Māori chocolatier Thomas Netana Wright could become Māoridom’s own version of Willy Wonka with the official opening of his store Ao Cacao in West Auckland, pivoting from online selling due to high demand.
Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whātua and Te Whakatōhea descendant Netana-Wright is excited to showcase his sweet creations and offer an experience for customers when entering his store.
“It’s really about a concept to come in, welcome to our world, and to see everything being made. That was really the focus of the store, one to have a footing and somewhere where we can actually work with people in it and have the product on show but more about what’s behind the scenes. And the fact that it’s an open kitchen, there’s nothing to hide and that’s my biggest thing, transparency,” he says.
Netana-Wright flew to Paris around two months ago for a chocolate exhibition, were he gained insight and networked with many artisans in the chocolate industry. But he says, the things that stuck with him will help cement Māori into the cocoa world.
Natural flavours
Combining natural flavours such as mānuka honey with cocoa beans to create a new experience, one that he says, will make Aotearoa stand out.
“I think what I bought back mostly was from the experience was the fact that I need to be doing, and I want to be doing more that represents Aotearoa, in terms of taste and flavour. What I’ve been doing has been good ut there’s always room for improvement, so there’s been a lot of learning,”
The thought of turning his factory into a store is due to the high demand of people buying his creations online but he says many of his chocolates are a delight for the masses.
“One of our best sellers is our Mānuka honeycomb or hokey pokey. That’s one of our biggest sellers we do and our drinking chocolate. So I would say those are our top two that we have for Christmas, as well as all of our bars. And if you were to come in store, we have our in-store-only items.”
Netana Wright says his doors will stay open right up to December 23.