Carlos and Olga Martinez de Treviño hail from the Basque region between Spain and France, an area with gastronomy at the centre of its culture. Basque food uses only the freshest ingredients and nothing else, making the cuisine inventive, honest, pure and enjoyable. When studying New Zealand nature’s bounty they discovered a root vegetable with beneficial properties that simply amazed them: Beauregard Kumara. They fell head over heels in love with it and that they wanted to cook it in their style. They spoke to the team about their unique product.
What is your company background, how did you start the business?
“We developed Kumara Paste in NZ. We come from the Basque Region, where we are use to eating quince paste. We missed a real paste so much that we started making our own. And trialled with a Kiwi icon: Beauregard orange kumara.
We first started in farmers markets until last year when we went into Foodstuffs and started selling around Auckland.”
What is the current product range and variants and how do these products stand out in the market?
“The way we make our kumara paste is the way grandma used to make quince paste, just with ingredients, time on the stove and love. We have 3 different variants:
Original Vanilla: With a hint of organic vanilla
Clover Honey: We preserve it with honey as that is how fruit preservers used to be done at the beginning of the times (Romans preserved them with honey).
Dark Chocolate: We love chocolate. So we have added a hint of 72% dark chocolate into our original paste. This one was finalist in the NZ Food Awards 2016.”
Has there been any recent company news?
“Yes, we have completely changed our packaging and brand. Our new looks express who we are and what it is. The first year in the supermarkets has been a big learning curve. We are foodies, have a passion for honest food but is our first time sharing our recipes at a commercial scale. We are very happy with the end result of our new looks. Our Dark Chocolate Kumara paste was Finalist In the NZ Food Awards 2016 in the novel ingredient category.”
What are the plans for the business moving forward, is there any expansion on the horizon?
“We have engaged a distributor for the North Island and another one for the South Island, and have also been approved by Progressive to sell into FreshChoice supermarkets. We will be able to share our pastes outside Auckland this year.”
Where are your products currently available to buy, and are you looking at or wanting to expand your availability?
“Our products are available in the deli area of New Worlds and few Pak’N’Saves. We are slowly getting into Fresh Choices and of course we would love to see our pastes in Countdown’s deli.”
