The Paul L’Amie Story
A New Zealand family business built on goodwill, good people and exceptional ingenuity.
On a practical level Bon Accord’s passion for product development and excellent business practices are the obvious reasons behind our worldwide success. However, the deeper reason lies in the philosophy of genuine goodwill that is behind the name Bon Accord. What was once the philosophy of our founder Paul L’Amie, is now what motivates our whole team. It means, with genuine goodwill, everyone at Bon Accord does more than they need to really deliver the best. This approach sits at the core of ALL our relationships with businesses we partner with.
As Paul says, “It’s about great experiences. Behind everything we do is the constant desire to absolutely delight our partners and their customers. We are focused on every detail …. always making sure it is easy to do business with us.”
We are 100% NZ owned and managed – and all our products are made here in New Zealand.
Paul L’Amie: Owner and Managing Director
Paul left his early career in banking and finance in Auckland and London to work in an area that better suited his natural interests - the Food industry. After working as Marketing Manager for Top Hat, a premium smallgoods company, he established Excelcorp Distributors who manufactured extenders for the food industry. After the sale of Excelcorp to George Weston Foods in 2001 Paul’s focus shifted to the rapidly expanding café industry.
How it began: a whiff of good coffee and a great idea.
Coffee roasters were proliferating and new cafés with espresso machines were replacing the last of the traditional coffee lounges. Paul recognised that cafés would soon be looking for innovative beverage solutions beyond coffee. Bon Accord was born, and product development commenced.
Quality is our first ingredient.
Throughout the product development process, quality is always the first ingredient. From the start Paul researched and sourced the world’s finest raw materials. Cocoa from West Africa and processed in Holland, France and Belgium - and New Zealand milk powder, fruits and many other premium ingredients from the world’s best suppliers. Paul still vividly recalls standing over a 20L bucket with food grade gloves up to his elbows, ready to hand mix the first Bon Accord Belgian Style Drinking Chocolate blend. Belgian Style is now used by most of New Zealand’s leading cafés and is exported throughout the world. The creation of the Iced Frappe range made with New Zealand milk powders was another early success. This ‘just add water and ice’ formulation is now widely used in cafés,bars & restaurants, resorts and across all foodservice platforms internationally.
The innovation continues.
Bon Accord has gone on to develop a comprehensive range of real fruit pulps, iced tea concentrates, chai’s, vending products, and powder solutions to fulfill the entire beverage requirements of hospitality venues worldwide. All Bon Accord products are characterised by premium quality, operational simplicity, easy staff training and portion control systems, and fantastic margins. Our products have excellent shelf life and only require ambient distribution and storage.
Continual Improvement.
Bon Accord now have a purpose-built export dairy manufacturing plant in Auckland which commenced export operations in 2015. The facility and equipment are state of the art and is comprised of two blending and packing lines within an air-conditioned, positive pressure, dehumidified critical hygiene area. Bon Accord operates under a NZ Government audited Risk Management Plan (RMP) and ISO22000 accreditation.
With our Innovations Team, Paul takes a keen hands-on interest in product development and our Continual Improvement program.
“We are proud of the products we develop. It is very satisfying to see that they stack up with the best in the world.” - Paul L’Amie. Owner & Managing Director.