 | |
| Product type | Cheddar cheese |
|---|---|
| Owner | Fonterra Co-operative Group |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Introduced | 1954 |
| Markets | Worldwide |
| Website | www |
Mainland Cheese is a brand of cheese now owned by Fonterra Co-operative Group that is sold throughout Australasia and parts of the Americas. It began as a family business in the South Island of New Zealand (which is jocularly known as the "mainland" of New Zealand because it is larger than the North Island).
Mainland Products Ltd was founded in 1954 by Peter McConnon. [1] It grew rapidly, encompassing fresh and processed milk, cheese (with which the company's name is most associated today) as well as ice cream (Tip Top), processed meats (Kiwi Huttons) and other consumer foods. Kiwi Co-operative Dairies led by CEO Craig Norgate acquired 83% of the business in the 1990s. [1] The balance was acquired by Fonterra (formed by a 2001 merger which included Kiwi Co-op), also led by Norgate, in 2002.
In 2005, Fonterra sold most of the business that was formerly part of Mainland to Graeme Hart's Rank Group Ltd [2] but it retained all the cheese assets. Mainland cheese now comes under Fonterra Brands. The balance of the former Mainland company is now part of Goodman Fielder. Mainland remained a family owned and operated business with Peter's sons Baird and Alan along with grandson Simon McConnon until its sale to Fonterra.
Mainland established an iconic advertising campaign (see, for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcILD9OJ2wg, an ad from 1991). [3] Mainland's advertising in New Zealand has been largely focused on the theme of waiting/patience, mirroring the aging process of cheese.
Mainland's advertising in Australia has been largely focused on playing on the New Zealand accent. For example, "your frind in the frudge" (your friend in the fridge), and confusing the sound of "cheese day" with "Tuesday".
Chesdale is a New Zealand brand of processed cheese product made. It is well-known for its animated television advertising, with a jingle sung by two cartoon characters, Ches and Dale, wearing gumboots and black singlets.
Camembert is a moist, soft, creamy, surface-ripened cow's milk cheese. It was first made in the late 18th century at Camembert, Normandy, in northwest France.
Kiwiana are certain items and icons from New Zealand's heritage, especially from around the middle of the 20th century, that are seen as representing iconic New Zealander elements. These "quirky things that contribute to a sense of nationhood" include both genuine cultural icons and kitsch.
Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited is a New Zealand multinational publicly traded dairy co-operative owned by around 10,500 New Zealand farmers. The company is responsible for approximately 30% of the world's dairy exports and with revenue exceeding NZ$17.2 billion, is New Zealand's largest company.
Meadow Fresh is a New Zealand dairy brand. It is owned by Goodman Fielder. The modern brand came into being as the result of a brand swap in September 2005 between Dairy Foods, owned by Graeme Hart, and New Zealand Milk, owned by Fonterra.
Anchor is a brand of dairy products that was founded in New Zealand in 1886, and is one of the key brands owned by the New Zealand based international exporter Fonterra Co-operative Group. In Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan, Fonterra uses the Fernleaf brand instead of Anchor.
An agricultural cooperative, also known as a farmers' co-op, is a cooperative in which farmers pool their resources in certain areas of activity.
Bodalla is a small town on the South Coast of New South Wales, Australia, and located in the local government area of Eurobodalla Shire. The town sits on the Princes Highway, and is connected by road to Moruya, Narooma, Nerrigundah, Eurobodalla and Potato Point.
Dairy Farmers Pty Ltd, originally established in 1900, whose parent company is Australian-owned Bega Cheese, is distributed mainly New South Wales and Queensland in Australia. The core products sold under Dairy Farmers brand are fresh milk and UHT "long-life" milk, as well as various other dairy snacks. It supplies products to local and international markets such as Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Bega Dairy & Drinks is a subsidiary of Australian diversified food company Bega Cheese, having been purchased from the Japanese company Kirin in November 2020. While owned by Kirin, it was known as Lion Dairy & Drinks.
Kapiti Fine Foods Ltd is a New Zealand company producing gourmet cheeses, yoghurts and other dairy products for domestic consumption and for export, owned by Fonterra. It takes its name from its original site at Lindale on the Kapiti coast. It has factories in Paraparaumu and Palmerston North. It began production in 1984. In 2019, Kapiti ice cream was licensed to Froneri as part of the Tip Top sale.
Westland Milk Products is a dairy company based in Hokitika, New Zealand. It has been owned by Chinese dairy company Yili Group since 2019. It is the third-equal largest dairy processor in New Zealand with a 3.4% market share.
Michael Craig Norgate was a New Zealand accountant and business leader in agricultural processing, marketing and related areas. He had a career as chief executive officer (CEO) of dairy companies Kiwi Co-operative Dairies and Fonterra Co-operative Group, before consolidating the rural servicing industry through PGG Wrightson. His attempt to drive similar changes in the meat industry coincided with the advent of the global financial crisis and resulted in significant losses both for PGG Wrightson and his own private equity company.
Tip Top is a New Zealand ice cream brand owned by Froneri, but was formerly Fonterra Brands Ltd, a subsidiary of the Fonterra Co-operative Group based in Auckland, New Zealand.
KiwiRail Holdings Limited is a New Zealand state-owned enterprise responsible for rail operations in New Zealand, and operates inter-island ferries. Trading as KiwiRail and headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand, KiwiRail is the largest rail transport operator in New Zealand. KiwiRail has business units of KiwiRail Freight, The Great Journeys of New Zealand and Interislander. KiwiRail released a 10-Year Turn-around Plan in 2010 and has received significant government investment in support of this in an effort to make KiwiRail a viable long-term transport operator.
Dow Design is a New Zealand brand design company based in Auckland.
Dairy farming in New Zealand began from small beginnings during the early days of colonisation by Europeans. The New Zealand dairy industry is based almost exclusively on cattle, with a population of 4.92 million milking cows in the 2019-20 season. The income from dairy farming is now a major part of the New Zealand economy, becoming an NZ$13.4 billion industry by 2017.
Dairyland is a dairy business that operates in Burnaby, British Columbia. Now owned by Saputo Dairy Foods Canada, Dairyland was originally an operating arm of BC dairy farmers' cooperatives and was legally named Agrifoods International Cooperative Ltd. at the time of the sale of the majority of its assets to Saputo Incorporated. Its products are sold across Canada.
The Tatua Co-operative Dairy Company Ltd, trading as Tatua, is an independent co-operative dairy company in the Matamata-Piako District of the Waikato Region, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located in the rural locality of Tatuanui, approximately 8 kilometres east of Morrinsville. The co-operative is owned by 106 shareholder farms, all located within a 12 kilometre radius of the processing factory.
Bega Cheese is an Australian diversified food company with manufacturing sites in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. Founded as an agricultural cooperative in the town of Bega, New South Wales by their dairy suppliers, it became a public company in 2011 when it listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Close to half of shares publicly traded are still held by Bega's farmer-suppliers. It is currently one of the largest companies in the dairy sector in Australia, with a FY2018 base milk supply of approximately 750 million litres.
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