Kaitahi's frozen smoothie drops come in three flavours.
Kaitahi's frozen smoothie drops come in three flavours.
South Taranaki iwi Ngā Rauru is now selling packs of its frozen smoothy drops through 27 Countdown supermarkets - and has new products under development.
Kaiwhakahaere/acting general manager Leonie Matoe said the venture had come a long way in a short time.
Despite being based in South Taranaki dairy farmingcountry, the iwi decided to work on plant-based foods.
"We wanted to be part of something that was innovative, that disrupted the system and challenged the future of food production in Aotearoa and South Taranaki," Matoe said.
The Kaitahi Native Superfood Company came out of a social enterprise programme that began in 2015. The first public tasting of the three types of smoothy drops it makes was in Whanganui in May last year.
At the moment the smoothy drops are manufactured for the company in Hastings, by Freeze Dried Foods. The ingredients include pūhā grown at Ngā Rauru's Kii Tahi Nursery in Pātea and kawakawa sourced from Tarapuruhi Bushy Park.
The drops are also sold in larger packs to restaurants and food providers. One is fast-food company BurgerFuel. Its Super Green Zing Smoothie contains Kaitahi drops made of spinach, pūhā, gold kiwifruit, banana, ginger, kawakawa, lemon, linseed, pumpkin seed and chia seed.
Leonie Matoe
Kaitahi also provided BurgerFuel with pūhā when it sold "electric pūhā" burgers earlier this year.
Production of the drops employs four or five casual workers. The products are stored at a Whanganui cool store, and distributed by trucking companies.
Matoe gave a presentation to Venture Taranaki this week, describing how its funding was used to develop new products. One supports healthy ageing, another is for recovery from high-intensity sport and the third is the addition of colour and protein to Kaitahi's most popular smoothy flavour - Super Green Zing.
In October she applied to the Provincial Growth Fund, seeking funding for a food innovation hub based in Waverley or Whanganui.
The Ngā Rauru paepae and directors have also invested in the venture. The next phase will be about growth and scale.
"We have only just gotten started. There's much more to do," Matoe said.
