Open Country opens butter plant
When American retail giant Cosco came to audit Open Country Dairy’s new butter plant at the Waharoa site and give the green light to supply their American stores, they allowed themselves a week for the exercise.
Created by the company’s founder and former owner, Peter Cullinane, the inspired blend of Whittaker’s 5 Roll Refined Milk chocolate and farm fresh milk first went on limited sale on 30 September 2014.
At the time, the company had just five staff and thought it might sell a thousand litres of chocolate milk a week. But by early October, frenzied supermarket shoppers were snatching up supply as soon as it hit the shelf. Some stores brought in security guards to calm the queues; others limited purchases to two bottles per customer. In response to the rocketing demand, production soon exploded to 40,000 litres a week.
“To this day, people still come up to me and want to tell me their story about how they got their hands on that initial bottle of chocolate milk,” says Lynette Maan, director of marketing for Lewis Road and the Southern Pastures group.
“We have a passionate and engaged community and I love hearing their stories. One woman loved the chocolate milk enough to get the bottle tattooed on her arm. People were completely obsessed with chocolate milk at the time, and they’re still obsessed now.
“We even hear of international visitors smuggling some back home in their suitcases. It’s become an iconic, truly Kiwi drink that’s stood the test of time.”
Others with similar stories can share them by scanning the QR code on the bottle, or through 10-year celebration links on the Lewis Road Creamery website.
The company has since released 18 different fresh milk flavours over the decade since the chocolate milk success.
“That first run of chocolate milk spawned a whole new category for fresh flavoured milk. And even though chillers are bursting with competitors these days, Lewis Road chocolate milk is still the real deal and the number one seller in the category for supermarkets,” says Lynette. “We’ve changed nothing over the years, it’s the same simple blend of gorgeous Whittaker’s chocolate and beautiful farm fresh milk, and it’s still going strong.”
To further celebrate the milestone, Lewis Road Creamery is releasing a set of bespoke hand-blown glass chocolate milk bottles, t-shirts, caps and encouraging people to send in their way of shaking up a bottle through #LewisroadShakeit or via links on the website. A new chocolate milk flavour with a classic twist will be released on 20 October.
