When asked what advice Karen McGrath one of the owners of Southern Alps Sprouts would offer other produce suppliers looking to have a career span as long as she has, she has two words: resilience and a whole lot of patience.
Southern Alps Sprouts supplies over eleven different varieties of sprouts, from alfalfa, mung beans to snow peas, for all Foodstuffs South Island’s PAK’nSAVE, New World, Raeward Fresh and Four Square stores. Karen, alongside husband Jason, their four daughters and dedicated team, have just celebrated an outstanding 25 years in the industry.
The couple started with sprout experimentation from their home garage and a bathtub in 1998, and by a stroke of luck through a mentor, were connected to a sprout grower in Australia, who showed them the ropes of sprout growing. He also cautioned them, telling them they were ‘crazy’ about getting into the industry at all, due to it being a 24/7 operation.
The couple were undeterred, and that unwavering resilience alongside the belief that the sprout industry had more potential in New Zealand, kept them going. All these years later, the duo have become the largest sprout supplier to Foodstuffs South Island, concentrating on high quality and freshness.
Karen sits on the board, representing New Zealand, for the International Sprout Growers Association and the couple, alongside their team of ten core employees, moved into their purpose-built commercial premises on the outskirts of Christchurch in 2008 – which enabled them to expand production.
They are now just a short ten-minute ride to the Foodstuffs South Island’s Christchurch distribution centre which means Southern Alp Sprouts can be transported in a chiller truck then delivered straight into another chilled environment within hours of harvesting, keeping the produce as fresh as possible.
Despite being such fast-growing produce patience remains important here too, with sprouts being one of the most delicate and temperamental types of produce there is.
Karen says the couple have spent thousands of hours honing their skills, equipment, and operation to achieve the highest-level quality possible.
“Everything from our water quality, to maintaining the right consistent temperature and the stringency of our quality assurance, are all incredibly important to producing high quality sprouts,” she says.
“We’ve literally poured our heart and soul into continually building our knowledge, and I think that shows in the end product.”
Sustainability and resilience
Sustainability is a focus for the McGraths – their packaging is recyclable, the factory has 6.5km of solar water on the roof, wastewater is recycled to put onto pasture and by-products are used to fatten cattle.
Karen and Jason’s resilience was also tested through the Christchurch earthquakes and most recently through the pandemic.
“The earthquakes were very challenging with power outages and factory disruption but as strong Cantabrians we picked ourselves up and carried on,” she says.
Karen credits Jason for having the foresight to have a lot of contingencies in place in case of business disruption as well. “He’s a typical Kiwi bloke, always fixing, tweaking or building to improve production”.
“He’s always made sure that we’ve had backups like generators and additional trucks just in case, so we’ve always been able to carry on despite having so many disruptions thrown our way, but who could have foreseen that we’d need it so much,” she says.
“The pandemic was also a major for us, mainly with lack of staff. Typically, we’d have our packers employed on working holiday visas which suddenly wasn’t an option.
“I think we both worked 24/7 for almost three years and I’m really proud of the fact that we never missed a delivery, we’ve never not supplied in 365 days of 25 years. One of the great outcomes of the pandemic, was that we brought in more machinery to help automate many of the processes for us and were so grateful for our core staff at this time.”
Health benefits
Karen says her motivation for such a long career is her sense of purpose on the health benefits of sprouts as they are a nutrient dense food.
“I’m a major believer in how important sprouts can be for the diet, and all the extra nutrients and benefits as they can support your health, with endless ways that they can be incorporated into our dishes,” she says.
“Sprouts can be used in salads, wraps and soups, our crunchy combo can be sprinkled through roast vegetables in the last 15 minutes of cooking which adds a depth of texture and flavour.
“If you’re into sport or having that 3pm energy slump, sprouts can give you a living energy boost. At home we even use mung beans as a replacement for noodles and pasta – they’re so versatile and economical.”
Broccoli sprouts in particular have been getting a lot of attention these days, due to research pointing to their ability to reduce inflammation as well as their cancer fighting properties, and Karen says sprouts are a true superfood.
“The pandemic really opened people up more to the benefits of cooking from home, and that alongside recipe sites and things like New World Simply Dinner Meal kits means people are seeing how creatively produce like sprouts can be used in cooking.”
All of that knowledge and expertise over the last 25 years means that Karen and Jason have created some amazing industry partners like Foodstuffs South Island.
“The Foodstuffs South Island team are so easy to work with, they have high levels of trust and leave us to our specialised growing, with open communication so we know when procedures may be changing too, it’s great for us and for our customers,’ she says.
Foodstuffs South Island Head of Produce Justin Dykhoff says that Southern Alps Sprouts are a great example of Kiwi growers who are dedicated to excellence.
“It’s been so wonderful to be a part of their success story as well as their longevity. They are passionate, quality-driven supplier and we really value the relationship that we have with Karen, Jason and the team,” he says.
In terms of what’s next for the couple, Karen says they have created a really strong foundation as an organisation and would like to grow the business even further for the health of their customers.
“We’re concentrating on passing on our knowledge and passion to our team so we can move into the next phase of our business. It’s exciting to see where things may go from here,” she says.
