Tom Ah Chee

Thomas Henry Ah Chee (4 January 1928 – 18 March 2000) was a New Zealand businessman, who established the Foodtown supermarket chain and the Georgie Pie fast-food restaurant franchise.

Born in Auckland to Chinese parents, he spent most of his early years in China before his father moved the Chee family back to New Zealand following the Japanese occupation of Canton. He took over the family's produce shop in 1951 and before long, recognised the potential for the introduction of American-style supermarkets in New Zealand. In 1958, Chee and two business partners opened the first Foodtown supermarket at Ōtāhuhu. This soon led to more Foodtown supermarkets being opened across Auckland, owned by Progressive Enterprises, a holding company established by Chee, his business partners and investor Brian Picot. Wanting to diversify their business interests, Chee and Picot formed the Georgie Pie fast food restaurant chain, opening the first store in 1977; four more followed in the next five years. Chee retired in 1982, having given up the running of the supermarket business a couple of years earlier. He died of liver cancer at the age of 72 in Auckland.

Early life Ah Chee was born on 4 January 1928 in Remuera, Auckland, New Zealand, the second child of Clement Calliope Ah Chee, a New Zealand-born Chinese, and his wife May Yuk Doo. His father was a grocer, working in the family business established by Chan Dah Chee, Tom's grandfather, who had emigrated to New Zealand in 1867. The original family name was Chan, but his grandfather's misspelled first name, Ah Chee, was made his legal surname upon his immigration. The business, Ah Chee and Company, was the largest trading company of its kind in the early 1920s but collapsed in 1931 due to the Great Depression. Clement Ah Chee took his family to China, where the children were educated. In 1939, the Ah Chees returned to New Zealand, following the Japanese occupation of Canton.

The Ah Chees opened a produce store in Newmarket, on Broadway, its main thoroughfare, with a second store on Great South Road. Tom Ah Chee resumed his education, despite not initially speaking English. He went to Remuera Primary School and, soon gaining proficiency in the language, then went onto Seddon Memorial Technical College, where he studied industrial science and bookkeeping. While studying he also worked at the family store. In 1951, following the death of his father, Ah Chee took over the business. This entailed him abandoning his tertiary studies; he was studying architecture at Auckland University College at the time. Ah Chee's wife, Molly Ah Chee, died in 2025.

After Ah Chee departed the company, Foodtown and Georgie Pie continued expand over the next few years. Georgie Pie, having a network of 32 restaurants at its maximum, encountered financial difficulties in the 1990s and was sold in 1996 to McDonalds. It ceased operations two years later. Foodtown had over 30 supermarkets by 2008 but the brand's identity was lost in 2009 when Progressive Enterprises rebranded their stores as Countdown supermarkets.