The Full Story
Viktual+ began in our kitchen.
We didn’t plan to start a wellness company. We were just trying to take better care of ourselves — so we could be here longer for the people we love.
It started after we both found ourselves facing a shift.
Tana had just lost a close friend — one of the men he’d played alongside. At the tangi, he stood quietly as those same teammates carried him to rest. It brought everything into focus.
Around the same time, I was navigating perimenopause. I went to see a doctor, explained I wasn’t keen on medication — and the advice was simple: try adjusting your diet first.
That’s when we decided to move to a vegetarian lifestyle — something that felt more aligned with how we wanted to live.
We’d used greens and protein powders before, but this time it felt more intentional.
Someone had mentioned that people who move to a vegetarian lifestyle later in life often end up eating too many carbohydrates and not enough protein.
So we made a few changes. More whole foods. Protein shakes to balance things out. Greens to fill the gaps.
Small tweaks, done daily.
And alongside that, something else was happening.
I'd been using skincare products forever, and started really looking at what was in them. That curiosity turned into action — experimenting with native New Zealand ingredients and making my own skincare at home.
It started as a way to take care of myself naturally. But it also lit a spark.
The more we leaned into lifestyle changes, the more it made sense to bring native ingredients into every part of our wellbeing — not just what we put on our bodies, but what we put into them.
That’s when everything started to fall into place.
Why weren’t New Zealand brands using our own native ingredients in wellness products?
We’d grown up hearing about the goodness of these plants from our whānau — the healing properties, the traditions, the connection to land and people.
And for Tana, bringing in his Pacific side mattered too. That’s why we chose kava — for the calm it brings, and the heritage it carries.
Of course, using native ingredients in wellness products isn’t always straightforward.
If we want to export overseas, we need to work through food regulations like the FDA in the US — and many of these ingredients aren’t yet recognised on international approved lists.
That’s a whole other challenge. And a story in itself.
But it’s part of our purpose:
To help share the goodness of native ingredients — grown here and across the Pacific — with the world.
Not a quick fix. Not a trend. Just good, honest products.
Plant-based. Backed by science. Crafted with care.
We use everything we create.
We test it, taste it, and share it with whānau before it ever goes into a pouch.
And wherever possible, we choose native and New Zealand-grown ingredients — not just for their benefits, but for their story. For their connection to our whenua.
Our hope is simple:
That these daily rituals help people feel better.
That they reconnect us to what we already have here — in our whenua, in our culture, in ourselves.
Simple. Powerful. Natural. Ours.
