Kiwi companies to look out for

By Natasha Parrant

Six Barrel Soda

Six Barrel Soda was created by friends Joe Slater and Mike Stewart. They always discussed business ideas and after a lot of experimenting, they eventually learned how to make flavourful syrups for cocktails, mocktails, and sodas at their Newtown, Wellington dive bar. Their concoctions are made with real ingredients like New Zealand citrus, organic ginger, central Otago cherries, and fair-trade organic cane sugar. These syrups don’t have preservatives, artificial sweeteners, colours, flavours, and contain about 30 percent less sugar than other sodas, so, healthier than most sodas. Co-founder Joe says the business just celebrated 10 years in May, marking a decade of accomplishments like creating small-batch, real fruit, low sugar drink syrups, over 120 unique and yummy flavours such as kiwifruit and kimchi, collaborations with partners from local producers to the world’s biggest whiskey company, playing a big part in Wellington’s varied range of great cuisine and drink scene, replacing plastic bottles (their drinks have replaced about 5,000,000 330ml bottles or over 1,000,000 1.5L bottles), supporting people internationally, and influencing others to make delicious drinks at home, he says.

Real Rad Food

Real Rad Food is a business all about making rad food with real ingredients for everyone to enjoy. Owner and founder Hannah Mellsop’s business is based out of Papamoa. The business has been around for five years and operates in a health and wellness space selling various products like supplements, slices, and bliss ball mixes that can be found in many New Worlds. Most of their business is handled online and most of their loyal followers on social media love and support their business a lot, she says. “The journey has been full of ups and downs, but we have grown year on year without the need for any investment or debt - something we are really proud of! “We started out as a market stall and grew to supply many cafes and ship to people’s homes. “Covid threw a bit of a curve ball at us but we were able to diversify our range and show up on supermarket shelves very quickly after the first 2020 lockdown. Our audience is our greatest asset and has been the reason why we are still here today.”

J Friend & Co

J Friend and Co was established to give back life to honey and honour the artisan beekeepers. Sharyn Woodnorth and Jeremy Friend have been working in their family business in Christchurch since 2008. “Our motivation then and now continues to be about always producing pure raw single varietal honey ethically and sustainably. “Every aspect of our small-scale honey business from harvesting, processing, using traditional methods and packing by hand guarantees the natural goodness, unique flavor, colour, and texture of our honey. “We are very proud of our carbon neutral status; our honey has been carbon neutral since the outset and we were the first honey in the world to achieve certification. “The majority of our honey is packed in glass. From 2023 we will be 100 percent plastic-free and all our honey will be packed in glass - glass is better for the honey and better for the planet,” Sharyn says. The team has been focusing more on their online business to improve their presence on social media and online sales. They can’t wait for new exciting products to come and the reopening of the border, she says.

Real Rad Food owner and founder (left) Hannah Mellsop and operations manager Kelsi McKain (right).

Anihana

Anihana is a family-owned and operated business founded by Sophie Cooper in 2016. Anihana means Anderson in Maori, which was chosen to honour Sophie’s daughter, Beau Anihana Cooper, and her late grandmother. The team handcrafts sustainable, safe, fun, and affordable body and hair care. The team feels fortunate to be where they are today. “Everyone has worked so hard to get where we are so being able to see anihana products on shelves in New Zealand, Australia and the US is really a pinch-me moment for all of us! “Even though I had the crazy idea to buy a soap business when I was pregnant, we wouldn’t be where we are today without the whole team, which includes my husband Aden. “As a family, it feels amazing to represent the anihana name as it’s a very special name to us. It makes us very proud,” Sophie says. A lot has happened over the last six years with having two babies, a huge rebrand, and a growing team, she says. “I hope my kids grow up knowing they were the reason we work so hard.”