Tucked away on a quiet street in the Cromwell industrial area, a building takes up most of a block. A few small signs on the outside hint at its use. Central Otago reporter Lynda van Kempen takes a closer look.
One minute it's dangling off a tree and next minute, it's under a spotlight, having 72 photos taken.
The subject of the "paparazzi'' is an export cherry from Cromwell, which has multiple photos taken as it goes through the Cherrypac packhouse.
Packhouse co-owner Henry van der Velden, of Cromwell, says the "state-of-the-art'' technology in the building uses the photos to help sort the cherries - determining all kinds of things about the product, including its colour and its softness.
"That means we hardly have to handle the cherries at all. Every cherry has 72 photos taken of it and the system can handle five tonnes of cherries an hour.''
Mr van der Velden and his business partner in the venture, the late Bob Robertson, of Wanaka, entered the cherry industry in 1999.
Mr Robertson died in November 2014 and Mr van der Velden remains in business with Mr Robertson's's estate, as the industry gears up to new heights.
Central Otago's 2014-15 cherry season was described as the best for a decade, with perfect growing and harvesting conditions and record volumes of export fruit produced.
This year, the haul was looking just as strong, Mr van der Velden said.
The industry's future is equally bright.
A recent Central Otago labour market survey revealed cherry plantings in the district would expand by 34% (184ha) over the next five years and 62% of those plantings were planned for the Cromwell basin.
Mr van der Velden declined to elaborate on the cost of the 3500sq m packhouse - "it was a substantial amount'' - but agreed it demonstrated his faith and confidence in the industry's future.
Its size meant there was more than enough room for their operations and other orchards were looking into using the site in the future, he said.
The building is believed to be the largest of its type in the country and comprises a big coolstore within a packhouse.
It was used for the first time for the 2014-15 cherry season.
"It's pretty much the perfect fruit packhouse, clean and clinical and all the latest technology.''
Ironically, the "perfect'' building was only used for eight weeks of the year.
"It's certainly worth it, even if it's only used for that amount of time. You couldn't get any better future-proofing than this.''
In those eight weeks, the 500-tonne cherry crop from the company - NZ Cherry Corp - was processed within the building.
Last season's crop, grown on the company's 40ha cherry orchard, was worth $7.5million.
Ninety people were employed in the building at the height of the harvest and the complex could cope "easily'' with 1500 tonnes of cherries a season, by adding extra shifts.
The company and its subsidiaries, which include Cherrypac, dealt with all aspects of the industry, from growing through to packing and marketing.
"To be honest, we can't get enough fruit to meet the demand,'' Mr van der Velden said.
Southeast Asia and China were the main markets but last season a shipment was also sent to Russia and the Cromwell cherries proved popular there, too.
Mr van der Velden will head to Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand in September to explore those markets as well.
"We pre-sell all our cherries before they even come off the tree.''
The fruit is marketed as Kiwi Delight and brands such as Mr Henry, Red Sensation and Cherry Delight are used under that name.
A chocolate-box type of packaging is used to sell premium cherries in Hong Kong.
The 40-cherry boxes, which sell for $US39 ($NZ58.75), feature each cherry, 34mm in diameter, sitting on gold foil, stems all facing one way.
