The Green Party is campaigning on creating a new nationwide supermarket chain aimed at challenging New Zealand's grocery duopoly and bringing down food prices.
The proposed franchise, called KiwiMart, would aim to dismantle the current supermarket duopoly of Woolworths and Foodstuffs.
Under the party's plan, 120 KiwiMart stores would be established across New Zealand, supported by two distribution centres.
The Greens estimated acquiring the stores would cost $1.3 billion, while establishing the distribution centres would cost a further $1.5 billion — bringing the total investment to $2.8 billion.
Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said greater competition was needed to bring down grocery prices.
"Two companies control what almost everyone in this country eats, and they take about a million dollars a day in excess profit out of our shopping baskets. That is money that should be in people's pockets," she said.
"Our country produces enough food to feed 40 million people. There is no shortage of food in Aotearoa, but it's somehow becoming too expensive for too many New Zealanders," Swarbrick explained.
The policy formed part of the Greens' wider Affordable Kai policy, which included banning price gouging across the supermarket sector and spending $150 million a year on community-led food security initiatives and food grants.
The party had also pledged to permanently fund the Healthy School Lunches Programme and expand it to an additional 150,000 children.
Co-leader Marama Davidson said accessible and affordable food is critical for children and families.
"One in five children in this country live in a household that runs out of food. The Luxon Government's response was to cut what it spends on a child's lunch, hand the job to a handful of big companies, and destroy up to 2000 local jobs doing it.
"Half of those lunches now fail to meet nutrition standards. Children who miss meals are two to four years behind their classmates in maths, reading and science," she said.
National's approach to the school lunch programme faced scrutiny in 2025 and earlier this year after concerns were raised over the freshness of food, insufficient monitoring and supplier contracts and pricing.
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