Cheers To China: Three Sisters Brewing Significant Export Growth
What began as a 10,000-can "sample" order in mid-2024 from a Chinese distributor has grown rapidly, with recent shipments increasing to 20,000 cans.
"The initial email came out of the blue," says founder Joe Emans. "To be honest, when I initially saw the email, I thought it was spam. That's a really big sample order. It's nearly equivalent to what we'd normally produce every other month."
The order wasn't just by chance however, as Three Sisters had captured the attention of the distributor thanks to their reputation for top-quality hazies and strong user ratings on the global beer app Untappd, where users can discover new brews and track trending favourites. This visibility helped them stand out in a crowded market.
Fortunately, Emans followed up on that initial email - and the relationship has since flourished.
"China has its own version of Untappd, so they're really in tune with their customers over there," says Emans. "Sours in particular have really taken off, making up around 60% of their orders, up from 30% a year ago."
Emans is no stranger to adapting. Since brewing in his garage with his wife Sarah in 2017, the brewery has expanded three times thanks to some hugely successful crowdfunding campaigns, and they recently launched a popular taproom. Three Sisters has also won numerous national and international awards, including back-to-back Champion International Small Brewery trophies in 2023 and 2024 at the Australian International Beer Awards.
Now, with demand approaching capacity in recent months, another expansion is already in sight.
"We're a small brewery even by national standards, but we're flexible and curious," says Emans. "If we're asked for a beer that's a particular colour, with specific flavour notes - we'll make it. We're happy to tailor beers to suit the market, while keeping our creativity and quality at the heart of everything we do."
Recent global market shifts, including US tariff increases, have made New Zealand beer even more attractive to Chinese distributors, alongside the country's growing reputation in the industry.
The journey from garage to exporter hasn't happened over night though.
"We've had some great help from the community along the way, including from Venture Taranaki who has provided some fantastic support - from providing co-funding for courses on crowdfunding campaigns which have been crucial to expanding our production capacity, to helping us tell our story as a guest on their Podcast series", says Emans.
Venture Taranaki, the regional development agency, has also supported and explored the potential of a local hops industry through the Branching Out project.
If you're a local business looking for advice or support, check out the range of services offered by Venture Taranaki here: https://www.venture.org.nz/enterprise-and-entrepreneurship/
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
14 hours ago
- NZ Herald
How a Chinese brand reshaped Hong Kong's food delivery scene
With China's domestic economy slowing and its consumers more frugal, Chinese brands are seeking new business overseas. And some, like Meituan, are using Hong Kong as a trial market to test the waters. A former British colony that has long been a gateway between China and the world, Hong Kong has in recent years become increasingly aligned with China politically and economically. But the city, formally a special zone of China, retains much of its international culture and customs, making it an attractive test bed for Chinese companies. 'Hong Kong is part of the global market with global investors and internationally compliant regulations,' said Jin Lu, a strategic communications consultant at PRConnect (HK) who has worked with many brands in China, including PepsiCo and McKinsey. In June, iFlytek, a Chinese information technology company, entered Hong Kong. Its chair, Liu Qingfeng, said iFlytek saw the city as a 'bridgehead' to going overseas, citing its international business services and multilingual population. Another brand testing the waters is Shoo Loong Kan Hot Pot, one of China's largest hot pot franchises, which has opened a branch in Hong Kong. Its manager described the city as 'the best window for a company's brand exposure' in the world. For Meituan, Hong Kong was the 'first step in international exploration', the company's founder, Wang Xing, said in 2023. It initially offered its services to restaurants in what it considered pilot zones: the commercial hub of Mong Kok and the residential area of Tai Kok Tsui. A year later, Keeta tried its model in Saudi Arabia, choosing the central city of Al Kharj for its launch. It later entered Riyadh, the capital, where there is fierce competition in food delivery. Within four months, Keeta became a top-three platform in Saudi Arabia. 'We approach global expansion with a measured pace,' Wang said last year. 'We will stay patient and continue exploring while maintaining financial discipline.' Meituan said in May that it would spend US$1 billion to set up operations in Brazil. But to its critics, Keeta has been anything but patient in Hong Kong. In only two years, it has reshaped the city's food delivery business, driving out Deliveroo, once the main player in Hong Kong, with aggressive tactics like slashing delivery costs. Delivery workers say they were lured to work for Keeta with financial incentives, only to see their pay reduced. Workers for Keeta, a food delivery app, in Hong Kong. With China's consumers being more frugal, brands from the mainland are seeking new business overseas. Photo / Billy H.C. Kwok, the New York Times For example, Wong said she had started out earning as much as US$4.20 for each order, including a small bonus for deliveries she made on time. Now, she said, she makes an average of US$2.60 an order and is expected to work faster or risk her bonus. 'The competition became so intense all of a sudden that it completely disrupted the market,' said Lu, the consultant at PRConnect (HK). In China, the fierce competition is the norm, especially among delivery businesses. Consumers expect an on-demand, low-cost service. When Keeta arrived in Hong Kong in 2023, it offered new users nearly US$40 in discounts and fee waivers, followed by sustained promotions like free delivery during certain times of day or half-price meals. The subsidies worked. Keeta had a little over a quarter of the overall food delivery market share in early 2024. By the end of the year, it had climbed to nearly half, according to Measurable AI, a consumer data company. Over the same period, the market share of Keeta's competitors Foodpanda, a Singaporean company, and Deliveroo dropped. Deliveroo, a British multinational, quit Hong Kong in April. It had operated in the city for nine years and once held a 60% market share. In May, hundreds of Keeta delivery workers went on strike seeking better pay and conditions. The bonuses and other financial incentives Keeta initially offered workers shrank while the speed demands and other pressures intensified, according to Justine Lam, a specialist at the Delivery Workers' Rights Concern Group. Keeta narrowed the windows in which it expected workers to make deliveries. Some took risks and ran red lights, according to Lam. Protesting workers have demanded a minimum base pay of US$6.50 per order and formal employment contracts. Keeta said that income was 'multifaceted' and that base pay didn't reflect actual earnings, emphasising its commitment to 'flexible work opportunities'. A Keeta spokesperson said the company 'always prioritises the safety of its couriers, striving to optimise their delivery experience and safeguard their income'. For their part, some restaurant owners complained about the commissions they paid to Keeta. But they also said they got large volumes of orders by using Keeta. Dee ChaimongAran, 36, said Keeta helped bring as much as one-third of the business to his Thai takeaway eatery, Friends Restaurant. However, its 28% commission squeezed his profits. 'It brought in many orders, so it's hard for us to dislike Keeta,' he said. Mandy Hu, director of the Centre for Consumer Insights at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said Keeta's success could lead to a 'winner takes all' situation that hurts restaurants, consumers, and workers. With Deliveroo out, Hong Kong's food delivery market is now shared about equally by Keeta and Foodpanda. Hu said the Hong Kong government should supervise and regulate the sector more methodically. Keeta's sudden growth has also tapped the resentment that many Hong Kongers feel toward China, whose leaders have taken a heavier hand in the city's governance. The day that Deliveroo announced it would exit the market, people lit up local social media platforms with their anger at what they saw as another example of China's growing influence. Still, for some workers, such as Xie Long, a master's student from the southwestern Chinese city Chongqing, Keeta is a good way to make a living. Xie, 26, said Keeta offered him flexible part-time work that helped cover Hong Kong's high living costs. He said he earned about US$250 a month, which covered about half his expenses. 'The income is not very stable,' said Xie, who is studying engineering and struggling to find internships. But he added: 'I'm not afraid of hard work. As long as I can earn money, I'm okay with it.' This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Written by: Zixu Wang Photographs by: Billy H.C. Kwok ©2025 THE NEW YORK TIMES
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Otago Daily Times
The world wants our excellent butter
One of our favourite butter brands recently took home a prestigious award from the International Cheese and Dairy show, the oldest and largest such show in England. According to the judges, compared with other competing countries, our butter is creamy, velvet and rich, without being greasy. It carries flavour and can soak up all the spices, aromatics, and seasoning in our cooking. It is more yellow and has a higher fat content than the pale, grain-fed American butter — consequently, along with the judges and countless top chefs, they just can't get enough of it. Butter is one of the purest foods in the world, and we make lots of it. New Zealand is the largest exporter of butter, and last year we exported 525,000 tonnes which is a third of the global market and worth $2.54 billion, making it our second-largest export earner. China is our biggest buyer, purchasing $786 million worth in 2024. Chinese people have some trust issues with their dairy products, and New Zealand is the most trusted and the butter considered to be of high quality. Other large importers of butter are the US, Australia and the Philippines, but it's almost unbelievable that we import about $3.69m worth each year, mainly from Denmark, India, Australia, France and Fiji. The dairy export industry started from humble beginnings, with a few barrels of salted butter manufactured at the Edendale Dairy Co shipped to England on board SS Dunedin in 1882 alongside its cargo of frozen mutton. Today the industry employs 55,000 people, there are seven different brands of butter and New Zealanders on the global scale are the highest consumers of the product. Hogging various media headlines at the moment is the price, as it is at an all-time high, and some seem to be trying to give Fonterra a guilt complex as if it sets the price and is responsible — but it is the global auction that sets the price. Fonterra's chief financial officer Andrew Murray stated our butter costs a lot less than you pay in Europe. Is there an irony in all this? Farmers have been improving their environmental image, animal welfare, our clean and green brand and, of course, animals are grass-fed, with the long-term view that premier products attract high-spending customers which in turn help not only the farmer but the country — but we could struggle to afford what we produce. Butter is 49% higher than a year ago and could it be beef and lamb next, which is 50% higher than five years ago. However, what goes up usually comes down.
1News
2 days ago
- 1News
Temu accused by EU of failing to prevent sale of illegal products
Chinese online retailer Temu was accused by European Union watchdogs on Tuesday of failing to prevent the sale of illegal products on its platform. The preliminary findings follow an investigation opened last year under the bloc's Digital Services Act. It's a wide-ranging rulebook that requires online platforms to do more to keep internet users safe, with the threat of hefty fines. The European Commission, the 27-nation bloc's executive branch, said its investigation found 'a high risk for consumers in the EU to encounter illegal products' on Temu's site. Investigators carried out a 'mystery shopping exercise' that found 'non-compliant' products on Temu, including baby toys and small electronics, it said. Temu said in a brief statement that it 'will continue to cooperate fully with the Commission". ADVERTISEMENT The commission didn't specify why exactly the products were illegal, but noted that a surge in online sales in the bloc also came with a parallel rise in unsafe or counterfeit goods. EU regulators said when they opened the investigation that they would look into whether Temu was doing enough to crack down on 'rogue traders' selling 'non-compliant goods' amid concerns that they are able to swiftly reappear after being suspended. In its preliminary findings, the Commission found that Temu could have had 'inadequate mitigation measures' because the company was using an 'inaccurate' risk assessment that relied on general industry information, rather than specifics about its own marketplace. The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, including the atmospheric river arrives, Epstein's girlfriend pushes for appeal, and Jennifer Lopez's wardrobe malfunction. (Source: Breakfast) 'We shop online because we trust that products sold in our Single Market are safe and comply with our rules,' Henna Virkkunen, the EU's executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy, said in a news release. "In our preliminary view, Temu is far from assessing risks for its users at the standards required by the Digital Services Act. Temu has grown in popularity by offering cheap goods - from clothing to home products — shipped from sellers in China. The company, owned by Pinduoduo Inc., a popular e-commerce site in China, has 92 million users in the EU. The company will have the chance to examine the Commission's investigation files and respond to the accusations before the EU watchdogs make a final decision. ADVERTISEMENT Violations of the DSA could result in fines of up to 6% of a company's annual global revenue and an order to fix the problems.
