Connie grew up in Glendene, West Auckland, a busy soccer mum to three boys. Her background is in Naturopathy and Medical Herbalism. A few years ago, she decided to run some workshops in Henderson on the health benefits of raw sprouts but also included some superfoods such as maca, goji berries and raw cacao beans—herself a huge fan of the latter despite its strong bitter taste. Her passion grew from researching the history and nutritional benefits of raw organic cacao, ultimately developing a hot cacao drink: Warrior Cacao Tonic. She shared the drink at local community evenings and social events and the positive feedback sowed the idea of taking the drink to market.

Warrior Cacao Tonic is made with raw organic fair-trade Peruvian cacao paste plus other natural ingredients blended together. The paste is then used to make into a hot beverage. Warrior Cacao Tonic comes in two delicious flavours with many more in development. Connie’s hope is that people can enjoy it every day, as a healthier alternative to coffee, rich in antioxidants, minerals and with less caffeine.

Her main draw to The Kitchen Project was learning about how to take a product to commercial scale with food control plans, marketing, accounting, and learning about administrative tools for running a business. Networking opportunities were also a factor; TKP was the next step forward for Connie.

The dream for Connie’s Tonic is to make its way onto the café menus of Auckland, though being a packaged product means it can be sold almost anywhere. You can currently buy Warrior Cacao Tonic at the local organic Titirangi Village Market in Titirangi which runs on the last Sunday of every month.

Find out more from Connie about Warrior Cacao Tonic by following her on Instagram.