Several weeks ago, Oamaru-based McLeod Nutrition expanded its market to non-humans with Paw Shakers, supplement shakers for pets focused on joint health, gut health and skin and coat.
While it was early days, McLeod Nutrition managing director Andrew McLeod believed there was a big opportunity in the pet industry.
The new products followed the same principles as the company’s human products, which had to taste delicious and be nutritious and innovative.
Dr McLeod has come full circle; after decades away from the town in which he grew up, he has returned to Oamaru with his wife Rangi and established a business.
He left in 1988 to study pharmacy at the University of Otago before completing his PhD in pharmaceutical chemistry at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
A 35-year career in the pharmaceutical industry followed.
His experience included working in research and development at Douglas Pharmaceuticals in West Auckland, where his role involved the creation of medicines into New Zealand and export markets.
Quipping that he only ever returned to Oamaru for the likes of funerals, it was during Covid-19 when the couple decided to buy a holiday home in the South Island.
Their travels took them as far and wide as Kurow, Fairlie, Roxburgh, Milton and even Bluff.
Dr McLeod had previously only been as far south as Gore, but it was Oamaru that they decided was “pretty good”.
So they sold their house in Auckland and moved south for good, rather than just a holiday, and Dr McLeod described the decision as “the best thing”.
The weather might have been better in the north but the character, beauty, quirkiness and uniqueness of North Otago more than made up for it.
There was also the friendliness factor — “not in your face but being human and relating to each other” — rather than people passing by in Auckland without a greeting.
It was also a good place to establish a business.
In Auckland, people sometimes tended to “jump in to do something quickly but drop you as fast”.
Whereas, it might happen slower in Oamaru but a relationship developed and that inter-dependence was good for business.
McLeod Nutrition produces Prebiolax, a blend of New Zealand kiwifruit and European prebiotic soluble corn fibre, and an unflavoured whey protein concentrate.
It was targeting the likes of the elderly, trying to keep them strong, and for people who have had bariatric weight-loss surgery.
They tended to work through professionals to get to the customer, so it was more a business-to-business model.
It sold into rest-home businesses Metlifecare and Bupa. Celebrity cook Allyson Gofton had created a range of basic recipes, with nutritional analysis, which could be made with the products.
Dr McLeod said the plan was to establish the company’s brand and credibility in New Zealand and then look to export markets.
The big plan was to create a family business — for the couple’s children if they wanted to take it over — and create something for the future, and something of value in New Zealand.
Dr McLeod said the lesson was learned during Covid-19 that you did not have to be in Auckland to run a business.
Being in Oamaru meant higher overheads and angst were gone.
He loved the fact he could walk from home to work.
Based in a central Oamaru office, McLeod Nutrition was also virtual company with contract manufacturing and laboratories.
He believed it was a trap thinking that a factory was needed, when it could mean losing focus on customers.
The business model was about using their brains and working with partners, he said.
Both Dr McLeod and his wife worked in the business while their daughter Anna — owner of Petal — worked in it after hours.
“We’re going for it, taking the bull by the horns and going for it.
“Why slow down and look towards retirement and death when you can actually just go for it?” Dr McLeod said.
