BAKING
Worth: $35 million
YOU USED to have to visit the tiny Taranaki town of Manaia to sample the delights of the bakery which the Yarrow family has run since 1923. Now, as well as being able to pick up its Dutch Mill bread all around New Zealand, it's possible to taste Yarrows' dough in fast food outlets across the United States and Asia.
Yarrows supplies rolls to Subway restaurants in New Zealand, Australia, the US and, more recently, Korea and Taiwan. The dough is mixed, shaped, and frozen locally, before being dispatched to foreign locales where it can be baked at any time up to nine months later without time-consuming preparation.
Two-thirds of Yarrows' income, around $55 million per annum, is from exports.
Another major customer is Australian chain Coles Myer, a destination for croissants and other baked goods straight from Manaia.
Patriarch Noel Yarrow was made acting CEO of the company last year, replacing son John, who was bought out by Paul Yarrow the son, and brother of the pair, respectively.
The family members are major sponsors of sport in the Taranaki region.
The local stadium bears the Yarrow name; they sponsored the local leg of the new Pacific Five Nations international rugby tournament, and became principal sponsors of Taranaki cycling challenge. The Yarrows also have an educational trust, which in the year provided grants for an ICT center at New Plymouth Boys High School and computer equipment for the troubled Patea Area School.
2005 : $35 million
