Page 29 - IB April 2022

Cover Cover

not just for increased volumes. “Kava would make an excel- that we’re looking to target are men 18-35 and women 25-35.
lent test case for a new, broader model of more sustainable It’s a young audience compared to most medicinal products…
development,” he suggests. Normally you’re waiting for somebody to get arthritis or be
ill to need to have a product, but… sleep disturbance and
The new kava consumer anxiety affect younger people.”
Kava bars are popular across the Pacific Islands (see p24)
and have grown in the United States (although COVID has What’s next?
closed some ventures), and the sector believes there is great At the launch of the pilot, Australia’s Minister for Health
potential for similar businesses in Australia and New Zealand. and Aged Care, Greg Hunt, said the trial will be strictly
Todd Henry owns Four Shells Kava Lounge in Auckland. He monitored: “The Morrison Government will undertake robust
started the business after being introduced to kava through monitoring and evaluation of the pilot, working closely with
his Tongan wife, ‘Anau Mesui Henry, and noticing interest state and territories, recognising their regulatory role in the
in the beverage amongst friends. He sources kava through domestic supply and use of kava.”
New Zealand importer, The Kava Society, as well as directly Tanuvasa Semy Mauga Siakimotu, Biosecurity and Environ-
importing kava from Fiji and Tonga. mental Safeguard Advisor with PHAMA Plus stresses, “getting
Henry says their customers drink kava for “wellbeing and access is only part of the equation. Maintaining access to
building community and things like that. And it’s an alterna- those markets is very important.”
tive to alcohol”. He suggests it’s time for Pacific producers to step up.
Four Shells is driven more by quality than price. “It’s almost “[For] kava and many of our products, we have continued to
like you can compare it to the way people shop for gourmet focus on participating in those value chains in the same way
coffee. They want the best and they don’t want to compro- we have done in previous years, 10, 20, 30, 40 years.
mise,” he told a recent webinar. “What’s different to what we used to do years ago?
“We’re creating new kava drinkers just from being visible “We still grow kava, we harvest kava, we pound kava, we
and from being accessible and providing that element of edu- put it in a bag and we send it off. And we expect the market
cation around kava,” he continues. “What we find with your to buy it. If kava was being exported by another country from
average New Zealander who’s not of Pacific Islands origin, is outside the region, they would have their labelling down pat.
there a lot of misconception around kava, the most common While there are legal and biosecurity requirements around
ones being kava has alcohol, kava is a hallucinogen, that it is getting packaging right, there are also marketing benefits to
a very powerful, addictive drug, and then on the other end doing it well.
of the spectrum, you have people who say kava does nothing, “More and more consumers of our products are asking ques-
tastes like muddy water. tions around how was this made? How was it grown? Was it
“So just being there to answer people’s questions and they organic and so forth?” Siakimotu says. “If there is a label that
can come and experience it, have us give them the proper represents compliance with a quality standard, that encap-
guidance on things, it’s really good.” sulates food safety as a standard … I think that would help to
Henry believes the key is to present kava in an accurate, develop confidence in the marketplace of the products.
authentic way. Four Shells Kava Lounge does not flavour kava, “Kava as a product hasn’t had a good journey you know,
mix it with alcohol, present it as a legal high or as a “party we’ve had the ban that was imposed by the EU in early 2000.
thing”, he says. That gave kava a bad image and we’re trying to bring that
“We are benefiting farmers just by growing the market here back now to a place where they appreciate kava for what it
in New Zealand in a way that I think is it’s not gimmicky, it’s is. And it’s a safe product. There’s been a lot of research to
not creating kava to be a fad, but representing it in a way support that. And so, to actually then, influence the consumer
that kind of everybody can sort of understand.” in their consideration of product safety and how it was grown,
Fiji Kava is targeting a similar demographic, but with differ- those standards are important. The challenge is standards by
ent products in looking at the lucrative and growing market themselves are just guides and there needs to be leadership
for complementary and alternative medicines. and ownership, and there needs to be commitment to enforc-
Fiji Kava’s powder and nutraceuticals products are stocked ing and implementing those standards.”
in Australia’s Coles supermarket and Chemist Warehouse
chains. However CEO, Dr Noble, says awareness and ac- Additional reporting by Dionisia Tabureguci
ceptance of kava in the Australian market is very low - their
research about two years ago found just 16-18% of respon- For further reporting on kava, visit www.islandsbusiness.com
dents had a positive view about kava and were willing to try
it. Dr Noble says they have tried to address this by focusing on editor@islandsbusiness.com
the medicinal benefits of kava, “in enhancing sleep, muscle
relaxation, sports recovery, as well as the anti anxiety and
relaxing effects”.
He believes their marketing investment is “starting to move
the needle a little bit. So the core consumer demographics

Islands Business, April 2022 29