Fresh Grower

GROwER FResh

WORDS VICKI RAVLICH-HORAN

You’ll recognise the face—if not the real thing then the caricature from the Fresh Growers packaging. Putting his name and face to his range of greens is just one of the innovative moves that Allan Fong has made to grow the business started by his father and grandfather. A family business, with the fourth generation coming on, Fresh Growers’ roots began when Allan’s grandfather and father arrived in New Zealand in the 1940s. They began as labourers in market gardens before the Fong clan created a co-op with other families from their village in China. With the premise of Hop-Lee, together we benefit, the group began growing in Parnell then Panmure before moving to Pukekohe. Over the years, as the families expanded, they would branch out on their own—and in the 1960s that’s exactly what Allan’s family did. At the time, growers expanded by borrowing from the markets, this in turn locked them into supply contracts. When Allan joined the business, he borrowed from the rural bank. This was the first of many moves which would set the family business on a path which has seen it not only grow but flourish. The Fresh Grower is the last of the Fong clan of market gardeners still growing. By borrowing from a bank, Allan had more freedom with what he grew and how he marketed it. And what the Fresh Grower grows has been a key difference. “Desperation,” Allan laughs, was the real motivation to do

something different. “We were getting too small to be mainstream,” he says. Allan believed there were markets to tap into, younger people who had travelled, rising demand from the increase in ethnic cuisines. I’m sitting in the Fresh Growers office with Gus Tissink from Bidfresh Hamilton. Allan ducks to the kitchen to show us a daikon (Japanese radish) they are currently experimenting with. Growing something different can be a risky business, don’t sell it and it will literally rot in the field! Which is why relationships with those like Gus are important. Convincing the public to buy tonnes of daikon would be an expensive task yet introducing chefs to an interesting new ingredient is not so. “Restaurants and chefs lead food trends,” says Gus, “and chefs are always interested in new ingredients, so it

is great Allan will take a punt on new products.” The daikon, Allan says “is absolutely stunning!” Char it and serve with soy and wasabi Allan suggests. Bunching onions, a cross between spring onions and leeks, is another product he saw when in Europe and would love to grow.. But is there a market for them he asks Gus? A product that has proved popular is Bellaverde. A favourite with chefs, Allan sells around 70% of the Bellaverde he grows into food service, even after spending a lot of time marketing it at food shows and in supermarkets, introducing the public to this sprouting broccoli. Originally called and promoted as slender stems, the seed company named this particular hybrid Bellaverde. (The rights to the broccolini—a similar and more widely known product—are owned by an Australian company.) Following on with the success of the Bellaverde, Allan introduced

caulilini, yet this has been slower to take off. While chefs love new things, they are also very exacting and require consistency. The sprouting nature of the caulilini exposes the stems to light a normal cauliflower is protected from, and this in turn gives the caulilini a more yellow tinge, especially during summer months. This is not necessarily bad just not what people expect when ordering ‘cauliflower’ and one of the challenges both Allan and Gus face supplying chefs. Other popular lines among chefs and the public include coriander leaves, baby cos and mini Crunchita. The mini Crunchita are like baby cos crossed with iceberg lettuce and designed for hot fill (think san choy bao or carb free burgers). So next time you’re in the supermarket, seek out a familiar face and possibly try something new.

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