Foodstuffs, officially Foodstuffs (NZ) Ltd is a group of two New Zealand grocery and liquor retailers' cooperatives based in the North Island and the South Island which collectively control an estimated 52% of the New Zealand grocery market.he household name Four Square emerged in the 1920s out of the Foodstuffs grocery buying co-operative. Foodstuffs’ founder, Mr J Heaton Barker, became concerned at the activities of the grocery chain stores of the day that were making life very difficult for independent grocers in Auckland.