‘Plenty of milk and cream nearby’: Why Remarkable Cream is moving to Hamilton

Wednesday, 17 June 2026

The Kiwi alternative to Bailey’s is moving production to Hamilton as it scales up to meet growing demand.

After outgrowing their factory in Ōtāhuhu, Auckland, New Zealand cream liqueur producer Remarkable Cream is relocating to the Waikato.

Starting out in 2020 from a family recipe developed over three generations, Remarkable Cream makes cream liqueur from New Zealand whey vodka with flavours ranging from pistachio to piña colada.

The company employs five full-time staff and takes on another 10 seasonal workers over the holiday period to meet demand. Over the holiday season, the brand’s limited edition Christmas eggnog cream liqueur sold 50,000 bottles.

Remarkable Cream managing director Wills Cameron said there was a gap in the market for a premium New Zealand cream liqueur, and Remarkable Cream was looking to fill it.

“All the main dairy exporting countries of the world have famous cream liqueur,” he said.

The company is moving to a bigger factory to ramp up production after being unable to keep up with demand for their bestselling tipples - a good problem to have, Cameron said, but one which was frustrating for retailers waiting to replenish stock.

Their new site, located in Frankton, is several times bigger than their Auckland factory and better equipped to meet demand consistently.

Cameron said the business had looked “all over the country” for the brand’s long-term home, but Hamilton was always the top option.

“Hamilton’s a great location for it. You’ve still got all the industrial talent and then of course the dairy industry - there’s plenty of milk and cream nearby.”

He described a cream liqueur factory as being “between a dairy factory and a traditional distillery”, with all kinds of processing equipment needed to create the final product.

“The [building] we’re moving into was making popcorn before, so it’s got really good electricity and ventilation and processing rooms,” he said.

While there were “cheaper” places they could move production to, it came with downsides.

“You need engineers nearby, electricians, gas fitters…it’s a little bit harder the further away you go from the main centres,” Cameron said.

Being in the upper North Island was also great for logistics and the Waikato Expressway made transport straightforward.

“It is a big change, but also geographically it’s not really such a big change.”

They’re the latest business to relocate to the city from other major centres, which includes the likes of Rabobank and Jim Beam’s Homegrown from Wellington and Tourism Holding Limited coming across the ditch from Brisbane.

As well as selling from their online shop, Remarkable Cream was looking to stock their products around Hamilton, Cameron said.

“We do plan to get it out more into on-premise bars, restaurants, and it’s in plenty of local shops.”

For now though, they were focused on renovating the new factory and getting ready to start production.

“It's going to be a very intense period so we'll pretty much just knuckle down and just do what we need to get everything running safely.”