NELSON, November 2011: New Zealand’s most awarded cider is now also one of the country’s fastest growing companies, making the coveted Deloitte’s 2011 Fast 50 list.
Redwood Cellars, the parent company of Old Mout Cider, last night won the Deloitte 2011 Fast 50 regional award for the fastest growing retail or consumer products business (Christchurch and Upper South Island region).
The company was also listed as the 44th fastest growing company in New Zealand with 159.48% market growth, which has been attributed to the success of their Old Mout Cider.
Redwood Cellars Managing Director and co-owner Justin Hall says this is a significant achievement for Redwood Cellars and credits their growth to innovation and a continual focus on quality and taste.
“We’ve been making cider for more than 60 years now and we are continually looking at ways to do things differently. All of our ciders have a distinct, individual taste. We’re not about producing “me too” ciders, and that’s why it’s going pretty well for us.”
“We also pioneered a new category in the New Zealand cider market – cider blended with real fruit wine – that cider lover’s love and we’re now crossing from niche into mainstream.”
Hall also credits the company’s success to their team and their ability to make sound business decisions.
“With any decision in our business we always come back to one question, “Does it help us sell more cider?” This has led the team to get very good at saying “No!” and enabled them to stick to core strategy.”
Redwood Cellars is New Zealand’s oldest independent cidery and Old Mout Cider ranks in the top three best-selling cider brands in the country. With 28 awards under their belt this year, they’re also New Zealand’s most awarded cider.
Hall says the cider category is growing significantly in New Zealand with Kiwis currently drink 600ml of cider per person, per year. Hall expects this will rise to 2L per person by 2014 as more people discover this great-tasting alternative to beer and wine.
“We’re going to keep focusing on innovation and producing a great-tasting product so we can take advantage of the huge growth potential this category has.”
Redwood Cellars produces a range of ciders for cider lovers under the Old Mout Cider brand – Boysencider, Feijoa & Cider, Pear Scrumpy, Scrumpy, and Classic Apple, and a new Cranberry & Cider will be available this December.
