Spreading success

An innovative butter substitute, born in Pukehina, is whipping up global demand.

words KIRSTEN MATTHEW

There aren’t many places on the planet that Craig Brown hasn’t seen nor many jobs he hasn’t tried. Mechanic, real estate agent, tech entrepreneur and now butter impresario, he has an affinity for jumping in at the deep end.

“Kicking doors down and climbing the mountain is challenging and stimulating,” Brown says. “I like swinging the bat.” His latest venture, Herbivore plant-based butter – a business he runs from his rural home in Pukehina – is his most recent challenge. He started it four years ago with no experience in food production or FMCG.

Raised in the Waikato, Brown left school and trained as a diesel mechanic. At 22, real estate beckoned and in his first year in the business Brown broke sales records for Harcourts.

“It was natural to me,” says Brown of real estate. “In that business, you are sharing really good, life-changing events with your clients and the energy was contagious. I loved that the harder you worked, the better you did.”

After two years Brown took a break, bought a ’67 Dodge and drove across the USA for kicks. He returned to Harcourts for a few years before embarking on another epic trip, hitchhiking overland from New Zealand to the Arctic Circle. The adventure took four years and saw Brown traverse Australia, Nepal, India, Pakistan, the Middle East, and travel south from Cairo to Capetown. When he returned, Brown joined AutoTV, a local show that promoted cars for sale on terrestrial television.

He bought AutoTV in 2009, in the midst of the global financial crisis. As sales got harder, he knew the brand had to adapt, so he took software invented by an acquaintance and morphed it into AutoPlay, an online platform that helps dealers and automakers to sell cars. Brands like Toyota and Kia signed on, and soon Brown was working with 80 percent of the franchise dealerships selling cars in New Zealand. AutoPlay launched in Australia in 2017 and was acquired by a firm in the United Kingdom the following year.

Brown moved to England to run the business for the new owners for a few years, and when he and his wife and family moved back to the Bay of Plenty, he knew he wanted to start something new.

“As individuals, we can control only what we eat, wear and how we get around, and when it comes to sustainability and the environment, we need to be doing whatever we can as individuals,” says Brown, who was determined to create an environmentally friendly product.

He investigated buying disused buildings and starting a business growing pea protein, but then learnt about coconut butter; that it produces a quarter of the emissions of bovine butter, and coconut trees remove carbon from the atmosphere.

“I’m not into telling people what to do, or saying that they have to be vegan for the planet,” says the confirmed carnivore. “But we need more food choices that are better for the planet. It’s about creating a product that adds value and I’m really proud that we are 100 percent plant-based.”

Brown found a farm in the Philippines where Herbivore’s coconuts are sourced and worked with the farmers to create the perfect butter, made from 67 percent coconut oil, water, sunflower oil, coconut milk powder and sea salt.

In the early days, there were no retail blocks — now Herbivore can be found in all good supermarkets in the butter aisle — just commercial-sized sheets for cafés, restaurants and bakeries. When Tart Bakery in Auckland won best vegan pie in the country with pastry made with Herbivore, Brown knew the business had legs. Just 10 weeks after diversifying into retail butter, Herbivore won the Foodstuffs Emerge award for new products. Partners soon came on board to help Brown with the business.

He’s still travelling the world, introducing food purveyors, bakers and chefs to Herbivore. It’s exported to Hong Kong and Thailand. Deals with the USA are in the pipeline. It means Brown, who lives with his wife and three of his four children on a lifestyle block, works strange hours, dealing with the US, UK and Asia early in the morning, and again once his boys are in bed at night. He grows kiwifruit and raises beef on their land, and won’t be giving up meat or bovine butter any time soon.

“I’m a real foodie,” he says. “At home we use Herbivore as our butter 85 percent of the time, but I use cow butter in my mashed potatoes. I think of Herbivore like brown sugar; an alternative that has its place in every kitchen.

“I don’t think I’ll ever stop,” he says. “For me, it’s got to be fun. And fun is connecting with people and doing deals.”

HERBIVOREBUTTER.COM

Rolling with it

The first woman to represent Aotearoa on the international skateboarding scene is throwing her support behind a skateboard collection that will be part of the permanent exhibition at Tauranga Museum opening in 2028. 

words DEBBIE GRIFFITHS | photos CRAIG BROWN

Georgina Matthews started skateboarding around her home in Ōtūmoetai at the age of 13. A year later, she won a national competition and then placed second at an international in Melbourne where she caught the attention of sponsors. 

“I was skateboarding and travelling the world from when I was 16 until my 20s,” she says. “I got to skate against the world’s best like Elissa Steamer and I met Tony Hawk a few times. In 2006, I was ranked ninth in the world. They were fun times.”

Skateboarding fits hand in hand with the Bay’s surf culture. In fact, it was the acquisition of an iconic collection of classic Kiwi surfboards and memorabilia from Tauranga businessman Dusty Waddell, along with around 40 of his vintage skateboards, that enabled museum curator Fiona Kean to create the exhibit. 

“The Waddell collection came with a skateboard made by ‘Cahoot’ which was a Mount Maunganui brand made in the 1970s. They pioneered the use of urethane wheels,” she says. “In researching the skateboard collection and also with the opening of the Destination Skatepark, one of the things that struck me is that there’s a story to tell here in Tauranga. Georgina fits so beautifully into that. She reached the top level and she grew up right here in the Bay.”

“Tauranga’s skateparks are amazing,” says Georgina, reminiscing about cheese grater ramps, splinters and rails so hot they burned. “We’ve come a long way from the old skatepark at 17th Avenue by Historic Village. It’s 100 percent easier for kids to get into. I love seeing them at parks that have entry level ramps and easy progressions.” 

It’s the next generation of skateboarders who were targeted in a recent competition to ‘design a deck’. Out of more than 260 entries, Georgina picked two winners – aged 9 and 13 – who had their images put onto boards. 

“The first design reminded me of how important cultural representation was for me on a global stage. My iwi is Ngāpuhi and I’m very proud to be from New Zealand. When I was competing, sometimes I’d wear a Māori band or a Tino t-shirt. I felt that this design was a beautiful reflection of our country and culture, and I loved the composition of the Tino Rangatiratanga flag, koru, and ferns contrasting. I could picture this being a cool board for a kiwi athlete in the Olympics someday. It’s what I would choose.”

Georgina loved the vibrant colours, fun characters and creative use of the whole board of the second winning design.

“I imagine that would be a really popular pick in skate stores,” she says. “We hope we’ve inspired the kids in some way – to try skateboarding or maybe graphic design,” says Fiona. “You never know what’s going to spark someone’s future passion. Museums are here to enrich our communities and to make people feel that they belong and are part of something bigger. A sense of collective place.”

“I’m very honoured and grateful to be involved in Tauranga Museum and that kids will be able to see more than what’s on YouTube,” says Georgina. “They’ll have an understanding of the history and the evolution of the sport.”

Fiona has been working with the museum collection for nearly 20 years and remains passionate and excited by it.

“We’ve got a history of Tauranga to tell from the 1400s to beyond today. Our plan is that we’re not picking a point in the past and saying ‘we’re doing up to here’; we’re creating contemporary stories so we can show local innovators, diversity and fresh stories and events.”

“It starts with talking with the community and our conversation about the new museum has been a long one,” Fiona continues. “It’s not a one-way conversation. There have been consultations and discussions over the last thirty years but over time you can see the trends coming through and the objects that support the stories we’re being told. Sometimes it’s just magic, like getting the opportunity to purchase the Waddell collection of surfboards and that it came with the wonderful bonus of the skateboards which will now allow us to tell that story as well.”

Today, 37-year-old Georgina still gets on her board and is looking forward to skating and sunbathing through the summer. 

“For me skateboarding is amazing for mental health,” she says. “You’re your own boss, you don’t have to skateboard at a certain time or in a certain place. It’s an indescribably beautiful feeling of freedom. I still love it like I did when I was 13. I’ll be skating until I can’t.” 

taurangaheritagecollection.co.nz