Bye, bye grocery bills

Ray Hunter is waving goodbye to his weekly grocery bill for 12 months thanks to a nationwide promotion to win free groceries for a year.

The 58-year-old west Auckland shopper is one of three major winners of the free grocery prize valued at $13,000.

Mr Hunter is ‘chuffed’ to win the food bounty and plans on helping out his sister who has three young children.

The winners’ names were drawn after they purchased one of Constellation’s Selaks, Kim Crawford, Banrock Station and The People’s Wine products from Countdown supermarkets during the festive season.

The other two are Titirangi’s Sheri Morgenstein and the Donaldson family from Wellington.

“It was a real surprise; I didn’t even realise I had entered the promotion so it was amazing to get the letter. I’ve been spending a fair bit of time at work lately so haven’t had much time to shop and cook for myself,” Mr Hunter said.

“It’s just me and my dog at home, so he’ll get a few treats. And my sister has young mouths to feed so I’ll be able to help her out a bit. Big thanks to Constellation and Countdown.”

Mr Hunter owns a busy engineering company and bought his favourite Kim Crawford wine using his Countdown Onecard at the LynnMall supermarket.

Constellation NZ CEO Joe Stanton says the company is thrilled to be able to say thank you to its customers for their support.

“At Constellation we love to give back to our loyal customers for their support of our great brands. It’s a pleasure to be able to reward the three major winners with a year’s supply of groceries from Countdown.”

Progressive Enterprises merchandise manager for liquor and beverages Steve Sexton says the Countdown team at LynnMall is looking forward to helping Ray and his sister enjoy the prize over the coming 12 months.

“It’s great to see the looks on the winners’ faces as they stride through the checkout. We are delighted to team with Constellation in bringing New Year joy to three Kiwi families,” Steve says.

The promotion ran for seven weeks during the festive season and included 50 runners-up prizes of $1,000 cash each.