A family aims to use the Farm to Fork concept promoted by Government in their micro business known as Hanis Kitchen.
This newspaper came across the family at their food stall at the 2024 Coca-Cola Games, currently underway at the HFC Bank Stadium.
What caught people’s attention was that while most of the other food vendors opted to sell foods which have become traditional for food vendors in Fiji, such as BBQ and ‘subs’, the family’s stall had a display of a variety of pastries and the beverage to go with it.
The business, according to Selly Anne, was started by her sister after returning from Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia last year.
“The owner of this business is my sister, and she has a background in patisserie. She’s worked in the industry for a few years and now she’s gone into catering,” Ms Anne said.
“It’s just pastries for now – starting small. This year she wants to expand, not only into catering but also markets like this because her long-term dream is to open a cafe.
“So, right now she wants to see the kind of customers that are out there and coming to the games like this is a good exposure for her just to observe consumers, their spending habits and so forth.
This is the biggest one that she’s done for this year, she’s also done Roc Markets and she’s testing out the different crowds, and the prices to charge.”
She said sales were not as good on the first day of the Games, but picked up on day two.
“She’s gotten good feedback so far, and the experience has been good. We’re all family helping out here and everyone here has their own little businesses running.
“We’re farmers as well and what we’re trying to test as well is the ‘Farm to Fork’ concept, and we feel that being exposed to the public like this is good for us and we’re also making use of the different produce that we farm.”
Ms Anne said these three days is all about testing customer preferences and the kind of prices they prefer.
“Our menu is quite simply something cheap for the kids to buy and parents as well. We’ve got pies, choc balls, cookies, brownies, and even hot dogs.
“We also sell chicken wings and cassava fries. We want to do away with the normal potato fries and instead, make use of cassava which is in season right now.
“The idea to use cassava instead of potatoes was from the ‘Farm to Fork’ concept. We have two farms, and our main product is ginger. However, we’re also going into tausala, and cassava farming and we will make use of these produce in our business.”
Ms Anne said they’ll be using their experiences in selling at the smaller markets to gauge how they would fair in bigger events such as the Fiji Showcase, Hibiscus, etc.
Spectators coming in today to the HFC National Stadium can find ‘Hanisi Kitchen’ in the food stall section at the stadium carpark.
