NZFGC 2025 Annual Conference - Food for thought!

Christchurch turned on a beautiful day on Monday but we didn't see a lot of it as we were focused on setting up our stand at the stunning Te Pae Conference Centre for the NZFGC annual conference. Then it was on to the Welcome Drinks & Networking function at the Isaac Theatre Royal which has been fully restored and only reopened a couple of weeks ago. Enormous chandeliers, baroque cornices, and marble everywhere combined to create a feeling of opulence and grandeur. Our favourite decorations though were the event lanyards as we loved seeing an entire room full of people sporting the Brandspec & Mobilisar brands.

It was a full agenda the next day and between sessions we manned our booth, promoting the theme of 'Mobilisar - making time for you.'

We had two therapists for the National School of Aesthetics giving free nail shaping and hand massages with daily prize draws. Congratulations to Virginia Wilkinson who took home the Pure Fiji Pamper Pack and to  Tanya Foster of Tegel won the $500 Spa Voucher.

There was also a highly-contested putting competition which saw delegates returning again and again to try and take out the prizes. Gavin Findlay won the 12-Pack of Titleist Golf Balls and after a fierce battle, Shane Webby of Twin Agencies narrowly beat Cameron Scott of Griffins.

The opening session proved to be a real highlight with Zion Armstrong from Adidas sharing his story about how running from the police turned into a running career competing at international level and eventually to a career running a sports apparel company. He emphasized the importance of integrity in business. He reminded us about the opportunities that come from local customer insights and how fortune favours the bold.

Minister of Finance Nicola Willis was a very compelling speaker. She gave us an update of the work government is doing to support economic growth and specifically her interest in the grocery industry. 

Other highlights included a presentation on grocery trends by Circana. They discussed how we're spending as a nation and what products and categories are driving growth. As we've heard at other industry conferences recently, anything with added protein is romping off the shelves. And novelty/seasonal innovations is also helping to drive sales. We were given the example of Fruitae Ice cream which went viral and helped boost sales of novelty ice cream by 24%.

There was also a very frank panel discussion about how the relationship between suppliers and retailers has changed over the last 20 years and what the industry believes needs to change moving forward.

The first day concluded with a memorable Gala Dinner at the Christchurch Art Gallery which began with a waita from a singer wearing an incredible dress of woven flax.

Day 2 was equally informative with insights from Foodstuffs and Woolworths. A session on Ai and how it is changing the way we work provoked a lot of discussion at the coffee cart.

There were too many great speakers to cover them all but the closing session provided a lot of laughs and inspiration as Anton Matthews talked about how he started a new venture called 'Fush 'n Chups' and decided to give free te reo Māori lessons to his customers but was totally unprepared for the incredible customer response. He spoke about his mistakes and his learnings and left us feeling very inspired.

If you didn't make it to this year's conference, start planning now for the 2026 event in Queenstown. It's a great way to learn about industry trends and to mix and mingle with the people who influence the future of the NZ Grocery Industry.