Pork and Horopito dumplings could soon be on the menu of China’s most sophisticated restaurants if well known chef and indigenous kai expert Charles Royal has his way. KOHA journalist, Jasmine Kaa, spoke to the culinary native herbs specialist about his impending entrepreneurial debut into the fast paced Chinese market.
When he answers the phone for this interview Charles Royal says he has only just surfaced from the bush near his home in Rotorua. For the last couple of hours he’s been collecting ingredients for a Native Herb Salad, and soon a photographer will take shots of the finished creation. The images are for a new cookbook Charles is working on, with a release date set for the middle of the year. This period will also mark the beginning of an important stage in the career of the charismatic and talented chef. In September Charles will be off to Shanghai, where his company Kinaki NZ® Native Herbs hopes to win over the discerning tastebuds of Chinese consumers and distributors.
Charles is going to Shanghai to participate in a marketing initiative led by his company. Kinaki NZ® Native Herbs will be joining Waituna Breweries, Aotearoa Seafoods and Tohu Wines to promote their products at a series of formal functions. These companies are all part of the Tekau Plus export group. The banquets will be held at three of Shanghai’s most prestigious restaurants located on
the River Bund, an area hailed as the Riviera of China renowned for its high-end hotels, clubs and eateries.
Diners will have the opportunity to sample a range of Aotearoa’s finest cuisine, from kawakawa beer, to kaimoana, to Kinaki NZ® Native Herbs infused delicacies. During the dinners the companies will have the chance to cultivate and build new relationships with Chinese business representatives, as well as renew existing contacts. This event represents a strategic move by Kinaki to position Mäori exporters at the gateway of a financial superpower, potentially worth millions of dollars to the Mäori economy.
Shanghai is the largest city in China with a population of over 30mn people in its metropolitan area.
Located on the country’s eastern Pacific Coast Shanghai also contains the world’s largest cargo port, and is viewed as the centre of commerce and finance for mainland China. Currently China is New Zealand’s second biggest trading partner, with our exports to China valued at NZ$3.76bn for the year ending February 2010. However due to the incredible pace at which China’s economy is developing, it is anticipated that it will soon overtake Australia as our number one trading partner.
The timing of the Kinaki initiative in September has been planned to coincide with the Ministerial visit by Dr. Peter Sharples to the 2010 Shanghai Expo. More than 70mn people are expected to visit the expo during its six month run from May to October. A significant marketing opportunity not lost on the New Zealand government who have invested $30mn into the NZ Pavilion. With this influx of visitors flooding into the city the businesses will be well placed to take advantage of potential commercial opportunities.
The visit will follow on from John Keys’s launch of New Zealand Day in July at the expo, and the ceremonial gifting to the people of China of Te Käkano, a majestically carved waharoa. Charles believes both these activities will ensure there will be an increased level of interest among the Chinese community about New Zealand. “The Chinese media saturated the airwaves with news about New Zealand when we signed the free trade agreement with China. I expect John Key’s visit to the expo will create a buzz we can capitalise off.”
Around 100 prospective Chinese clients representing major players in the distribution and hospitality sectors are expected to attend the dinners each night. Charles says, “ I’m going to use Shanghai as an opportunity to launch Kinaki NZ® Native Herbs onto the Chinese market. The dishes I’ll be preparing will be inspired by Western and Eastern cuisine, combined with indigenous native herbs.”
Chinese diners will be treated to an array of Kinaki Wild Herbs gourmet sausages – pork and pikopiko, beef and horopito, lamb and kawakawa, and chicken and piripiri.
Also traditional Chinese Dim Sums will have a flavour makeover when Charles infuses the tiny dumpling dish with native herbs cultivated in Aotearoa. Charles also hopes to take part in a “cook off” with Chef Victor Yuan, a Chinese Celebrity Master Chef, while he is there.
The September expedition will be Charles’s second to China since November last year when he went to Shanghai as part of a group of Mäori exporters to network with potential Chinese clients. Charles’s visit to Shanghai will be part of the planned visit led by the Minister of Mäori Affairs Dr. Pita Sharples visits the 2010 Shanghai Expo. Charles hopes to get involved with festivities planned to mark this occasion.
Charles has been in the hospitality game for three decades now, beginning as a young fifteen-year-old apprentice chef in the NZ Army. He has cooked at the finest restaurants in the world and also established two of his own. His foray into the culinary native herbs business began with an interest in the sustainable harvesting of wild pikopiko. Since then he has applied this knowledge to a number of different enterprises. These include creating a range of indigenous inspired meals for Air NZ’s First class inflight service, as well as creating Kinaki NZ® Native Herbs condiments and offering Mäori Food tours.
His latest venture is the launch of Kinaki Wild Herb sausages, an outcome of a relationship he formed with Dunninghams, a leading supplier of ingredients to the smallgoods industry.
“As a small business it’s been hard to increase our productivity. But by partnering with Dunninghams we are able to take our company to the next level, which is much faster than doing it by ourselves. These guys have great business nous and extensive distribution channels that will hopefully take our business into Asia.” The market both companies are initially aiming to attract with their Kinaki Wild Herbs meat products are the international community in China. “Ex-pats living abroad like to eat traditional English fare like sausages. Our products have a point of difference because they are from New Zealand and are flavoured with native herbs.”
The other markets Charles wants to target are the affluent young Chinese community, who have developed a taste for Western style food, and Chinese consumers interested in the medicinal qualities of the native herbs. Eventually Charles would like to see his products sold in supermarkets all over China, and served at the country’s top five star restaurants.
His mission while in Shanghai is to experiment by combining herbs like pikopiko and horopito with traditional Chinese ingredients, and if successful add these meals to his product range. Charles is confident about the future fortunes of his company.
“If we’re a hit in Shanghai who knows where that could lead. Maybe after my cookbook comes out, I should get it translated into Chinese!”
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