The Lost Larder: Celebrating New...

A Country Calendar episode about a New Zealand eel fisher exporting most of their eel inspired Millie McFadzien to found The Lost Larder, a business focused on reviving interest in forgotten foods of New Zealand.

Millie McFadzien is not your regular business owner, she’s 18 and currently in her final year of high school at St Peter’s College in Gore. Millie developed her business idea as part of the Young Enterprise Scheme, a nationwide entrepreneur competition for year 12 and 13 students.

As part of the scheme, students are tasked with starting up and running their own business. They compete in four challenges like pitching their idea to judges and sharing their marketing and sales plan throughout the school year. Reiventing the eel

The Lost Larder’s first product uses wild New Zealand eel as the main ingredient. “Eel used to be quite well eaten in New Zealand, but now people hear eel and go ‘gross, it’s like a slug’,” says Mille.

Wanting to reinvent the out of favour eel, Millie got in contact with an eel fisher to gauge their interest in the project and worked with a local chef to develop a product featuring eel. “I got in contact with Calvin Claridge from South Fish and a chef in Southland, Ethan Flack, and then the idea of paté came up. It tasted really good! And then it started getting quite exciting,” says Millie.

Getting retail ready

With the product born, it was time to work on getting the product ready for distribution. Millie worked with food production sites and labs to make sure the product meets food safety standards, and sorted retail ready packaging and branding.

GS1 New Zealand sponsored Millie with two free barcode numbers and graphics plus an online training session to get her started.

“I'm very grateful for you guys. I had no idea what to do. As soon as I found GS1, it was good because you helped me with what to do,” says Millie.

An early success

Millie’s business is off to a great start, winning regional awards in Southland for Sales and Marketing, Primary Industries, Entrepreneur of the Year and Southland Company of the Year. The Lost Larder was also judged 5th in the final nationwide Young Enterprise Scheme 2025 assessment.

A particular highlight for Millie was having The Lost Larder’s eel paté served at Government House during Matariki celebrations. Millie has already gained two first place prizes in the 2026 Young Enterprise Scheme. The team at GS1 NZ wish Millie and The Lost Larder all the best!