By Sourish
Bhattacharyya
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| (Above, from left) Quality NZ's Geoff Allott and Geoff Thin, New Zealand High Commissioner Jan Henderson, Brendon McCullum and Trade Commissioner Richard White at the promotion of New Zealand lamb, king salmon and boutique wines in New Delhi on October 3. (Top) Brendon McCullum (left) with Fisher&Paykel's 'Travelling Diva' Ritu Dalmia (in a chef's white at the centre). To Ritu's left are Jan Henderson and Fisher&Paykel's Country Head for India, Sanjeev Wadhwa. |
BRENDON McCullum is New Zealand’s cricket captain in
all three formats of the sport, an aggressive batsman, and plays for Kolkata Knight
Riders. Stephen Fleming, who made
his Test and ODI debuts in India in 1994, is a stylish batsman and the coach of
the Chennai Super Kings (they just lost to Rajasthan Royals in the Champions
League T20 semi-finals!) and was New Zealand’s most successful Test and ODI captain.
What has brought them together now?
When they are not playing cricket, McCullum and Fleming bat
for New Zealand products, from wines to Pacific salmon, as directors of the
Bangalore-based QualityNZ. The company’s CEO and Director, New Zealand, Geoff Allott, also played for the Black
Caps between 1996 and 2000. He was a part of the team that reached the World
Cup semi-finals under Fleming’s leadership in 1999 (Allott was also the tournament’s
highest wicket-taker) and was elected last month to the board of directors of
New Zealand Cricket.
The third Kiwi cricketer who’s also a director of the company
is the orthodox left-arm spinner, consistent lower-order batsman and Royal
Challengers team member, Daniel Vettori,
who was the youngest cricketer in New Zealand to get a Test cap and is one of
only three cricketers in the world to play with spectacles. The trio of
McCullum, Fleming and Vettori are expected to leverage their Indian contacts to
promote QualityNZ products. Topping their list is lamb from the farmer-owned
cooperative Alliance Group, whose Pure South logo was on the shirts of the Otago
Volts led by McCullum at the CLT20.
McCullum, whose team was edged out by Rajasthan Royals and
Mumbai Indians in the CLT20’s tough Group A, joined Allott and Geoff Thin, QualityNZ’s CEO and
Director, India, for an evening of New Zealand wine, lamb chops and Pacific
salmon on October 3 at the residence of their country’s High Commissioner in India,
Jan Henderson.
With Henderson, who actively champions the produce of her
country, personally receiving the who’s who of the hospitality industry and
celebrity chef Ritu Dalmia donning
her other hat, that of brand ambassador of Fisher&Paykel, the New Zealand-based
makers of stylish kitchen appliances, it turned out to be a memorable evening with
top-notch wines, great food and sparkling company.
“New Zealand,” Henderson said, “is committed to a prosperous
bilateral relationship with India, and the two countries share important trade,
investment and cultural ties, as well as a mutual love of cricket.” She added: “New
Zealand is world-renowned for its high quality food and beverage products and
is well-placed to make a difference to India’s industry, with NZ products
complementing the Indian domestic supply.”
The discovery of the evening, to go by the overwhelming
sentiment at the High Commissioner’s residence, was the wild king salmon (also known as the Chinook)
from the Pacific Ocean. Gifted with three times more omega-3 fatty acids than
its Atlantic cousins (all of which, incidentally, are farm-raised and pumped
with antibiotics), New Zealand’s king salmon is a favourite of chefs internationally
for its rich flesh that tops the taste test when pitted against the five other
members of this piscine family from the Pacific.
Quality NZ’s other offerings are lamb (naturally lean and
full of flavour), the protein-rich green-shelled mussels from the sub-Antarctic
waters off New Zealand’s coast, apples and kiwifruit, the famed Manuka honey, and
wines from the acclaimed boutique producers Main Divide, Pegasus Bay and
Lowburn Ferry.
Speaking to the media, McCullum made two important points. QualityNZ,
the cricketer said, is New Zealand’s first food and beverage company to be
based in India. The company’s website, in fact, reminds visitors of the time
when Indian and Kiwi soldiers fought shoulder to shoulder at the Battle of Gallipolli
in the First World War, and of Sir
Edmund Hillary’s abiding love for India. The only man to have stood on both
poles and on the summit of Mount Everest, Sir Edmund was New Zealand’s High
Commissioner in India between 1985 and 1990 and was awarded the Padma Vibhushan
posthumously in 2008. Interestingly, the High Commissioner’s residence, where
the event was held, is on a road named after the conqueror of Mount Everest.
QualityNZ seeks to position itself as an upholder of this great legacy.
“Over the last two years we have worked hard to establish our
Bangalore head office and to secure the very best supply chain and logistics
provider in India, in order to give us the utmost confidence that our products
will arrive to our valued customers on time and in the condition that they left
New Zealand,” McCullum said, making the second important point of his statement
released on the occasion.
There’s clearly a rising demand for New Zealand food products
besides lamb chops (Ritu Dalmia’s restaurant Diva, in fact, was one of the
earliest to introduce the delicacy on the menu). Richard White, New Zealand’s Trade Commissioner in New Delhi, said food
and beverage exports (excluding dairy) from his country almost doubled in two
years to NZ$36.4 million in 2012, compared with NZ$19.1 million in 2010. (NZ$1 = Rs 51.16)
“Indians are already enjoying safe and delicious products
from our country, and with the entry of QualityNZ into the market, access to
some of the premium products available from New Zealand just got easier,” White
commented. Exports of New Zealand wines, incidentally, grew by 16 per cent in
2012.
New Zealand is the world’s largest exporter of dairy products
and lamb, and a major supplier of kiwifruit, apples and seafood. Its reputation
for high quality coupled with the rising demand in India for specialty foods
and cuisine opens up new avenues for trade between the two countries. And
QualityNZ clearly has the first-mover advantage in this department.
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