Background
Bowl poster.
EasiYo Products, started in a home garage in 1992, expanded rapidly and moved to a factory site the following year. After shifting to bigger premises two more times, a fourth move in 2010 saw the company established on its present site – a purpose-built 1700m2 plant in Albany from where it exports products around the world.
What appears as instant success was, however, built on years of trialling and testing. With a large family to feed, teacher Len Light wanted a cheap source of fresh yoghurt. He experimented with different ways of making yoghurt over a number of years, as he tried to find an easy method for making yoghurt at home. His final outcome, the EasiYo system, led to his founding the company in 1992 with wife Kathy. The new product was launched at the Auckland Home Show that year and was an immediate success.
The company began exporting to Australia in 1993, and now has a distribution centre with five staff there. It entered the UK market in 2005, where it now has 15 staff working in sales, marketing and distribution. In 2006, EasiYo began selling in China and Korea and, based on sales there, is considering moving in to Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. EasiYo was launched in Italy in 2011, and that market now accounts for a large proportion of international sales. The company began selling in the USA in 2009 but, given high tariffs and other barriers on dairy products, this has been a difficult market. US customers can, however, order EasiYo products online from a Los Angeles-based distributor New Zealand Natural Goods.
Clinical tests.
While the yoghurt-making system is its core business, EasiYo has introduced complementary lines over the years: milk drinks, fruit pulps, ice cream, dips, mousse, drinking yoghurt and cheesecake. The standard yoghurt range was joined by reduced fat, a Premium line of creamy yoghurts and BioLife yoghurt, with the yoghurt 'and bits' line introduced in 2011.
In 2007, West Coast dairy cooperative Westland Milk Products purchased 75% of the company, and acquired the remaining 25% in 2010.