GROWING has always been a big part of our FAMILY’s history
Our family market garden expands across the Waimea Plains of Nelson and has been running for over 40 years. It was originally started by Robbie and Cheryl Conning, growing cabbages, carrots and potatoes. They slowly diversified and eventually grew enough to run their own fresh produce store, Brightwater Country Fresh.
The three sons - Simon, Toby and Ben decided to continue in their parents’ footsteps and open another fresh produce store - Farm Fresh. This started out as a road side stall in 2017, but quickly outgrew its small space. Soon a new building was rising out of the carpark, a new home with a new name ‘Connings Food Market’ - rebranded to recognise the family’s hard work and passion for growing.
Produce,
it’s what we do best.
It has always been our goal to provide our community with the freshest produce at the most affordable prices. Our ability to supply produce that is often harvested the same day as it is put on our shelves, means our freshness is unbeatable. Our farm blocks are all within a 4km radius of our store. This means, if we run out of our produce lines we can harvest more and bring it directly to the store. This keeps our food kilometers and overall impact on the environment low.
We want the best when it comes to produce and that continues across the rest of our departments. We have a full range of products across grocery, meat, alcohol departments and have made it our priority to showcase some of the best crafted artisan food products from around New Zealand, and the Nelson/Tasman region in particular. We are proud of what we can create and want to support local Kiwi businesses along the way.
Market gardening has always been a part of our family. we want To be able to share quality, healthy food with THE community.
— Simon Conning