Some of New Zealand’s agribusiness industries hide in plain sight. Brinks Chicken is one of those brands. Most consumers will have picked up a pack of chicken breast at some point, perhaps even last week.
They have the Van Den Brink family to thank for their barbecues. Founded over half a century ago in 1954, the family business has a turnover of about $200 million a year and employs between 400 and 600 staff at five processing plants across the country. It delivers 84 million birds for supermarket shelves annually – or approximately 33kg of the white meat for each New Zealander.
Brink’s Chicken is proudly 100% New Zealand owned and has grown to become the third-biggest poultry provider to New Zealanders. It operates 50 different business entities within four main divisions, and also supplies 80kg of free chicken to successful startup Eat My Lunch every week.
The Van Den Brinks are still involved with the company and make a specific effort to ensure their chicken is ethically grown in barns and free range. Despite some public movement toward “chicken-free farming” and other plant-based meat substitutes, the sheer volume of consumption of Brinks Chicken will keep the family and business healthy as a horse – or should that be rooster?