Export Report – Standing out on the export stage

At ExportNZ we believe it’s important to celebrate Kiwi exporters’ success, which is why, once a year we get to hold export awards in our various regions.

At this year’s Air New Zealand Cargo Auckland Export Awards there were 25 finalists in seven categories. They traversed the widest range of New Zealand enterprise, from homebrew and robots, to marine winches and self-service payment systems.

I was lucky enough to chat to Peter Eastwood, founder of Imake Ltd, who won the BDO Food & Beverage Exporter of the Year Award. This small Kiwi company supplies ingredients, equipment and know-how for people to make their own craft beer, cider, spirits, liqueurs, cheese, yoghurt, sausages, and more, all at home.

What made them stand out? The judges put it succinctly: “Imake Limited have been exporting for over 20 years and have shown consistent strong growth over recent years. Their strong focus on company culture, sustainability, and clever marketing has been the secret to their success, coupled with continued in-house R&D, focusing on quality products.”

They have come a long way from humble beginnings when MD Peter Eastwood opened a homebrew store in Petone. Speaking of their recent award win, Peter says it was a complete surprise. “It was a fantastic moment, we were there for a bit of fun and team bonding, as we’d never been to a black tie ‘do’ before! We’ve been around since ’89, but we’ve only really built the true management team in the last four years. We’re still buzzing from it.

“It’s been a journey of rediscovery and constant re-invention for me and the company. We’ve been through so many different iterations, and I guess that’s what keeps us all interested and excited. We started off as a retail store, then we started manufacturing distilling equipment, then wholesaling the distilling equipment, then expanded and started making acquisitions in Australia, and the States and started a company in the UK.

“The help we got from NZTE’s Better by Design was significant for us. It taught us about understanding customer need and treating the world as our market.”

Peter puts their success in part down to their passion for the market niche they’re in, and sharing that passion with their customers. “We all love the hobbies ourselves – we love brewing, we love cheese making and sausage making, and we love the space we’re in. We consider it as the fun space – we’re dealing with people in their leisure time where they’re looking to have fun and make something special. Understanding that need and catering for it is a big part of our success, along with hard work.”

Imake uses a mixture of its own warehouses plus distributors to ensure a global coverage. Australia, the US and UK are Imake’s biggest export markets respectively, and it recently launched its newest brand, Grainfather, into the US market, following successful launches in New Zealand, Australia, the UK and Europe in less than a year.

As the craft beer craze takes the world by storm, Imake is redefining homebrew as something that can achieve craft beer status all over the world.