Food innovation to commercialisation

Aotearoa is an international food basket and we’re a key player in supporting ambitious, innovative food businesses of all ages and stages develop and grow.

Your catalyst for growth

Whether you want to scale up, optimise processes, commercialise new products, or export, we’ve the people, knowledge, experience, and manufacturing space to help.

With five sophisticated food and drink production facilities across New Zealand we provide you with access to equipment, new food technologies, and industry expertise. From research and development to manufacturing, our hubs are food businesses’ first port of call.

If you are a startup, we can help support you to bring your vision to life, while large established companies use our facilities and expertise to trial new products or test specialised equipment.

Your pathway to market

Our hubs offer you the ability to manufacture in smaller quantities than most contract manufacturers, making R&D and product testing less risky for you.

Add in our comprehensive training events and our network of technical and industry specialists – if we can’t help you with something, we can connect you with someone who can.

Each of our five hubs has a specialist focus, and we work together to ensure your success. You can choose to work with your local hub or start with R&D at FoodPilot or FoodSouth Otago before progressing to trials and scale up in another facility. Business Development Managers across the country provide you with the support, networks and guidance you need.

Government supported and available for all New Zealand businesses

Affiliated with Callaghan Innovation, we’re a government supported food innovation-to-commercialisation service. We bridge the gap between your new food product idea and the multimillion-dollar plant you need to manufacture that product.

We collaborate closely with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the Ministry for Primary Industries, Food HQ and the Crown-owned food research organisations and New Zealand universities to offer you access to the best food industry and export experts in the country.