The small granola business tackling the supermarket duopoly and plastic pollution

Sunday, 12 September 2021

“It’s like being in a boat and hitting some rough water, you just have to hold on,” said Yum Granola’s Sarah Hedger.

Over the last couple of months, Yum Granola has juggled lockdown, launched a line of earth-friendly packaging, and taken on the supermarket duopoly.

“It’s like being in a boat and hitting some rough water, you just have to hold on,” said director Sarah Hedger, who runs the business with husband Mike Cowlin.

When level 4 hit, Yum hit the ground running as an essential business.

Online sales have been strong, partly due to the support Yum has had since she spoke to Newsroom about her experience as a small supplier. New Zealand’s supermarket duopoly forces suppliers to lower their prices in fear their products will be pulled from supermarket shelves, Hedger explained.

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After the article ran, Hedger’s phone blew up, and so did online sales.

“The support was incredible, we didn’t have one negative comment,” Hedger said. “People were like, we’re going to buy direct from you.”

She also received about 30 emails from suppliers about their experiences.

“Saying they had been deleted from Foodstuffs, or that the supermarkets had not given them the same prices they give the large guys.”

While most consumers were unaware of the problems facing small suppliers, some had observed a smaller product selection on supermarket shelves.

“People are noticing less choice, and less quality. And who wants that?

“I’m not speaking out against supermarkets, because we all shop at supermarkets. But suppliers don’t dictate what consumers pay, it’s a big misconception.

“We do all we can to keep it affordable. I want more people to have [our product]. It’s the absolute lowest [price] it can be.”

Like other food businesses, Yum’s bottom line has suffered recently, with the cost of the ingredients rising 30 per cent in the last three months, Hedger said.

Despite this, they had rolled out compostable packaging, a move the company had been trying to make for several years.

When Hedger and Cowlin first looked into the option, they were dismayed to find sustainable packaging would add $1.80 to each item they sold.

Now, through a Greymouth company, they have found a cheaper solution, and within the next year, every product will be packaged in a plant-based plastic liner and paper packaging, all of which can be composted.

Hedger doesn’t anticipate sales to suffer for the lack of a packaging window.

“People know our product now. And people want things that are good for the planet over the window.”