Beekist Tomatoes:
That Family Feeling
History: Beekist began in 1990 in Kumeu, West Auckland, New Zealand when two tomato growing families, the Conquers and the Ivicevichs, began developing an environmentally friendly tomato growing programme designed for the exclusive use of New World, Pak n Save, the 4 Square group, and other stores that make up the Foodstuffs group.
The Name Beekist: These two families, leading the change away from manually assisted pollination, were among New Zealands pioneers in the natural use of the humble bumble bee for pollinating their crops. This process (the bees kissing the flower as seen above left and right) must take place before a tomato can start to take form and to grow. Thus the name and subsequent brand: "Beekist"
GE: There are no genetically engineered tomatoes in the Beekist range
Beekist Today: Beekist is still growing increasingly more innovative and flavoursome tomato varieties in conjunction with Status Produce Ltd and their growers, to meet the steadily increasing Foodstuffs consumer demand for taste and flavour.
Beekist, Setting the Quality Benchmark: Beekist tomatoes are still the quality benchmark against which all NZ tomatoes are judged
Trevor and Cherie Conquer
Tony and Joanne Ivicevich
