{"id":644209,"date":"2026-10-28T22:30:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T22:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/644209\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T22:30:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T22:30:13","slug":"could-the-public-bankroll-a-third-supermarket-competitor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/644209\/","title":{"rendered":"Could the public bankroll a third supermarket competitor?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Crowdfunded supermarket raises nearly $2 million<\/p>\n

While pressure grows for someone to challenge the supermarket duopoly<\/a>, the people are putting their money behind Plenty Foods in Upper Hutt.<\/p>\n

The family-owned company has raised over $1.8 million through crowdfunding<\/a>, with over 600 investors.<\/p>\n

The funds will go towards expanding the brand, and customers say they can see potential for it to become the country’s highly anticipated third competitor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In return, investing customers become “founding owners” with equity shares, and grocery discounts.<\/p>\n

Manager Quan Yang said the company was looking for new sites to expand, with possible branches in Wellington or Porirua.<\/p>\n

The manager made the switch to Plenty Foods after working at Pak’nSave Petone for 30 years.<\/p>\n

“I see the future in this.”<\/p>\n

Yang claimed the shop’s prices were cheaper than duopoly supermarkets.<\/p>\n

Special signs around the store marked a 12 pack of eggs for $4, two cucumbers for $3, and a whole hot chook for $5.50.<\/p>\n

Yang said over a 1000 people had applied to work at the store when it opened a year ago<\/a>, which they’d carved down to 40 staff.<\/p>\n

And new stores would bring more jobs, Yang said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Special signs around the store marked a 12 pack of eggs for $4, two cucumbers for $3, and a whole hot chook for $5.50.<\/p>\n

RNZ \/ Baz Macdonald<\/p>\n

‘We’re supporting a smaller entity’ – locals<\/p>\n

Local Michael Buchanan has shopped at Plenty Foods since it opened, going back each week for the meat and veges.<\/p>\n

“I like the fact that we’re supporting a smaller entity, as opposed to a huge monopoly.<\/p>\n

“It’s just about supporting someone who’s making an effort to do something different.”<\/p>\n

He said the crowdfunding was a great idea: “People like to make a buck along the way so I mean if you can invest in something like this, why wouldn’t you?”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A Plenty Foods staff member serving a customer.<\/p>\n

RNZ \/ Baz Macdonald<\/p>\n

The prices were a main difference for customers, who said they found meat and vegetables were cheaper at Plenty Foods.<\/p>\n

This was especially helpful for parents to seven kids, Trinity and Sheldon Morehu.<\/p>\n

Their trolley was filled with bulk items like pasta, cereal, noodles, and baking supplies.<\/p>\n

“We usually have to buy – cause we have so many kids – at least a good few kgs of each meat. So, the affordability here’s good.”<\/p>\n

\"Independent<\/p>\n

Independent Upper Hutt supermarket Plenty Foods.<\/p>\n

RNZ \/ Baz Macdonald<\/p>\n

Thomas George Colson worked around the corner, and went over to the shop a couple times a week for coffee and snacks.<\/p>\n

“You used to be able to go to different supermarkets for cheaper prices, but it seems quite streamlined now across them.<\/p>\n

“So a third supermarket, or something like this, is great for finding little deals.”<\/p>\n

Colson, having previously worked at New World checkouts, said there was a real sense of community at Plenty Foods.<\/p>\n

He liked seeing a younger crowd of workers, who recognised him each time he went in.<\/p>\n

\"Independent<\/p>\n

Customers said there was a sense of community at Plenty Foods.<\/p>\n

RNZ \/ Baz Macdonald<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, parents Josh and Emma weren’t convinced having a third competitor would change prices. They said options like Plenty Foods were just a nice-to-have.<\/p>\n

“It’s nice having somewhere that has slightly higher quality stuff,” Josh said. “It’s nice to feel like all your money’s not going to some big conglomeration.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Crowdfunded supermarket raises nearly $2 million While pressure grows for someone to challenge the supermarket duopoly, the people…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[138,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-644209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644209","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=644209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}