On Friday, Minister for Economic and Regional Development and Small Business Stuart Nash along with Invercargill Mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt opened the Southern Pioneers Food Hub in Invercargill.
The hub is a collaboration of Southland businesses and community groups with the aim of creating innovative food, beverages and other products to export from Southland to domestic and overseas markets.
The space, above the Seriously Good Chocolate Company in Invercargill, includes development spaces such as test kitchens, offices and meeting and planning rooms.
Getting the hub up and running was a five-year project led by Seriously Good Chocolate Company director Jane Stanton.
Ms Stanton said the opening was an exciting new step for the future of Southland.
"I wanted to give back to Southland because they have been so fantastic to us.
"The hub will be a space for local food producers to innovate and add value to existing products, test ideas and quite possibly transform our economy," she said.
Last year, the organisation received $510,000 from the Provincial Growth Fund for stage 1 of the development.
The funding enabled the entity to buy machinery and equipment for the internal fit-out of the space, and create up to five new jobs, and stage 2 is expected to result in another 22 jobs being created.
Mr Nash said the opening of the hub was a pivotal moment in the food story for Southland.
"This is fantastic, it really is.
"It’s exactly the sort we envisaged when we set up the Provincial Growth Fund.
"It’s about southern businesses coming in, creating value, seeing what works and what doesn’t and leveraging expertise Jane and the others have put together," he said.
The food hub will have advisory and governance support from its board members, Cecilia Tarrant, Ian Collier, Murray Wilson, Geoff Sprong, Blair Wolfgram, Keith Neylon and Colin McFetridge.
The Seriously Good Chocolate Company board will also provide input.
Ms Stanton said the opportunities were "endless".
