1. Kava has been central to Fijian life and ceremony for centuries. How did you turn that deep cultural tradition into a modern wellness brand, and how do you honor its origins while selling it on supermarket shelves and Amazon?
I've been drinking kava for close to 40 years myself and understood its importance to our culture in Fiji, as well as its traditional importance in our society. Kava is one of the highest-ranked and most important ceremonial and traditional items that we have used culturally for so many years.
Given my long history with kava, Fiji and the Pacific, I looked at this from a combination of respecting the tradition and respecting the culture, but tying it to science, standardization and quality control.
Kava has had some controversy historically in Western markets, including Germany. It had previously been a prescription medicine there and had captured meaningful market share from benzodiazepines. Historically, kava was also among the five best-selling herbs in the United States, supporting an estimated US$140 million in exports from Fiji and across the Pacific.
What we didn't have at the time was quality control. We didn't have standards or a quality framework to support what was a very important pathway into Western markets.
Looking at the recommendations put forward by the World Health Organization in 2007, we focused on using the traditional parts of the plant that we consume, the stump and roots, and on using noble kava varieties.
From research that we undertook beginning in 2006, we looked at the different kava varieties available in Fiji, their chemotype profiles and the concentration of their active ingredients, known as kavalactones. The objective was to ensure that with each serving, we could replicate the effect each time.
That standardization and quality framework was extremely important because the 13 varieties available in Fiji can have different effects and concentrations of kavalactones. Across the Pacific, the differences can be even wider.
So for me, it was about standardizing what we were bringing to Western markets while recognizing the historical and traditional significance of kava and learning from its previous experience in those markets.
2. How did you translate that philosophy into the way The Calmer Co. operates?
From the start, I built a facility in Fiji that was compliant with food-safety processing standards as a minimum. Our plant is certified by HACCP Australia and has now been recertified for 13 years as a food-processing facility.
We're also an FDA-registered and audited site in Fiji.
The regulatory framework for kava differs across the Western markets in which we export. In Australia, there are two pathways: kava can be sold as a complementary medicine under Therapeutic Goods Administration oversight, or as a food.
In the United States, kava is predominantly regulated under dietary supplement laws. More recently, when kava is mixed with water, it has also been recognized as a food through the regional quality framework established through Codex Alimentarius.
So it is important to ensure compliance not just with packaging, but with the way the product itself is designed and standardized.
3. For Los Angeles Times readers who may have only heard of kava or seen a kava bar pop up in their neighborhood, how would you describe what it is, what it does and why it is finding an audience in the US wellness market?
I speak to kava's traditional use in the South Pacific and the traditional drink that we consume. But more importantly, I speak to the scientific benefits around kava's efficacy and safety.
There are two major drivers for demand. There aren't many functional ingredients like kava where you drink it or take it and feel the effects almost immediately.
There is also a direct relationship between anxiety, stress and sleep. We are seeing repeat purchases of our products, and based on consumer feedback, people are sleeping better after consuming kava.
The other major driver is Gen Z. An increasing proportion of younger consumers are choosing not to consume alcohol, and there is greater awareness of the harms of alcohol.
Kava is fitting very nicely as an alcohol alternative, particularly given declining alcohol consumption in the United States. People are becoming more aware of the impact of alcohol, and kava is filling an interesting niche.
So I would communicate both the traditional aspects of kava and the scientific benefits that we have seen, because those are creating the next wave of demand and the resurgence of interest in kava in Western markets, including the United States.
4. You've said US expansion is a natural next step, and you already hold a significant share of kava sales on Amazon US. What makes the American market, and California specifically, so important to your growth?
An independent survey conducted late last year indicated that approximately 10.7% of Americans had tried kava more than once in the previous 12 months.
We're seeing an established and fast-growing kava-bar market in the United States. I've personally visited Florida and seen close to 100 kava bars myself.
There is already awareness about kava, but there is also very strong demand. The drivers are Gen Z, alcohol alternatives and the therapeutic benefits that encourage further trial and adoption.
California is particularly interesting. There is a concentration of kava bars in Florida, while California remains relatively untapped. There is a sparse distribution of kava bars from Los Angeles through to San Francisco.
I believe California is an untapped market, and there is a real opportunity to build more retail presence through a kava-bar market.
Beyond online and Amazon, our next step is to replicate the retail experience we have successfully built in Australia. Since regulatory changes in 2021, we've become the number-one and number-three best-selling stress products across major supermarkets in Australia.
We are hoping to replicate that in the United States with our next steps, in addition to our presence on Amazon USA.
5. Your model is built on sourcing directly from Fiji. What does farm-to-shelf mean in practice for the Fijian farmers and communities you work with, and how do you make sure the benefits of global growth flow back to them?
I initially set up the business to benefit my town in Fiji, my island and my province of Lomaiviti. The project has grown much bigger than I anticipated.
Today, we build relationships across eight provinces in Fiji. Our trucks go directly to farmers and communities to collect fresh green kava. It is freshly harvested, washed, placed into sacks, and transported directly to our facility.
Our team works at farmgate with the farmers and transacts in cash. We weigh the kava before it goes onto the truck, record the farmers' names and weights, and pay them directly.
From a quality-control perspective, each volume is allocated a lot number. That lot is taken back to our facility in Navua, where it is processed and subsequently allocated a batch number.
We have full traceability and transparency with our products.
We are seeing tremendous transformation in some of the areas from which we source. Our trucks sometimes have to travel by ferry to remote communities, and there are areas where the logistics are extremely challenging.
But there is a real direct benefit. Our farmers are buying new vehicles, trucks and equipment for their farms and building houses. There is real direct benefit from these relationships across the Fiji Islands.
6. From powders to shots to your new freezing format, you keep reinventing how people consume kava. Where do you see the biggest opportunities to innovate, and how do you balance novelty with keeping the product authentic?
We need to meet the market and continually evolve.
We have four strategic pillars: supply-chain excellence, direct consumer, including Amazon, profitable scalable retail, and our wholesale bulk-ingredients channel.
Innovation is very important to ensure that we appeal to the mass market through our current sales channels. But we also need to understand what we can and cannot do in different markets.
In the United States, we can potentially do gummies, flavoured kava shots, canned beverages and many other formats. Australia has a much more limited regulatory framework.
From a risk perspective, having a broad range of offerings is important to meet customer demand while delivering the efficacious dose required to give customers a great experience every time.
The authenticity comes through our branding. We have two brands: Fiji Kava and Taki Mai.
Taki Mai has a direct connection to the traditional kava ceremony. When sitting around the kava bowl in a less formal setting, when you want to drink a bowl of kava, you would say "Taki Mai."
That is the authenticity piece that we bring through our branding and our products.
7. Kava's regulatory status has varied widely across markets and shifted over time. What have been the biggest hurdles in getting kava accepted by regulators and mainstream retailers?
Initially, we were very limited in Australia because kava could only be sold as a tablet or capsule under Therapeutic Goods Administration oversight. Those products had to be produced to pharmaceutical standards and standardized to a certain level of potency.
More recently, with the commercial import trial into Australia, we have been allowed to sell traditional formats similar to what we drink in Fiji and the Pacific.
We still standardize products internally from a quality-control perspective because replication of effect and consistency are very important for building consumer confidence and repeat purchase.
In the United States, kava has not been restricted in the same way. There are some adverse warnings required on product labels, but we have been able to operate under the dietary supplements framework.
There is also important work happening at the regional level. Pacific countries are working towards a harmonized kava standard through Codex Alimentarius. The Pacific Islands Forum also developed a Regional Kava Development Strategy in 2024, with Pacific kava-producing countries working towards harmonized standards from the growing of noble kava through processing and export.
That is a great initiative because having a consistent quality standard supported by legislation builds confidence in Western markets.
8. Consumers are increasingly cautious about what they put in their bodies. How do you ensure quality and safety across your supply chain, and how important is that to building trust?
Traceability and transparency, quality control in converting raw material into finished goods, microbial testing and consistency of potency are all extremely important.
Given kava's history and the controversy that led to the German ban in 2002, which was subsequently overturned in 2016, it was particularly important for us to build a framework for quality control and sustainability.
We've also been promoting the propagation of noble kava in Fiji through the establishment of nurseries.
For example, in 2023, we co-donated a commercial nursery to a community on the island of Taveuni through a program called Tutu. The program focuses on empowering young people through agriculture and trade, with kava as a major focus.
To qualify for the program, students had to plant 1,000 kava plants.
The program has been highly successful, and that province now represents around 30% of kava growers across the country.
Sustainability is not just about protecting the supply chain; it is also about creating opportunities for the communities that depend on kava.
9. As President of the Australia Fiji Business Council, you sit at the intersection of two economies. What's your vision for strengthening trade and investment between Fiji and the wider region, and what opportunities are most underappreciated?
Fiji has been very successful with tourism for a very long time. But agriculture has traditionally been a major part of sustainable living across Fiji and the Pacific.
I see kava at the forefront as a major agricultural export from Fiji, followed by products such as ginger and turmeric.
There are also opportunities in call centres. For example, Qantas' call centre operations are based in Suva or Nadi, benefiting from Fiji's friendliness and English-language capability.
Cybersecurity is another area of focus, while manufacturing and the garment industry remain significant.
The connectivity between Fiji and international markets is also important. Fiji's location gives it an advantage compared with some other Pacific island countries.
There is also a significant infrastructure pipeline across the Pacific, supported by institutions including the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and government development agencies.
Fiji has strengths well beyond tourism, and the opportunity is to build on those strengths through trade, agriculture, manufacturing, services and regional connectivity.
10. You've taken the company from a single Fijian product to a listed, multi-market business. What have been the hardest lessons, and what advice would you give other entrepreneurs building a business rooted in the Pacific?
From a Fiji perspective, convincing farmers about the opportunity initially took time. We spent a lot of time around the tanoa, or kava bowl, talking about what the future of the industry might look like over the next 20 years.
Moving subsistence farmers away from practices that had been passed down through generations and changing that mindset was extremely challenging.
We also needed to build a supply chain capable of supporting our anticipated expansion into Australia, New Zealand, the United States and beyond.
Climate is another challenge. Fiji's cyclone season can significantly affect farmer relationships and supply.
That's why we moved from sourcing primarily from my province to sourcing more broadly across Fiji, and now beyond Fiji into Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu, while exploring relationships in the Solomon Islands.
On the regulatory side, we have had to work with governments and advocate for change.
But the biggest lesson for entrepreneurs is straightforward:
You can have the biggest dreams to build the biggest business, but if you don't have the back end strong enough, you will eventually fail.
Your vision has to connect with a strong supply chain, operational structure and foundation that can support growth.
11. To close, for readers in Los Angeles who are curious about kava, Fiji or the wellness trend you're riding, what's the one thing you'd most want them to take away, and what's your invitation to them?
My invitation is to share with us the Bula spirit with our friends in the United States and California, sharing our culture and traditions with them, given that we've enjoyed them for more than 3,000 years.
There's a reason why Fiji and Fijians are called the happiest people in the world. It's got to do with our location, but it's also connected to our traditional drink.
Kava does relax you. Kava does put a smile on your face.
In markets like the United States and Australia, where stress is at an all-time high, kava can offer a way to relax and take the edge off.
I urge your readers to try kava and see how kava can speak for itself in relaxing and taking the edge off.
