At lunchtime in Fisher and Paykel's offices above the Wall Street mall in Dunedin there are likely to be people grilling, stir-frying or even baking in the well-equipped staff kitchen. The large table may be loaded with entries for a staff bake-off which, after they have been judged, provide morning tea for the more than 100 people who work there.
It's part of the food culture at the firm, says Lauren Palmer, an industrial designer and one of the founding members of the Our Kitchen team that posts a regular blog, ourkitchen.fisherpaykel.com, with contributions from Otago and Auckland staff.
"There are a lot of people here who are really passionate about food. One of the girls in Auckland was bringing in a lot of baking and sharing it round the office, and we were looking at new ways we could start more casual conversations with our customers or potential customers and [the blog] grew from there," she says.
The blog has readers in many countries, but a distinctive New Zealand flavour.
"We are sharing a lot of knowledge about food that we have in-house with our customers," adds Kurt McEwen, another member of the blogging team.
The former Fisher and Paykel offices and factory on the Taieri had a canteen, but the new premises in the centre of town has a large kitchen that sports many of the firm's products, which has encouraged the firm's food culture to develop, says Adam Moody, another member of the team who does some of the stylish photography for the blog.
Kate McKinlay, a cooking product evaluator who investigates how consumers interact with the firm's cooktops and ovens, says people often look through the windows of her lab to see what she is testing in the ovens. The results are keenly devoured
Although not officially part of the Our Kitchen team, she contributes recipes as a guest each month.
The team organises various food events among the staff, from cook-offs and sausage-making competitions to cooking and cheese-making classes that are quickly booked up.
There's a ladies' morning tea on Fridays for which they take turns to cook and, not to be outdone, according to Kurt, the guys have a cake club with the cakes brought in becoming more and more extraordinary.
Staff swap vegetable plants, several have hens and sell eggs to their colleagues, and some who go hunting or fishing will bring in some of their spoils to share
Not only do the Our Kitchen team members get to take time out from their various roles in design, marketing and product development to write recipes, cook delicious food and take beautiful photographs for the blog, but they also attend festivals and promotions such as Taste, in Auckland.
Palmer sums it up: "We just love food."
The blog
The Our Kitchen blog can be found at ourkitchen.fisherpaykel.com
