Nicholas Harlow

Nicholas Harlow is a Christchurch-born entrepreneur and co-founder and chief executive of Berkano Foods, New Zealand’s first 100% vegan-owned-and-operated food manufacturer and the country’s largest plant-based ready meal producer.

Harlow’s path to food entrepreneurship was unconventional. He studied audio engineering at the Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand before working as a warehouse manager. When he adopted a plant-based diet, he and co-founder Britteny Bryan found the convenient options lacking and decided to fill the gap themselves.

Founded in 2017 with roughly $30,000 in savings, Berkano’s early days were testing. The pair were rejected by five banks and spent eight months living in a windowless storage unit on a mattress on a concrete floor before the business gained traction. The company name comes from an ancient Germanic rune meaning “Birch Goddess,” representing growth, rebirth and renewal.

Berkano grew into a purpose-built manufacturing facility in Belfast, north of Christchurch, the only wholly vegan factory in New Zealand, with no meat or dairy ever on the premises. The company produces frozen meals including mac and cheese, butter chicken curry and Thai green curry, alongside the Harmless Food Co brand made exclusively for Countdown supermarkets. Berkano later launched New Zealand’s first plant-based beef, lamb and pork range, with roughly 90% of ingredients sourced locally.

Both Harlow and Bryan were named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia-Pacific list in 2020 and the business won a Westpac Champion Business Award for manufacturing in 2019.

Harlow’s profile is noteworthy because he built a manufacturing business from nothing — no food industry background, no capital safety net and no formal business training. Berkano is a Christchurch bootstrapping story that turned conviction about how people should be able to eat into a national brand.

Sources: NZ Herald · The Vegan Review · NZ Entrepreneur