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Success
Story - Riverside Industrial Park Ashburton
When I lived in Ashburton over 30 years ago the rubbish
dump was on the North side of the Ashburton river. It is still on the
North side of the river but with lots of positive changes. What was
once the rubbish dump is now an Industrial Park with many fine looking
commercial buildings housing many successful businesses. I have recently
been spending some time talking to business people in the Park and
many have invited me to go behind the scenes and take a closer look
at what they do. These are some of the tenants in the Industrial Park
who shared with me the story of what they do.
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The first place any working man would want to visit is the Food Bar.
When I walked into this very clean looking food bar I was met by 2
smiling familiar faces. They are Neil & Margaret Chapman who are the
owners of the Riverside Food Bar. I recognised Neil and Margaret because
they once owned the Morgans Road 4 square store in Timaru which is
just down the road from where I now live. They have been in the food
business for a number of years and have owned the riverside food bar
for the last 5 years. There is plenty of tasty food on offer and much
of it is home baked. They have these huge sausages which they call “O
my God sausages” and they even stuff some of them. Sausage Rolls, Fish & Chips,
Wedges, Salad Wraps, Drinks, Ice Creams, Robert Harris coffee plus
many more goodies to choose from. They open at 6 am and close at 3.30
p.m. The food bar is very popular with truckies and even the workers
from other parts of Ashburton travel to the Park to sample the delicious
food. Call and see happy team at the Riverside Food Bar and tell them
Ron recommended the food.
Marese, Tina and Margaret pose for the camera while sunning themselves
on their outdoor dining table |
 They say it is a small world. I first met this man when he was a young
lad. He was friends with our son Gus when we lived in Tinwald. Robert
Tonks is his name but he got the nickname of Honk because he was always
doing something with cars. He learnt his engineering trade with Horrels
Engineering in Victoria Street. Every 2 years he is required to pass
a test for welding. He started his own engineering business in Tinwald
in Feb 1993. He made all the steel framing for the building he is now
in at Riverside. Honk is a man that can tackle most engineering jobs.
Some of the jobs that were on the go when I was there were. Mini skip
bins, a Camper Van Conversion, Auger for a Header, Towbars of all sizes.
Dart Engineering clients are Contactors, Trucking companies, farmers
and the general public. Honk has a passion for American Cars and he
has many of them and they need to have a trailer. He makes his own
trailers but ever time he gets one made someone comes along and buys
it. When it comes to an engineering job Honk is your man.
Robert Tonks also known as Honk working on another of the many trailers
he has built during his career as an engineer. |
When I walked into the offices of Smitheram & Frew Housing Company
the man with the grin was someone I had not seen since he was scoring
tries on the wing for Mid Canterbury. Geoff Frew was another one of
our neighbours and family friends in Tinwald when our children were
growing up. Eight years ago Geoff went into business with John Smitheram.
Geoff was a qualified Builder and John was a qualified Joiner so each
had something to contribute to the business. Wanting to provide the
best quality of service they decided to employ all their own staff
and they have employed up to 17 staff at one time.
They personally guarantee all their work and as members of Certified
Builders New Zealand they are able to offer a 10 year guarantee. As well
as building new houses they do alterations and renovations and have travelled
as far as Central Otago in the south and North Canterbury in the north.
The company also does subcontracting work for long established
Geoff Frew and John Smitheram standing with their work vehicles in front
of their office and factory in the Ashburton Riverside Industrial Park. |
