Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
Marlon Rivers and Alec Macdonald have been bringing the smell of freshly roasted Samoan cocoa to the streets of West Auckland.
Aunty Tommy’s is the name given to a new cacao business which is modernising traditional methods of manufacturing koko Samoa.
Rivers says the business specialises in everything involving Pacific Cocoa or the ‘traditional koko block’.
“We’ve got a full production facility here. We make cacao paste. We also do nibs – and we’re looking to maybe expand into cocoa powder,” he says.
Its unique name has a familial significance for its co-founders who also happen to be cousins.
“Aunty Tommy’s’ my Aunty and Marlon’s Grandmother. We thought of the name because it was quite cool.”
The business was only established in April 2021, but its owners hope to make an impression in the cacao industry.
“It was more of a branding thing to get the familiarity so that… when you say ‘Aunty Tommys’ immediately you think of different types of Koko products” he says
With backgrounds originally in music and aviation, their experience with cacao has been limited. Their passion however, has always been in their DNA.
“Traditionally, dating back a really long time ago [our family] used to farm it and export it to Europe and New Zealand,” Rivers says.
“Because we’re from Samoa, we’ve actually eaten koko raw from the pod, right up to learning how to make it the traditional way.”
MacDonald hopes to educate communities about its health benefits including high levels of magnesium and antioxidants.
“[Cacao] lowers your blood pressure…. It’s a superfood. They call it the food of the gods,” he says.
In the meantime, the duo are keen to push their products out to communities nationwide.
“I think primarily our focus is that our koko has to be accessible,” Rivers says.
“We’ve worked really really hard to get our logistics up so our focus at the moment is particularly Auckland, but we want to expand out into the rest of the country.”
