Kakadu Kitchen

Conscious of the need to protect 65,000 years of Kakadu’s natural and cultural heritage, it has long been a mission for Ben to share and promote native food and culture. When he moved to Darwin, he began selling bushtucker juices and salads at the local market before becoming a reseller of Indigenous products.

Eventually he moved into product development of beverages for the wholesale market, creating an Indigenous-branded water product for hotels in Kakadu. When a distillery company making gin with native botanicals visited his market stall for ingredients, Ben’s interest was piqued, and he started learning about distilling. His hotel clients were interested in other products, including gin, but Ben was determined to make non-alcoholic drinks.

“Kakadu Kitchen stands for health, nature and culture. My sobriety journey began in 2018 and by 2020 I stopped drinking and progressively changed my life around. Alcohol ruins a lot of things. I couldn’t see my brand making alcohol given the problems it causes in any community,” Ben says.

He eventually co-created with collaborator Tim Triggs (founder at ALTD Spirits) their own non-alcoholic Bellini, featuring An-Marabula, the Kakadu native peach, ethically harvested by Bininj people in Kakadu National Park. And as demand for Ben and Tim’s product grew, they began devising other recipes. However, he also wanted to be a step ahead as a small business – to better understand the growth journey ahead to help prepare and plan for the growth and success of the company.

“As I’ve heard previously growth can also ruin companies, I wanted to better understand why and how to avoid failure. I saw the Centre’s program for the Northern Territory and saw that it was for SMBs. I didn’t fit the criteria as the company was less than five people but I applied anyway. They gave me an exemption and I was accepted.” – Ben Tyler, Founder Kakadu Kitchen

During the growth ramp, Kakadu Kitchen checked in every month with a group meeting as well as getting individual, one-on-one mentoring. The sessions focused on the company’s mission and core values, with feedback from other participants and a Growth Expert and extensive information sharing. From this came a growth plan for the next three years: “a really great exercise” according to Ben.

“Before I didn’t know anything about business really. I had no idea how I would end up doing business in life as my background is cultural heritage and being a park ranger and plenty odd jobs in between. I had done a business plan before but not a growth plan,” he explains.

The program also covered the need for setting up systems and having a tech stack. The mentorship angle was particularly important for Kakadu Kitchen because Darwin is so remote, making it hard to get access to outside mentors who have grown their own businesses and growth experts from at the level offered by the program.

The discussions and mentoring helped Ben to really define Kakadu Kitchen’s mission, which wasn’t in place beforehand. He realised that “culture” was key to what he wanted to achieve with the business, including helping the indigenous community and creating opportunities to share the benefits of bushtucker with Australians.

One aspect that really stood out for Ben was the focus on people: “change the people or change the people.”

“I really loved what the program taught about change the people which includes yourself, because you can be in the way of your own business. I’ve got to make sure that I’ve got energy, that I attend to my business, and that I’m the best fit for my business in terms of helping it to grow. The next step is to continually look at ways to set up systems and have the right people who align with the company values and mission, so you can step out of the business and work on the business not in the business” – Ben Tyler, Founder Kakadu Kitchen

The Centre’s Growth Programs helped Ben better understand his purpose and mission and to position Kakadu Kitchen for growth.

Kakadu Kitchen has now moved from a flat in the suburbs to a warehouse in a rural area with much more space. Revenue grew more than 150% in between FY22 and FY23, driven by the water business. 2023 also saw Kakadu Kitchen win their first ever business award from the Northern Territory Indigenous Business Network (NTIBN) as the Best Blak Bushfood & Botanicals Business.

Kakadu Kitchen is now strongly focused on its new non-alcoholic drinks due a pivot away from the water business as their local NT manufacturer closed its doors. In 2022 it produced 300 cartons of Bellini and Ben wants to increase production seasonally. He shares a vision with Tim for six core alcohol-free native cocktails, each using an authentic Kakadu native botanical associated with the Park’s traditional six seasons, producing initially 300 cartons of each variety in the next 12 months. The company is already in talks with large customers who own store chains nationally.

There are also plans to collaborate with OzHarvest, Australia’s leading food rescue organisation, to save produce such as blueberries and mangoes ending up in landfill, as well as help OzHarvest expand to the Northern Territory. The drinks will be crafted for purpose as (non-alcoholic) wine alternatives aka Conscious Drink for conscious drinkers, which we believe deserves its own product category separate to non-alcoholic drinks to help steer away for using the language of alcohol. A conscious drink is a drink that nourishes people and country – a key mission of OzHarvest that aligns well with our mission and values.

“The biggest takeaway is thinking about growth all the time, about scalability and doing it ethically ensuring Indigenous food and culture is respected as well as people and country. And thinking this from the start rather than later on, which many business find more difficult to navigate at a later stage when growth happens. So, from the outset you’re actually planning to scale and grow. How do you sustain your business for growth and grow it without it failing? It’s a huge difference in mindset and has been invaluable” – Ben Tyler, Founder Kakadu Kitchen