Who we are
Milligans Food Group is a family-owned New Zealand manufacturer of food, ingredients, and animal nutrition products. We're based in coastal Oamaru, on the East Coast of the South Island, and we've been here since 1896.
From Ngapara flour mill to multi-category manufacturer.
Milligans began life in 1896 as a flour mill in Ngapara, 20km west of Oamaru. For more than a hundred years, Milligans Eclipse Flour was a dominant brand in the New Zealand market.
The story changed in 1988. The deregulation of the New Zealand Wheat Board, combined with a shifting market and competing imported product, made the milling business only marginally viable. The company needed to evolve.
In 1990, Bruce Paton took over the management and control of Milligan's Eclipse Flour Company and the Ngapara Flour Mill Co-op. Two years later, Milligans Food Group Ltd was established under his ownership, bringing Milligan's Eclipse Flour together with Milligans Feeds Ltd.
The 1990s brought a New Zealand dairy boom. Milligans added milk powder blending, cheese cutting, wrapping and grating, calf milk replacer blending, and dry storage across Oamaru.
International expansion followed through Prospect US Inc, Milligans Foods Australia, and Eclipse-branded dairy products shipping into Asia. Granny Fayes joined the group in 2004 and Frosty Boy in 2007.
Flour milling ceased in 2016, but the mill remains intact. Since then Milligans has added blending and bulk storage, a food powder blending facility, and a purpose-built Auckland operation with cheese cutting and wrapping production.
Today, Bruce's son Joseph Paton serves as Managing Director, continuing the family's day-to-day involvement in the business.
More than a century of change.
Family-owned and actively led.
Milligans Food Group has been owned and operated by the Paton family for more than 35 years. The family remains actively involved in the business day-to-day, alongside a senior leadership team across operations, quality, finance, and sales.
Leadership team names, titles, photos, and short bios are to be supplied.
Local support and national causes.
Milligans supports local schools, sports clubs, and community groups across Oamaru and the wider Waitaki region, alongside national causes including Camp Quality, Riding for the Disabled, IHC New Zealand, and long-standing sponsorship of the Highlanders rugby team.
See Milligans up close.
The best way to see Milligans up close is to drop into our cafe and store on Chelmer Street, Oamaru. Coffee, food, Frosty Boy soft serve - and the heritage building speaks for itself.