20 Nov 2023

Heilala Vanilla: Sweet story of success

From Nine To Noon, 11:30 am on 20 November 2023

Vanilla is sometimes used as a pejorative - as something boring and bland. But the founders of Heilala Vanilla were determined it should be anything but, and and they're quite literally winning at that - taking out top honours at this year's New Zealand Food Awards. The company's origins came out of an aid project in Tonga following a cyclone that struck there in 2002. The vanilla crop grew well - and the beans impressed some big-name chefs back home in New Zealand. Kathryn is joined by Heilala Vanilla's co-founder and CEO Jennifer Boggiss to explain how it achieved B-Corp certification.