Taranaki producers to shine on national stage at NZ’s largest food show

Seven established and emerging Taranaki food and beverage producers will represent the region at the 2025 Auckland Food Show next weekend, thanks to support from Te Puna Umanga Venture Taranaki, the regional development agency. 

From award-winning gin to French-style meat preserves, the collective will showcase the region’s unique flair under the Taste of Taranaki banner on a huge 100sqm branded site, giving food lovers, distributors, and buyers a genuine taste of the region’s innovation and quality. 

The collective presence at the Auckland Food Show, which runs from the 24th to the 27th of July, is part of a long-running initiative led by Venture Taranaki to support food producers as they grow, build national visibility, and position the region as a centre of high-value food innovation. 

Since 2017, Venture Taranaki has championed the region at the country’s largest culinary event by coordinating a shared exhibitor site and reducing costs for local producers through facilitation and funding support. The result is a stronger, more visible regional voice in front of tens of thousands of attendees. 

“This initiative is about backing our local producers to gain exposure, tell their story, and build vital industry connections to scale up,” says Stacey Hitchcock, General Manager Investment at Te Puna Umanga Venture Taranaki. 

“Taranaki continues to build a name for premium branded food and beverage products. Getting our producers in front of new audiences helps to grow businesses, jobs, and further builds on regional reputation, in turn providing a platform for the next generation of Taranaki producers.” 

The Taste of Taranaki collective was also present at Womad Aotearoa earlier this year, another initiative funded and facilitated by Venture Taranaki, which supported some of the region’s up-and-coming food and beverage businesses. Bee and Flow, a local, family-run Mānuka honey enterprise, was showcased at Womad Aotearoa and is ready to take on Auckland. 

“We have grown rapidly in the past 12 months, and with export markets recently opening for us, particularly in the U.S., we’re excited to be reaching a national audience at the Auckland Food Show,” says Ben/Julia Collier, Co-owner of Bee and Flow Honey. 

“We’re fortunate to have had support and advise from Venture Taranaki over the past couple of years as we’ve grown, including a PowerUp ScaleUp grant. The Taste of Taranaki collective provides us with yet another platform and opportunity to take our business to the next level.” 

With food and fibre contributing $1.5 billion to the local economy and sustaining more than 10,200 jobs, the sector is a key strategic focus for the agency and is highlighted as one of five pillars in the guiding regional strategy, Tapuae Roa. 

The Auckland Food Show runs from 24–27 July at Auckland Showgrounds. 

This year’s Taste of Taranaki line-up includes: 

  • Marcel’s Pancakes – Ready-to-eat pancakes, crêpes and blinis. 
  • Treasured Morning – Protein-rich superfoods offering a clean, convenient breakfast option. 
  • Maison Aotearoa – Natural meat preserves, crafted in Aotearoa using traditional French techniques. 
  • Meat to You – Premium, traceable meat delivered from farm to door. 
  • Bee and Flow – Family Mānuka honey enterprise from a remote and rugged part of Eastern Taranaki. 
  • Spring Sheep Milk Co. – Award-winning, grass-fed sheep milk products partnering with Taranaki farmers and processors. 
  • Juno Gin – Extra-fine, artisan gin, proudly distilled in New Plymouth.