The McCallum’s involvement with oysters goes back to 1892, when the family came ashore at Pakihi Island, South of Waiheke. The Hauraki Gulf was their playground, where they lived off oysters, mussels, and snapper. They were always able to pick high quality oysters off the rocks. Their involvement in picking oysters and dredging mussels supported them through the Great Depression.
Callum alongside his Father John, and two Uncles, Robbie and Bill, saw the potential for aquaculture in these clear waters of New Zealand’s Hauraki gulf. Callum had an agricultural degree and learnt more about marine farming whilst overseas. With the family owning the suitable coastal property, they had the perfect location on their doorstep for oyster farming.
Clevedon Coast Oysters® begun their journey with a small number of farmers, including our longest serving staff member, Shirley Mclean (known as Granny), who began in 1986 and is still a valuable member of our team today.
Today Clevedon Coast Oysters® is New Zealand’s fourth biggest oyster farming operation. The company markets around 20 percent of its oyster volumes through its busy retail shop, located at the Clevedon farm. Our products can also be found in Restaurants, cafés and local supermarkets. Today the brand can be found all over the world, including Japan, Australia, the Pacific Islands, Hong Kong and China. Our oysters have been processed in NZ Food Safety Authority audited premises approved for export to Japan, USA, EU and the rest of the world. We are also organically certified under AsureQuality and involved in the A+ programme set out by Aquaculture NZ.
Clevedon Coast Oysters forms part of the wider McCallum Group of Companies, which includes The McCallum Residence and McCallum Bros Limited.
Our mission is, to produce New Zealand’s best oysters, naturally grown, naturally delicious. “We’re not bluffing”!