\u201cFood is expensive in New Zealand for numerous reasons, but there is quite a bit of value that\u2019s been lost clipping the ticket and not adding value, and I think that was frustrating us because food is an essential item,\u201d says Vickery.<\/p>\n
After thinking it through, they felt like they were running out of reasons why they shouldn\u2019t do it. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe know we can already do it, in terms of fresh food. Produce shops are cheaper than supermarkets. Butcheries are quite often cheaper than supermarkets, and your specialist grocery stores are quite often cheaper than supermarkets. Our theory is just putting it all under one roof,\u201d says Vickery.<\/p>\n
This effectively adopts the original supermarket model and Vickery believes integrity will be the key to success.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur biggest thing is fairness. I don\u2019t think people are getting a fair deal, or people don\u2019t believe they\u2019re getting a fair deal with the supermarket. So, if you come out and you promise fairness, then it\u2019s up to us to live up to that promise. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think just sticking to our values and not being greedy. We\u2019re not putting too much profit on top of food.\u201d<\/p>\n
Father and son team Shane and Ethan Vickery plan to offer cheaper fresh food and groceries at their independent Christchurch supermarket Kai Co. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Vickery\u2019s own pre-opening analysis suggests the business is on the right track. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been doing price comparisons for the last 48 hours and I know we\u2019re cheaper than most of the supermarkets on a lot of items, but it\u2019s only going to get better,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
\u201cBetter\u201d because procuring certain stock has been difficult at this time of year and there are plans to establish new business relationships with suppliers. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou approach them and they don\u2019t take it too seriously, but then when they actually see what we\u2019re doing, they\u2019re starting to realise, oh, this is actually something that could be quite big.<\/p>\n
Ethan Vickery says that suppliers didn’t take them seriously at first – that’s changed as their profile has grown. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we open tomorrow, we\u2019ve got a full meat range and full-ish produce range, and groceries probably like 60 or 70% of where we want to be. But even with the TikTok and Facebook posts recently, we\u2019re getting approached by a lot of big suppliers now,\u201d says Vickery. <\/p>\n
They\u2019ve been approached by customers since they moved into their Northwood Supa Centre site. Even as Vickery speaks to the Herald, he pauses to inform a customer that they won\u2019t open until the following day. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had people trying to walk inside the doors for the last two weeks. Every time I look at the window, people are peering in. Everyone\u2019s just really curious.\u201d <\/p>\n
Opening day brought forward <\/p>\n
\u201cI did say it was a soft opening, but I\u2019m kind of scared that it won\u2019t be,\u201d says Vickery. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s going to be very busy. I\u2019m just trying to be clear to people that our range will get bigger and better than this. And suppliers will realise what sort of volume we can move and start giving us better pricing as well \u2013 and we\u2019ll just pass it on,\u201d says Vickery with a smile that is defying exhaustion. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think I was at work from 6 o\u2019clock yesterday morning until about 11 o\u2019clock last night and then back here at 5 in the morning again. It\u2019s probably going to be even bigger today. I love it.\u201d <\/p>\n
So too does his father and business partner, Shane.<\/p>\n
Shane Vickery and his son Ethan prepare to open independent Christchurch supermarket Kai Co in the Northwood Supa Centre. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
\u201cMe and my dad make a great team. He\u2019s got his tool belt on and he\u2019s putting all the produce displays together and all that sort of stuff. I\u2019m talking to all the suppliers and trying to find deals and organising operations. <\/p>\n
\u201cNot many people get an opportunity to do something like this in their lifetime, so I\u2019m feeling pretty bloody privileged,\u201d says Vickery. <\/p>\n
Kai Co\u2019s doors open at 8am on Wednesday \u2013 but Vickery urges customers not to rush. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re here for a long time. And the deals are going to get better as the week gets on.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cFood is expensive in New Zealand for numerous reasons, but there is quite a bit of value that\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[95,5837,1558,3595,6434,4487,108263,132148,132151,6284,132149,9268,84022,1444,128606,2209,564,1668,2734,132152,60631,305,42,16718,24396,302,141,16774,1743,2190,43,13792,15483,132150,22639,97,684,40,38,41,39,132154,132153,13797,6730],"class_list":["post-219149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-and","tag-battle","tag-been","tag-by","tag-cheaper","tag-christchurch","tag-co","tag-comparatively","tag-considerably","tag-david","tag-diminutive","tag-fable","tag-fairness","tag-famous","tag-fared","tag-father","tag-food","tag-front","tag-giants","tag-goliath","tag-handicap","tag-have","tag-headlines","tag-him","tag-inspiration","tag-its","tag-kai","tag-larger","tag-launched","tag-long","tag-news","tag-pair","tag-promising","tag-slays","tag-son","tag-supermarket","tag-there","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-twoonone","tag-underdog","tag-used","tag-would"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}