Blue River has been built on a culture of innovation, collaboration and genuine care for our customers, team and community.
Blue River has been built on a culture of innovation, collaboration and genuine care for our customers, team and community.
We respect our team and community, treating everyone with compassion and kindness. We recognise every individual in our team is a core contributor to our success, and we prioritise their personal wellness to help them be the best they can be in all aspects of their lives.
We are constantly working to find new and better ways of doing things. This includes new techniques and developments that improve the welfare of our team and our customers. Sharing new ideas and challenging the accepted way of doing things are actions that are highly valued at Blue River, forming the basis of our culture of innovation and progression.
We work together with our team, suppliers, customers and community. We value communication and loyalty, seeking to understand and utilise the strengths of every individual as we collaborate to deliver products we can all be proud of.
Every member of our team is accountable to consistently deliver products of the highest quality. As a company we place utmost importance on protecting our customers by maintaining stringent quality and hygiene standards. Protecting our team is also a priority, with health, safety and wellbeing being core to our company culture.
We respect our team and community, treating everyone with compassion and kindness. We recognise every individual in our team is a core contributor to our success, and we prioritise their personal wellness to help them be the best they can be in all aspects of their lives.
We are constantly working to find new and better ways of doing things. This includes new techniques and developments that improve the welfare of our team and our customers. Sharing new ideas and challenging the accepted way of doing things are actions that are highly valued at Blue River, forming the basis of our culture of innovation and progression.
We work together with our team, suppliers, customers and community. We value communication and loyalty, seeking to understand and utilise the strengths of every individual as we collaborate to deliver products we can all be proud of.
Every member of our team is accountable to consistently deliver products of the highest quality. As a company we place utmost importance on protecting our customers by maintaining stringent quality and hygiene standards. Protecting our team is also a priority, with health, safety and wellbeing being core to our company culture.
The Blue River team is a diverse group of talented individuals, united by their commitment to creating products that make a real difference to the lives of our customers.
Robert’s focus is building culture, capability and enabling people to flourish. He believes our people are the driving force behind the company’s success.
Joining the company in 2012, Robert brought extensive experience in the dairy industry. He previously spent nine years at Fonterra in quality, technical, project management and commercial roles.
Robert is a member of the Institute of Directors and has significant involvement in the local community; with contributions including presenting at the Southland Business Chamber’s leadership academy and sitting on the board of trustees of Woodlands Full Primary School.
Robert describes his three children as his purpose and joy, and when he’s not spending time with them he is usually found running or mountain biking.
As a director, Suzii represents the owners of Blue River Dairy. Day-to-day she focuses primarily on the commercial operations of the business, while also working as a link between the China and New Zealand teams. Suzii joined the New Zealand team in 2015, bringing with her a passion for the dairy nutritional products industry.
She has enjoyed learning the culture and adapting to the different working and living environments here. When she’s not at the office she enjoys reading, mountain biking and going to the dance studio for a spin.
Paul oversees the moving parts of the business, including stores, IT, maintenance and operations. He has a focus on process improvement, to optimise the quality of our products, and led the design and build of our new factory.
Paul joined the team in 2018; his prior experience included working for seven years as an operations manager for a stock food importer. Known for his good humour, Paul is also an outdoor aficionado, and spends his weekends mountain biking, fishing and diving.
Gareth oversees the planning, procurement, marketing, export and logistics functions to get the right materials to the right place, at the right time. Before joining Blue River in 2015, he spent 15 years working in Taiwan, the UK and Australia in marketing management roles.
Gareth is actively involved in the local business community as the Chairperson of the Export Southland Trust Committee. He has a passion for gardening, cooking and family time with his wife and two children.
Raj heads up Blue River’s quality function. Raj and his team ensure the systems are in place to maintain strict quality and compliance control throughout our sourcing and manufacturing processes.
Raj first joined Blue River in 2018, bringing with him a wealth of experience in the infant formula industry, having worked in multinational business including Danone and Nestle. Raj started out as a Food Technologist in our technical team and progressed through the business into his current role.
Outside of work, Raj organises and captains Blue River’s cricket and badminton teams, bringing people together to enjoy physical activity and camaraderie.
Robert’s focus is building culture, capability and enabling people to flourish. He believes our people are the driving force behind the company’s success.
Joining the company in 2012, Robert brought extensive experience in the dairy industry. He previously spent nine years at Fonterra in quality, technical, project management and commercial roles.
Robert is a member of the Institute of Directors and has significant involvement in the local community; with contributions including presenting at the Southland Business Chamber’s leadership academy and sitting on the board of trustees of Woodlands Full Primary School.
Robert describes his three children as his purpose and joy, and when he’s not spending time with them he is usually found running or mountain biking.
As a director, Suzii represents the owners of Blue River Dairy. Day-to-day she focuses primarily on the commercial operations of the business, while also working as a link between the China and New Zealand teams. Suzii joined the New Zealand team in 2015, bringing with her a passion for the dairy nutritional products industry.
She has enjoyed learning the culture and adapting to the different working and living environments here. When she’s not at the office she enjoys reading, mountain biking and going to the dance studio for a spin.
Paul oversees the moving parts of the business, including stores, IT, maintenance and operations. He has a focus on process improvement, to optimise the quality of our products, and led the design and build of our new factory.
Paul joined the team in 2018; his prior experience included working for seven years as an operations manager for a stock food importer. Known for his good humour, Paul is also an outdoor aficionado, and spends his weekends mountain biking, fishing and diving.
Gareth oversees the planning, procurement, marketing, export and logistics functions to get the right materials to the right place, at the right time. Before joining Blue River in 2015, he spent 15 years working in Taiwan, the UK and Australia in marketing management roles.
Gareth is actively involved in the local business community as the Chairperson of the Export Southland Trust Committee. He has a passion for gardening, cooking and family time with his wife and two children.
Raj heads up Blue River’s quality function. Raj and his team ensure the systems are in place to maintain strict quality and compliance control throughout our sourcing and manufacturing processes.
Raj first joined Blue River in 2018, bringing with him a wealth of experience in the infant formula industry, having worked in multinational business including Danone and Nestle. Raj started out as a Food Technologist in our technical team and progressed through the business into his current role.
Outside of work, Raj organises and captains Blue River’s cricket and badminton teams, bringing people together to enjoy physical activity and camaraderie.
Blue River was founded, growing into an award winning sheep milk cheese manufacturer.
Blue River was purchased by the Chen family of Changsha, China and became the first manufacturing plant in the world to export sheep milk infant formula.
The joining of sister company Alimenta, based in Sardinia, to the Blue River Group, gave access to the world's largest sheep whey producers, to ensure supply of the highest quality ingredients.
With the launch of infant and toddler nutrition formulations using cow and goat milk, Blue River became the only plant in the world at the time to manufacture formulas for infants and toddlers using milks from three different species - sheep, cow and goat.
Blue River was recognised as the Master of Growth at the Deloitte Awards, celebrating 1,502% revenue growth over the past 5 years.
Blue River secured another 5 years’ access to China, the world’s biggest infant formula market, successfully upgrading and registering our sheep, goat and cow formula brands.
Blue River was founded, growing into an award winning sheep milk cheese manufacturer.
Blue River was purchased by the Chen family of Changsha, China and became the first manufacturing plant in the world to export sheep milk infant formula.
The joining of sister company Alimenta, based in Sardinia, to the Blue River Group, gave access to the world's largest sheep whey producers, to ensure supply of the highest quality ingredients.
With the launch of infant and toddler nutrition formulations using cow and goat milk, Blue River became the only plant in the world at the time to manufacture formulas for infants and toddlers using milks from three different species - sheep, cow and goat.
Blue River was recognised as the Master of Growth at the Deloitte Awards, celebrating 1,502% revenue growth over the past 5 years.
Blue River secured another 5 years’ access to China, the world’s biggest infant formula market, successfully upgrading and registering our sheep, goat and cow formula brands.
The success of Blue River has been recognised with multiple awards. From company growth to exporting and workplace wellbeing, our unique strengths have been acclaimed.
