{"id":342786,"date":"2026-03-22T22:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T22:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/342786\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T22:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T22:12:09","slug":"small-business-the-polish-dumpling-brand-aiming-for-every-kiwi-freezer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/342786\/","title":{"rendered":"Small Business: The Polish dumpling brand aiming for every Kiwi freezer"},"content":{"rendered":"

The reason they are so popular is that after World War II, a lot of immigrants came over to Canada and America and brought it with them.<\/p>\n

What inspired you to start the business?<\/p>\n

I married a Kiwi who was originally from Christchurch, and after we moved back here from Australia in 2013, I was missing home and wanting to bring a touch of it here \u2013 especially after having my child. I started making pierogi and then trialled it at some farmers\u2019 markets, and I just saw how people loved it. Comfort food transcends; it knows no borders. <\/p>\n

At the same time, I started doing some research on Asian dumplings in New Zealand. They were introduced in the 1940s, but only gained popularity in the 1970s. I just thought it was such a shame that people were missing out on it, so why not try to make it a mainstream product in New Zealand? <\/p>\n

\"PierogiPierogi Joint is filling a niche in the convenience and comfort food section, founder Kate Grater says.<\/p>\n

How was the transition from farmers\u2019 market to retail?<\/p>\n

I think in the early days, you don\u2019t know what you don\u2019t know. The beauty of connecting with a community is getting instant feedback on your product. You tighten up your efficiencies and what you\u2019re doing so you understand it. I had no food background before starting, so I learned a lot.<\/p>\n

I started the farmers\u2019 markets in 2014, before stopping, regrouping and trying again in 2018. It wasn\u2019t until just before Covid that we went all-in and bought the pierogi\/dumpling machine \u2013 which was like a small down-payment on a house \u2013 before the business plan was formulated.<\/p>\n

What flavours would you recommend?<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve got about 10 flavours, but I definitely think the classic potato and cheese will always be the cornerstone and the staple. It\u2019s also the most versatile because you can pair it with so many different things, whether that\u2019s a protein or a broth, whatever it is. It\u2019s also great for people who have sensitive palates.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d also say the babushka bacon, which is our number one seller. Being based in Canterbury, I know Canterburians love their bacon, and they love the depth and flavour of a dumpling. The babushka bacon has bacon, sauteed onion, cheese, chive and potato.<\/p>\n

To go into the retail game, you really have to be clear about your margins. You have to have a recipe, and you have to do it on repeat on a mass scale and volume. When we got into grocery stores, I was given the advice to make our range smaller, with less packaging across the board. So we quickly picked our top three (Jalapeno popper is the third) and championed those.<\/p>\n

\"PierogiPierogi Joint founder Kate Grater’s ultimate goal is for every freezer in every household in New Zealand to contain a pierogi or two.<\/p>\n

How would you like the business to expand going forward?<\/p>\n

We\u2019re currently in over 70 locations, but it\u2019s always chopping and changing with people trialling our product. My goal would be to have a commercial production facility that\u2019s just for us, that isn\u2019t in a shared-use space. <\/p>\n

At this stage, it\u2019s basically just me in the business making all of the pierogi in New Zealand, so it would be great to have a small, dedicated team that we look after. I\u2019d also love to have a flagship store where we\u2019d sell our pierogi, because we have no wastage, so all the ugly dumplings we sell or they could be used for tastings.<\/p>\n

I think we\u2019ve definitely built up a great base and that we have a solid foundation. The goal was always a pierogi in every freezer in every household in New Zealand. I think we can get there, it\u2019s just a very ambitious task.<\/p>\n

What would be your advice to a budding entrepreneur wanting to start a business?<\/p>\n

I gave advice to two other businesses so I\u2019ll say what I said to them. Firstly, just to go for it, but also don\u2019t feel the need to have a physical, bricks-and-mortar space straight away. If you don\u2019t need to take on expenses early on, test your market and generate sales online.<\/p>\n

Secondly, don\u2019t give in to that outside pressure to grow quickly and scale everything too fast. I think sometimes staying small as a business is almost the best thing you can do. Ultimately, you\u2019ve got to listen to your own voice.<\/p>\n

Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.<\/p>\n

Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our Business newsletter<\/a> \u2013 your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The reason they are so popular is that after World War II, a lot of immigrants came over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1443,33147,4463,138,6636,83834,50605,2396,182952,14768,2082,311,100816,71,90906,1345,13728,2517,194,111,139,69,179378,30305,24390,4499,301,223],"class_list":["post-342786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-about","tag-aiming","tag-brand","tag-business","tag-challenge","tag-cracking","tag-creating","tag-culture","tag-dumpling","tag-every","tag-for","tag-founder","tag-freezer","tag-from","tag-grater","tag-home","tag-joint","tag-kate","tag-kiwi","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pierogi","tag-polish","tag-raynel","tag-small","tag-talks","tag-the"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342786","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=342786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}