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How it all began...

Delica was formed in 1994 by two university friends; Murray McCallum and Anton Masutti, who had several years experience working with major New Zealand produce companies and shared the vision that things could be done in a different way.  Both still work in the company.  

The founding philosophy of “win squared” business relationships continues to be at the core of Delica’s operations to this very day.  Put simply, this means thinking outside the square to deliver win-win relationships between customers, growers and the marketer.

Delica began with two offices; the headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand, and a branch office in Melbourne, Australia.  Core products at that time were citrus, cherries, asparagus and berry fruit with the major marketing focus being the Asian region.

Key events in the company’s history since formation have been:

1999:

The opening of Los Angeles branch by Alastair Hulbert who remains a shareholder and is now the GM of Delica Limited.  Focus for this operation is the export of asparagus, cherries, berry fruit, grapes, citrus and apples to our Asian customer base.

2001:  

With deregulation of the apple industry in New Zealand, Delica opened an office in the apple-growing region of Hastings, New Zealand.  This branch was headed by Michael (‘Snow’) Hardy who is now the GM of ENZA and began exporting pipfruit worldwide, but with priority given to our area of expertise, the Asian markets.

2003:

Delica began exports of core product lines from South America, such as grapes and asparagus, establishing a permanent office in Lima, Peru in 2006.  Delica South America, run by Nick Fitzpatrick, now has seven permanent staff and a network of growers in Peru, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay.

2007:

Delica formed a joint venture with publicly-listed produce company Turners & Growers Ltd, who now own 70% of Delica Limited with the remaining shares being held by employees.  This gives Delica the exclusive rights to market ENZA pipfruit and the ENZA brand to Asia, Pacific, Middle East and Russian markets.  Delica also has close links to several major produce companies worldwide.

Delica is now vertically-integrated in several products, having established partnerships in growing and packing in several of its core products.

2010:

Delica Australia absorbs Delica Pty Ltd (the original asparagus partnership) while  continuing to work with the previous joint venture growing partner.  Brent Lawson is now the GM of Delica Australia.