Over 500 people accepted Fonterra Kauri’s invitation to come and have a first-hand look behind the scenes at its Open Day on Saturday.
Kauri Operations Manager Rowan Hartigan said he was chuffed so see everyone leaving the event happy and knowing a lot more about what happens at Kauri and also across the wider Co-operative.
“We are really proud of what we do here. It was great to be able to share that with so many people in our community and I’d like to thank them all for joining us.”
Visitors were given guided tours of the site, insights into the dairy production process, and samples of Tip Top and Mainland products to try.
Local resident Jess Dwyer found out about the open day when the invitation was shared by her son’s school on its Facebook page.
“I really enjoyed the whole experience, it’s something that you wouldn’t usually get to see as a consumer. I didn’t realise how the sites are all very different from one another, because they make different products from the milk,” said Mrs Dwyer.
“It was so fascinating to see the process, the products in their bulk form, and the equipment involved. The staff were also very friendly and happy to answer any questions.”
One of Fonterra’s two Northland sites, Kauri processes up to three million litres of milk a day at peak. It produces skim milk, whole milk and nutritional milk powders, specialty butters and anhydrous milk fats.