Paul Martin joined his father’s small agricultural business in the early 1980s, when he was 21. “We had calves and deer for their meat and grew some tomatoes outdoors,” he says. “We didn’t export anything, and that made it difficult for us to expand our business.”
With only three million residents, the home market offered little growth perspective. The major markets are all in the northern hemisphere, in particular in Japan and the United States. Martin: “This does imply the advantage of the opposite seasons, meaning that we’re able to supply plenty of produce at times of low local production. But there were two problems: I didn’t know anything about trading and we didn’t have any greenhouses in which to grow vegetables worthy of export.”
Flourishing trade
And so Martin went to the United States, to gain expertise and experience. Wholesalers were interested in him, but he couldn’t work there without a green card. A simple, practical solution was to establish an import company in the States: NZ Gourmet, with an export business in the homeland and an import branch in the States (Gourmet Trading).
In his search for customers Martin first enthusiastically visited the top restaurants and catering wholesalers along the west coast. “There was some interest in meat from New Zealand, but what the traders wanted most of all were fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs in the winter months,” Martin explains. “We started with berries, strawberries, kiwis and fresh herbs from New Zealand. They were very soon followed by asparagus, apricots and other products. I was amazed by the speed at which our trade expanded. We started looking for other production areas, in particular in Latin America.”
Back to the roots
In 1989 Paul Martin gave up the everyday management of his import business and returned to New Zealand. His father had just died, but his dream of expanding the family farm together with his younger brother Chris was still very much alive.
In the USA Martin had come across fresh sweet peppers imported by Gourmet Trading from the Netherlands, and he was impressed by their beautiful colours and quality. He was interested in growing them himself. After a modest start with outdoor crops, the brothers had their first greenhouse, with an area of 6,000 m², built in 1994.
“In terms of colour, flavour and texture, sweet peppers are perfect for Japanese cuisine, which has very high quality requirements,” Martin explains. “Thanks to its greenhouse crops, NZ Gourmet became the first non-Japanese company allowed to supply fresh sweet peppers to Tokyo’s wholesale market.”
Different cultivation method
“The red Spirit and yellow Fiesta were our first varieties,” says the grower/exporter. “Since 2000 Special has been our main variety. There are more productive red varieties, but Special excels in quality and shelf life. And the Japanese are quite willing to pay well for quality.”
The Martin farm’s fifteen-year loyalty to this variety is unique. “We do have to grow it differently than is customary in western Europe,” he adds. “Our farm is close to Auckland. In summer our day length is shorter than that in western Europe, but we have a very high light intensity. So for the first few years, when our greenhouses were not yet as modern as they are now, we stuck to a higher stem density. That also resulted in slightly smaller peppers, which is what the Japanese like.”
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