Towards the end of September I joined a road trip with Poutama client, Richard Clarke from Ice Solutions Ltd and Khoa Nguyen a Director for Rangitane commercial entity, Tū Mai Rā Investments (TMRI). All three businesses are involved in a joint solar energy venture, Tū Mai Rā Solar.
The purpose of the roadie was to meet up with some of Ice Solutions customers, catch up with Poutama clients, attend an AGM for an investment that both Poutama and TMRI hold as well as also check out an investment Poutama holds through private equity firm, Pioneer Capital.
Meeting up in Queenstown the crew headed up the road to Twizel passing by one of my old ski area favourites, Ohau. Given that this was Khoa’s first time to this part of the world we also took a detour along the way driving to Aoraki/Mt Cook to the Hermitage Hotel. Unfortunately Aoraki was partially obscured by clouds but it gave Khoa a good sense of the diversity of scenery that Aotearoa has to offer. Actually we were all in awe of the amazing sights and feelings that enveloped us being among the mountains. We are truly blessed to live in this visually stunning country.
Overnighting in Twizel which has certainly changed since I was last there many moons ago, we had dinner with some of the crew from Aoraki Salmon. Ice Solutions has one of their Beluga™ slurry chilling machines installed with Aoraki. The propreitary technology Ice Solutions has developed helps to quickly cool the salmon down and keep them at a constant temperature once they are stunned. This is important as the salmon are trucked from Twizel to Timaru for processing with some then going onto Christchurch to be either hot or cold smoked.
Chinook Salmon
Aoraki’s chinook salmon is sold throughout New Zealand and into a number of export markets in North America and Asia. Ice Solutions was carrying out one of their routine customer visits to help the customer troubleshoot a few challenges with the ice slurry system. We were also able to discuss the use of solar energy on Aoraki’s fish farms located in the hydro canals in the Twizel area.
Aoraki Salmon farm
Of course you couldn’t visit a salmon farm without getting to taste the salmon and we left there amply loaded with shashimi style salmon as well as oak roasted and smoked salmon. This got me thinking that we had better drop in and visit Poutama client, Hayden Johnson (Ngai Tahu) of Kurukuru Wines, after all it would be rude not to given Hayden’s vineyard was on the way between Twizel and our AGM destination, Queenstown.
Hayden’s vineyard includes an events centre that he has been working on for a little while now. The buildings for the venue were relocated from Cromwell and actually once belonged to another Poutama client, the amazingly creative entrepreneur, Phil Parker from the Big Picture Wine Adventure. At one stage Phil had the Big Picture on the road to franchising with venues at Cromwell, Queenstown, Auckland Fish Market, Napier and Pegasus Bay. A man always ahead of his time, Phil’s venture was on track for growth when the GFC hit and some of his investors pulled out leading Phil to eventually shut the Big Picture down. Some of you may remember that Phil was the creator of Smash Palace a funky bar located in an industrial area of Gisborne that is still going strong….but that’s another story!!
Hayden Johnson – Tarras & Kurukuru Wines
It’s good though that what Phil created has been taken up by another go getting entrepreneur in the form of Hayden. He has done an amazing job of setting the venue up which has to have one of the most stunning vista’s in the region. The venue and the vineyard along with the award winning wines Hayden is making are a testament to his resilience and the fact that this man is hard to knock down despite the hardships he is enduring. Poutama dynamo, Jeanna Love, has been riding shotgun alongside him for a number of years now and we all can’t wait for the official launch of Hayden’s venture….I feel an intensive Poutama idea session occurring there which I’m sure the other ruffians that make up the Tuku Wine Collective will be only too pleased to join in on, no doubt we’ll also be joined by the honey outlaws from the North….hika!!…we might as well get all the Poutama boundary riders to join us.
View out towards Wanaka
Whilst it was tempting to throw caution to the wind and spend the rest of the day and night at Hayden’s, and it was very tempting. We knew we had to get to Queenstown for the Magic Memories (MM) AGM.
Poutama and TMRI hold a small investment in MM a business that started operating from Queenstown in 1995 and has since expanded operations into North America, Europe and Asia/Pacific. MM has taken the traditional model of attraction photography and shaken it up by creating a much more personal experience for users who are happy to pay a premium for a truly bespoke product. The benefits extend to Magic Memories’ partners, who also reap the rewards of that premium.
Khoa & Richard C teleported from Queenstown to FC Barcelona
MMs partners include FC Barcelona and Miami Seaquarium as well as a number of NZ attractions. Currently on a growth path MM recently acquired a leading North American competitor, SharpShooter Imaging. This major milestone adds 99 locations for a total of 185 worldwide for MM.
The end game for Magic Memories is to grow further in both scale and profitability by reinvesting their current earnings. Then they will either acquire or be acquired at a higher multiple, releasing capital to investors.
Marae style entrance to The Rees
Holding the MM AGM at The Rees Hotel also provided the opportunity at a very favourable rate to take advantage of spending a couple of nights to check out the investment Poutama has in the hotel through Pioneer Capital. The Rees is a 5 Star hotel brand built, owned and operated by New Zealanders, a rare thing these days. The service and setting is superb overlooking Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables mountain range. Poutama’s Hotel Development Division Head, Jeanna Love, has been working closely with The Rees in expanding the brand into other parts of NZ. This experience has seen Jeanna receive guidance and support from hotel Director, Mike Pohio, The Rees manager, Mark Rose and the Pioneer Capital team. If you’re looking to develop a hotel then please contact Jeanna.
Our roadie ended at the end of the road, literally, you cannot drive any further. We drove from Queenstown to Jackson Bay, South of Haast. The landscape is rugged and invigorating with the Tasman sea crashing upon the shore and a steep mountain range that plunges directly into the sea. As a bird flies it’s not too far away from Milford Sound but a 7 hour drive if you care to do so.
At Jackson Bay we met up with another Ice Solutions customer, Barn Bay Fisheries. Ice Solutions Beluga system is on their fishing boat so that as soon as fish are caught they are chilled straight away while out at sea. They’re then off-loaded to a truck once the boat docks and transported to a processing plant in Timaru. Its a long journey from out in the ocean to the processing plant but the fish arrive in a good state thanks to the Beluga™ system. Once again Ice Solutions was able to spend time with the customer advising and trouble shooting. Definitely another happy customer that is very pleased with the Beluga™ system.
Before heading back to Queenstown to catch a flight North we had some tasty West Coast kai – blue cod and whitebait at what just might be one of the loneliest located cafes in NZ, The Cray Pot.
Some take aways from the roadie.
Nothing like visiting customers at their place of work, it gives you a greater appreciation of what they do and the challenges they face, equally they appreciate you turning up. It’s all about consolidating and growing relationships which can create more business for you.
The same applies to an AGM there’s no greater insights then just attending, where you may have doubts from afar…..you get a degree of comfort that people know what they’re doing and where they’re going when you get to meet kanohi ki te kanohi….you meet the founders, the directors the team and your fellow investors, you get to ask questions and can receive enlightening answers.
It’s good to get out and experience an investment you hold such as The Rees, you get to see, touch and smell and observe what makes it work. For The Rees, the service is superb and the setting is pretty awesome. Hopefully this hotel brand will start to appear in other parts of Aotearoa.
Finally as a group of businesses that are looking to work together there’s no better way to get to know people, their challenges and aspirations by being on a ‘roadie’ together for three days!!
