. However, Grove is always on the look-out for innovative ways of using the waste product sustainably. The avocado harvest runs from September to April and Grove employs 16 people during January and February, the top of the season. Manager James Greenlee says Grove dominates the Australasian avocado oil market, supplying between 5% and 10% of the whole international market for avocado oil, and could sell more than it currently produces.

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