Gathered Game founder Chris Thorn said it was "hard to gain traction" as a small business in the artisan product market.
His solution was to come up with a way to "link up" his wild venison products business with similar businesses in the region.
"We wanted to be a part of something bigger and to show people what sort of goodness Southland is producing."
Over the past year, Gathered Game has formed a "collective" with Munro Honey Co, "wild food" producer Forage and Graze and Auld Farm Distillery.
"We're really keen to start off by doing some food shows together and representing Southland. We want people to give us a try; once they taste the products, they speak for themselves," he said.
Sick of eating "salami that wasn't salami", Mr Thorne and his wife Sally started their hand-crafted venison products business in 2015, with the help of Chris' brother, David Thorn.
The head office was based in Te Anau, and wild venison was sourced from Fiordland, and processed "the old-fashioned way" in Lumsden, he said.
When she was approached by Mr Thorn about the collective, she asked herself "why not?" Steph Munro, of Munro Honey Co, said.
"We want to tackle a few food shows together and take our small products to the world stage."
She started three years ago with two hives.
By this time next week, she would have 50 hives dotted around Southland, Mrs Munro said.
She did the beekeeping, harvesting and packaging in a "hive-to-jar" process, and even built all her own equipment with the help of her husband.
A raw "honest honey" - her product was 100% pure, with no added ingredients.
She was "big on sustainability" and was moving towards being fully organic - "the idea is to be better for the bees, better for the planet and better for you".
Next to come on board was Rob and Toni Auld with their business, Auld Farm Distillery.
They said working with other Southland businesses was something they had already been considering before being approached by Mr Thorn.
After thinking about the idea for several years, they established their whisky distillery in Scotts Gap, Western Southland in 2017.
Whisky had a long maturation period, and they expected to be selling their first batch in about five years' time.
They wanted to get into agri-tourism eventually as the big appeal for them was being able to show people how they grew everything on farm.
Forage and Graze owners, friends Tash Hamilton, of Winton, and Kath Mempes, of Orepuki, planned to grow "from the beginning".
Joining a collective made sense to them, Mrs Hamilton said.
"We are small ourselves. We know how hard it is to branch out and get your product out there - there's power in numbers."
They bought the Auckland business at the beginning of 2016, and brought the grain-free, paleo-friendly snack business to the deep South.
They made their signature granola and trail mix at the Winton Bakery after shop hours, and their biltong was processed in Christchurch.
"We both have young families and are both quite active. We feel better ourselves for eating clean foods and we want to share that with others," Mrs Hamilton said.
