Inside Four Square: How to become a supermarket owner – 10 grocers tell their stories

Like Brent Prue, who was 15 when he started stacking supermarket shelves on weekends. Today, he and his wife Nicola own Pak’nSave Invercargill, after several years owning a Four Square in South Dunedin.

“If you’d asked 15‑year‑old Brent what he’d be doing in 30 years, and said I’d own a supermarket, I probably would have laughed – at the start it was survival,” he says.

“As I did management and executive development, and started seeing the framework for ownership, that’s when I thought, ‘this could actually become real’.

“We’d sold everything to get into it, and in four and a half years, we moved seven times as rentals kept selling, and that was hard with two young kids.

“There was a time where I’d finish work at five or six, meet Nic on the footpath, she’d lock the shop, and I’d put the kids to bed – we’d tag in and out.”

Alex Gage‑Brown spent 12 years on the other side of the counter, working in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) start‑ups and selling into supermarkets before she ever considered owning one herself.

But after two years working in a store and three months on one of the first Four Square ownership immersion programmes, working closely with an owner operator, she bought Four Square Onehunga.

“Owning a store is full on – it’s seven days a week, 364 days a year – so it’s definitely a juggle, and you’re always thinking about the business,” Gage-Brown says.

In coastal Waikato, Satnam Bains reflects on his path to ownership, which led to him and his wife Harshi buying Four Square Raglan.

“My parents have owned convenience stores around South Auckland, so retail’s been in the blood from a very young age. The family business was like our playground. As soon as we were old enough to stand behind the counter, we were made to work – before school, after school, closing at night.

“With the help of my parents and family, I bought the Four Square Raglan in 2016. I was 23 – the same year I got married, started the business and relocated.”

Supermarket ownership requires hefty personal sacrifices, but as a 2022 Herald feature on 25 of the top Foodstuffs store owners proves, it can be a path to wealth like few others.

And with that comes scrutiny, particularly in times of inflation, high food prices and the cost-of-living pressure on families.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said his party will campaign on ending the supermarket duopoly, with Foodstuffs and rival Woolworths controlling 80% of the market, by “breaking their stranglehold, backing Kiwi suppliers, and delivering fairer prices at the checkout for Kiwi families”.

“NZ First will introduce legislation to reform the system and break up Foodstuffs into two nationwide co-operatives based on brand: one for New World and Four Square, and another for Pak’nSave – putting both in direct competition with Woolworths New Zealand,“ Peters said.

The election campaign follows a Commerce Commission’s investigation that found competition in the $22 billion sector was not working well for New Zealanders and calculated the industry was making excess profits of about $1 million a day.

Foodstuffs disputes this, arguing its return on capital is about the same as supermarkets around the world.

Foodstuffs, which describes its model as a co-operative, has been attempting to merge its North Island and South Island operations and is currently appealing a Commerce Commission decision blocking the proposed tie-up.

At the Four Square store level, the owner-operators are equally defensive of their market position. All four whom the Herald talked to acknowledged the strain families are under. And they are conscious of the perception that supermarkets are part of the problem.

Bains pushes back with numbers. For every dollar spent in his store, he says, about 3.6 cents remains as net profit after tax. Insurance costs that were $5000 a year when he bought the store have multiplied several times over. Energy, labour, compliance and security costs keep rising.

“People think supermarkets make too much money,” he says. “That’s not really the reality.”

Cunliffe talks about controlling what she can, such as promotions on essentials, even if it means a thinner margin. “We try to fight the cost of living where we can,” she says. “Even when a lot of it is out of our control.”

Gage-Brown points to the co-operative’s scale and buying power that allows better supplier negotiations – while still recognising that local decisions matter. “If it’s a smaller supplier, we talk,” she says. “We try to land on a price that’s fair for the customer.”

On competition, their view is admittedly from a smaller scale than the big Pak’nSave stores.

In Onehunga, Gage-Brown says she is surrounded by larger supermarkets, butcher shops, fruit stores and ethnic grocers.

In Raglan, Bains competes not just with a Woolworths supermarket, but bakeries, fish shops, and even his own co-operative’s New World deliveries.

They also highlight the personal sacrifices they have made to get where they are now and the time and money they have invested.

Gage-Brown took the plunge during Covid, after the skincare company she worked for was sold. Coffee catch‑ups with New World operators turned into two years working in Four Square stores, “learning everything from the ground up”. She loved the pace, the unpredictability, the closeness to customers. “The more I learned, the more obsessed I became,” she says. “It showed me this was something I wanted to pursue.”

During Covid, Bains missed the birth of his daughter, stuck in New Zealand while his wife was in Australia. The store stayed open as an essential service, but 11 months passed before he could reunite with his family.

“It’s rewarding,” he says. “But it comes with sacrifices.”

Ask any of them what a “normal” day looks like, and they laugh.

“There’s no such thing,” Brent Prue says.

Despite the pressure, none of them sounds like they’re looking for the exit.

Cunliffe once set herself a goal of owning a Pak’nSave by 40. Since moving to the regions, her ambitions have shifted a little.

“I’m happy,” she says. “But you’ll probably see me somewhere else soon.”

Time as an owner-operator: Almost 3 years

Time in grocery: 17 years (five years as a grocer, 12 years as a supplier)

Size of team: 14

Alex Gage-Brown spent 12 years in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) working closely with Foodstuffs retailers. She was involved in developing and leading start-up brands, including as general manager of a locally made natural skincare company. After the skincare business was sold during Covid, she did her first stint at a New World store, leading to an obsession with the grocery trade. She chose Four Square, investing more than two years in learning grocery operations, followed by a three-month ownership immersion programme.

Time as an owner-operator: 6 years

Time in grocery: 13 years in FMCG

Size of team: 60

Sharlene Foote grew up around building sites in the Far North, while her husband Ben comes from a forestry background. She gained experience in grocery while working in FMCG roles in Sydney, spending more than a decade on the supplier side, dealing with major retailers. Foote eventually bought Four Square Mangōnui with the co‑op’s backing, despite early bank refusals. “We sacrificed a lot to turn the business around, then went on to buy Four Square Coopers Beach.”

Time as an owner-operator: 3 years

Size of team: 18

Jayde Cunliffe’s path to store ownership began at New World Browns Bay, where she completed a bakery apprenticeship, and progressed through multiple leadership roles. In 2022, she became owner-operator of Four Square Ōakura, making the move from Auckland to Taranaki. “It felt like a game of blackjack – I was all in. I sold my Auckland property, sold my car, sold up completely and put everything into the store,” she said.

Time as an owner-operator: 9 years

Time in grocery: Since I was tall enough to stand behind the counter

Size of team: 45

Satnam Bains grew up working in his parents’ South Auckland dairies and knew early on he wanted to be his own boss. After studying accounting and training at several Four Square stores, he bought Four Square Raglan in 2016, aged just 23, with family support. The journey has involved real sacrifices, including break-ins, operational pressures and being separated from his family for 11 months during Covid. Bains’ Supermarket is a longstanding supporter of Raglan, sponsoring local sports teams and providing food and supplies for schools and community organisations. He was awarded the “Community Hero of the Year” at the 2024 Charlies Awards.

Time as an owner-operator: 8 months

Time in grocery: 12 years

Size of team: 7

Courtney Hewson’s path began while studying at the University of Otago, with a part-time role at the local New World. Progressing through duty manager, grocery buyer and store manager roles – alongside full-time postgraduate study and overseas sporting work – she became determined to own a supermarket. After managing Wakefield Four Square in Nelson, Courtney and her partner bought Four Square Newfield in August 2025. “I’m in the store working every day – trying to build a business that the locals know and love."

Time as an owner-operator: 8 months

Time in grocery: 6.5 years

Size of team: 24

Morgan Thompson began his grocery career during the first Covid‑19 lockdown in 2020 while finishing university. He started as an online shopping assistant at New World Newtown before progressing to produce manager. Thompson then moved south to become store manager at Four Square Queenstown, spending 3.5 years developing leadership skills and preparing for ownership. Approved as a Four Square owner-operator in April 2025, he purchased Four Square Maniototo in August. Retail runs deep in his family. His great‑great‑grandfather and his two brothers founded Wardell Bros & Co, one of New Zealand’s earliest supermarket chains, opening stores in Dunedin, Christchurch and Wellington in the late 1800s.

Time as an owner-operator: 2.5 years

Time in grocery: 22 years

Size of team: 55 employees

Nicola Hallett’s career spans more than 22 years in the grocery and FMCG sector, shaped by early supermarket work and leadership roles across New Zealand, Britain and Australasia. Her journey culminated in October 2023 when she became owner‑operator of New World Whitby, where she leads a team of 55 staff. “I’ll always remember October 16th – the day I was handed the keys.“ A Women in Retail award recipient, she is committed to mentoring future female leaders and measuring success by community impact.

Time as an owner-operator: 10 years

Time in grocery: 23 years

Size of team: 200

Grocery retailing runs deep in Brookes Stewart’s family – his mother was a produce manager and his father a butchery manager. “When I left school, I didn’t really have any direction or goals in life. Mum convinced me (forced me) to apply for a produce assistant’s job at my local Green Bay New World. I started there and worked my way around the shop, learning all the departments, as you do in a small store.” He continued to work across multiple stores and departments throughout the upper North Island, before purchasing New World Wairoa in 2015 and later Pak’nSave Gisborne in 2022.

Time as an owner-operator: 10

Time in grocery: 30 years

Size of team: 250

Brent Prue began his grocery career at Pak’nSave Timaru at just 15, initially working weekends part-time before going full-time at 16, due to family circumstances. “I loved the pace, the challenges, the people, staff, suppliers, and customers,” he recalls. Prue embarked on store ownership alongside his wife Nicola, navigating major life changes along the way, including starting a family. After owning stores in the lower South Island and the West Coast – through lockdowns, staffing challenges and refurbishments – the Prues now own Pak’nSave Invercargill. “We’d sold everything to get into it, and in four and a half years we moved seven times ... and that was hard with two young kids.”

Years as an owner-operator: 1

Time in grocery: 14 years

Size of team: 150

Pomana Marsh began his Foodstuffs journey in 2011 as a seasonal pick-packer at what was then Toops Palmerston North. After the transition to owner‑operated Gilmours Central in 2015, he progressed through a range of operational and leadership roles, spanning fresh, frozen and chilled foods, customer operations, transport and logistics. He led major system changes and customer integration before Covid, and later oversaw a large transport fleet and regional cross‑dock operations. By 2022, Marsh was managing all store operations and strategy, and in 2025 became the owner of Gilmours Central.

Duncan Bridgeman is the managing editor of NZME Business News, overseeing the Business Herald and BusinessDesk.