Episode 12: Tara Croker is bringing Aussie native flavours to life with Yaala Sparkling

In this episode, Amie and Angeline chat to Tara Croker, founder of Yaala Sparkling, about her mission to share the ancient knowledge of First Nations’ traditional plants and enable consumers to enjoy them in a modern way. 

Transcript

Amie Larter :

Welcome to Women Transforming Food, a monthly podcast brought to you by G100 and Inside FMCG. Where we explore the inspiring journeys of women shaping the future of the food industry. Today, I’m recording this podcast from the land of the Dharawal people and joining me is my co-host, Angelina Charya, Asia Pacific Chair of the Food Systems Innovation and Resilience Wing at G100 Mission Million, and our guest for this episode, is Tara Croker, executive director, Yaala Sparkling. Throughout this series, we have spoken to some truly remarkable women, these are leaders who are redefining the food industry and today, I am thrilled to speak to Tara, who is pioneering the commercialisation of Australia’s incredible native plant heritage for the innovative line of sparkling drinks featuring indigenous botanicals like waratah and quandong. With a background in marketing in corporate reconciliation and a passion for amplifying First Nation’s voices in the supply chain, Tara is not just building a beverage brand, she’s creating a movement to reconnect Aussies with their land, culture and transforming how we think about Indigenous business in the premium food space. 

Tara, you've identified that despite Australia having 6,500 edible native plants, only a few have been commercially developed. What was the pivotal moment, so to speak, that made you realize this represented both a massive opportunity and a responsibility for you as a First Nations leader?

Tara:

Yes, thank you, Amie. And first of all, Yiridu Morong, everyone. I'm really happy to be here today as part of this yarn. And I'm a proud Wiradjuri woman, dialing in from Gadigal country today, but raised in the Andean, up in Queensland and in the Onu country in the Northern Territory. So, looking forward to talking about Yaala. So first of all, Yaala in my language means present.

So it's all about bringing the ancient knowledge of our traditional plants, those six and a half thousand edible native plants we just mentioned, to the present moment so that people can enjoy them in a modern way. So we create premium, healthy, native flavored sparkling waters. And we partner with indigenous wild harvesters and suppliers across Australia with a First Nations First approach. And we do that because we want to increase First Nations representation in the native food sector.

I learned early in the journey that it's currently less than 2% ownership across the entire supply chain. And my vision is to connect people with these plants that grow in this country. And yeah, to your point, there's only a few that have been commercialised and that people are aware of. And that's crazy to think that these plants are growing in people's backyards across the country and they don't know what they are or the amazing flavors and benefits and nutrients that these plants have. 

And so it was, it felt important to me to champion these plants that have been around for thousands of years and share the knowledge that our elders have passed down for generations. Because yeah, I felt a responsibility to do that authentically and honor these plants in a respectful way and reconnect people to the land through these flavors and these plants.

Angeline:

And Yama, Tara and Amie, I'm coming to you this morning from the lands of the Kulin Nation, Boonwurrung. That's where I am today. So Tara, just hearing your kind of introduction there, your mission, I think, kind of seems like it extends far beyond delicious drinks. You're working to increase that First Nations representation as you spoke about where the mob currently make up the  2% of the supply chain. 

How are you building Yaala's business model to ensure authentic partnership, benefit sharing with Indigenous communities, and then what does giving back to the mob mean to you personally?

Tara:

Yeah, so giving back means many things. First of all, I think being a visible example to mob, to community. So, you know, showing young women and young mob that it's possible to build something beautiful and something that is proud and do it on your own terms as well and with respect to community and culture.

I'm also using the business as a vessel to lift community along the journey that I'm on and pay it forward as well with the experience that I'm gaining through my career, but also through the business. I've mentored quite a lot of young mob, more than 40 indigenous high school students. And I spend a lot of time mentoring other indigenous business owners, particularly other young women in the food industry.

I, yeah, I see giving back is building a building business that's a ladder for others to climb on to. It's, you know, creating economic pathways and opportunities for self-determination for mob and doing that by leading with culture and with First Nations storytelling at the heart of our brand and business. So, yeah, in many ways, it's sort of paving the way, building something that matters and that's meaningful to the community. I've also sat on many reconciliation committees. I'm very passionate about walking the pathway to reconciliation. I sit on advisory boards and have led First Nations employee resource groups. 

So I am very passionate about giving back to mob and to community and lifting collectively, which is the sort of unique approach to business that an Indigenous business does have. I live and breathe that. And I also want to share my lived  experience in building the business in the native food industry to other industry councils and associations and things like that and be a thought leader in this space to lead change.

Angeline:

That's a lot that you're doing. And amazing just to hear it sounds like it's that multi-pronged approach as well, right?

Tara:

Yes, absolutely. It takes a community.

Amie:

So from your corporate reconciliation background to launching Yaala, you're essentially reinventing how people perceive Indigenous business moving from charity mindset to premium partnership. I'm keen to understand what specific strategies are you using to educate the market and position Native Australian ingredients as premium?

Tara:

Yeah, so storytelling is a big part of Indigenous culture and it's also a big part of our strategy and really part of our reason for being because I want t o share the stories behind these plants and the culture attached to that. And I wasn't seeing any brands honoring those plants and the culture, which is what led me to create something that I would love to see on the shelf. So our packaging, our brand voice, our flavor names using language and traditional names.

It will tell the story of the Australian land, the sacred meaning behind the plants, and we use different female Indigenous artists for every flavour release that we do. And that's to authentically tell the stories and the symbolism that's attached to the real plants that we are using. So big shout out to Letitia-Anne and Sarah Levet, who are the talented Bradbury artists who have done our flavour releases to date.

So we focus on premium experiences at the moment in that we partner with a lot of gala awards, corporate conferences, special events. We just did one recently at the Opera House, which was phenomenal, pretty iconic to serve our truly Australian drinks in a truly Australian icon. And I love doing the events because the way we make our drinks sugar-free, preservative-free, no artificials. They are literally completely natural and the plants that grow in this country, that's all we use in there. So getting to go to events and seeing people taste the flavors for the first time and get the feedback that they say on these tastes is just amazing. 

It's the chance to use the vessel as a conversation starter that connects people to these plants and that culture. So yeah, I get a lot of positive feedback from people about the premiumness, the taste, the experientialness of the drinks. And also, the most common word  I hear is how clean it is. And that's because we've taken no shortcuts. It's literally as Mother Nature intended. And we get to pass that experience forward to people. So yeah, in order to make it feel premium. So, to your question, I think it actually is, but we also leverage design. We also aim to disrupt that deficit lens that comes with Indigenous business a lot. So we recently, a couple of weeks ago, just shot an amazing campaign in partnership with Gunny Vineyard Productions and some other Indigenous artists and designers. 

We had a majority First Nations cast and crew. We went out on the Centurion Yacht in Sydney Harbour and we just shot some beautiful premium footage with beautiful talent and that was in partnership also with other Indigenous designers and artists, jewellery and costumes. So it's just about changing perceptions of where that can be seen and repositioning where we belong and I really am aiming to do that with our creative and our brand and our design.

Amie:

And how's it being received?

Tara:

I get so much incredible feedback on it. Like how beautiful it is, how amazing it looks on the shelf. In the CPG space beverages, it's pretty hard to stand out on a shelf, right? Like you look at a shelf and it's very easy for products to sort of blend into each other. But you know, I'm obviously biased, but I think that ours really do stand out. There's nothing else that looks the way that ours do. When you put it up on a shelf, it stands out and that really lands well with people. And I think the connective conversation starting design really, really lands well with people.

Amie:

Yeah, I can only imagine. And so from an education around the plants and you know, I did not know that there were 6,000, what was it - 500 edible native plants. So this has been already an education for me. How are you going with that education piece as well?

Tara:

Yeah, I think people are just shocked to learn about the nutrients that native ingredients still retain. You know, Davidson Plum has 10 times the vitamin C of an orange. Lemon Myrtle is, you know, coming out as new science to potentially be precursors to NAD and, you know, which is big in the wellness space at the moment. It's calming, it's anti-inflammatory. They just are incredible. They retain everything that Mother Nature put into them to make our foods special and what our bodies need. And you compare that to apples and oranges, which have been GMO'd and commercially farmed. it's not a lot out there that still has all of that specialness to it. So I love these plants and they are very special.

Amie:

You can tell. I love it.

Angeline:

It's certainly coming across for sure.

Tara:

Crazy plant lady. Yeah, okay, cool. 

Angeline:

No, I think you're making an impact, right? I know when I am the lemon, lemon Myrtle has been one of my go to over the summer time. So I really did enjoy that. So, but you're so right. There's not so much understood about the benefits of these given the 60,000 years of Indigenous history that we have as well. And it's in our backyard in a way that we need to actually understand and see how we can actually use it in our everyday food even as well, right? 

And then kind of going back Tara, you sort of mentioned that collective mindset that defines Indigenous business culture, where that community uplift takes precedence over individual gain. How do you balance this philosophy, particularly coming into CPG as you talked about that commercial realities of scaling of food and beverage business in today's competitive market? Are there some certain things that are quite important given where you are in your journey today?

Tara:

Yeah, I think it's balanced because it's naturally the way that Indigenous people approach business because we have a collective mindset. So we're never thinking, I want to go out and start a beverage business and make a bunch of money. It's how do I start a business that lifts my community collectively and gives back? And  that's, it fits into a social enterprise, but it's just the natural way that we approach things. It's got a secondary purpose, well it's got two purposes really. One, to exist and thrive and be a great business. But two, how do we use that business as a vessel to give back and lift community with that collective mindset? And I think it lands very well with customers because consumers are more conscious these days. 

They're more educated with their purchases. They want to know what a brand stands for and they're going to align better with a brand that lives and breathes their values. What we do knowing that using our values is we sort of use that as our guiding light in our decision-making and it makes us easier to focus on what our true purpose is and

where we're moving forward towards. And it fits into the way we do business because, it's just natural for how we want to grow and build the business. So as an example, I mentioned that we have a big focus on our supply chain. So we have a First Nations first approach to sourcing our ingredients down our supply chain. Sometimes they’re smaller wild harvesters and you know they may not always have the certifications for quality assurances sort of needed to go into large manufacturing which we have a manufacturing co-manufacturer so in focus on you know everything that's required to go into into that facility so I will work with those wild harvesters and communities and walk with them to ensure that they do meet those certifications and have those quality assurances. And then that way they're getting more capabilities while being able to supply us and we're building and together. So that's kind of how it works in balancing the commercial side with lifting the community into the space.

Angeline:

It's quite a different approach, isn't it? Do you find when you talk to other CPG leaders about your approach, what's been the response?

Tara:

I don't know that. I don't know that how that would work necessarily for other CPG brands because a lot of the ingredients being used with other brands, they are more developed or more commercialised, I should say. So, yeah, for us, because the industry is sort of growing and because we're trying to achieve that increase in representation, we have to play a part in building it. So yeah, perhaps it's slightly unique for us.

Amie:

Okay, so your journey is fundamentally about sort of reinvention, reinventing perceptions of Indigenous business, reinventing Australia's relationship with native foods and reinventing your own career path from corporate to entrepreneur. What advice would you give to other women who are considering their own reinvention in the food industry?

Tara:

Ah yes, I would say you don't need a perfect plan. You need to just start. I think it helps to have something that you're passionate about because business is definitely a roller coaster as they say, and there's certainly ups and there's certainly downs. 

Amie:

Isn't it?

Tara:

If you, if you can have that purpose, and passion in those moments of downs, that's really going to help with your tenacity which is another thing you absolutely need and I would say like don't be afraid to bring your whole self to the table your culture your values your story and as for you as a person and put that into a values aligned brand to make a better world I think don't risk getting technology as well I'm constantly looking at AI is like a fantastic time to be starting a business we can like enhance productivity and use AI for so many incredible things across business. So it's a great time to be doing that and don't be scared of it. I think embrace it, look for what's out there that will make you more efficient and productive. And yeah, just give it a go.

Angeline:

Some good advice, moving on to the advice. And I've been involved in this over my career where I've used Indigenous ingredients, but probably not really appreciating and understanding it. So, my question is, you know, for those Australian food companies out there who are really looking to authentically incorporate native ingredients, what do you think are some of the shifts that they need to think about from a country and community connection? What kind of things do they, know, connections do they need to make?

So that they're not using it as a tokenistic ingredient, but more really understanding through partnership and cultural respect in terms of what's needed?

Tara:

Yeah, absolutely. think first and foremost, understand that native ingredients come with meaning, they come with history, they come with culture and connection to land. And that the only reason that we can use these plants is because that knowledge has been passed down from generations of from indigenous people passing that down and being the stewards and caretakers of that knowledge and these plants for them to still be available today for use.

I think you should, if you're looking to, you know, use these plants or get involved in the native food industry, that you should be engaging Indigenous advisors from the very beginning and not as a tick box, but as a true authentic co-design role as part of the outset because you need to build long-term relationships with mob. That's how we work. We want to sit down with you and understand you and your story and your journey. And we want to build long-term relationships, not transactional engagements. 

I think there are a few brands out there who perhaps have tried to engage with mob, but sometimes can turn out to be quite exploitative, particularly with engaging elders and using images of our elders and making their brands look like they're indigenous owned when they're not, which is, know, falsely representing that to consumers who think that they're purchasing from authentic places as well. I think, yeah, just be aware of that and engage meaningfully with community and and include community authentically, not as a tick-box exercise.

Angeline: 

That's great advice, thank you. We talked a little bit when we caught up about policy and I know you're very passionate around this given some of the advisory roles that you have. So what policy changes and industry support do you believe are most critical to unlock the potential of Australia's native food industry?

Tara:

Yes, great question. I just recently did a piece in the Australian that was out last week about this. I, you know, the native plant industry is becoming, I think it's estimated to be worth about $80 million at the moment and to grow well beyond that into the years to come. So it's, it's, it's a truly sort of unique industry that we have in this country. And we need to approach it right from a policy perspective. So I would love to see protection around the Indigenous cultural intellectual property. It could look something like a like an Indigenous led registry, perhaps where you got licensing to be able to use the plants, which then could funnel royalties back to different Indigenous communities and help support different projects and also to be involved in the industry. That would be wonderful to see. It's similar to like how you see champagne and you can't call champagne champagne unless it's from champagne because they have the IP around it. 

So, you know, we could see that for Kakadu plums or pepper berry, Tasmanian mountain pepper, you know, and we would know where it came from. The royalties could go back to community and people could still use and engage it with it. I think it would be great to see some stimulation around generating regional jobs with the industry. You know, training, access to different machinery, perhaps, just making funding and training and opportunity available to different communities across Australia to be involved in that 80 million plus industry built on Indigenous knowledge, I think we need to ways to build that industry in regional areas to benefit Indigenous communities and ensure that they're also involved.

Amie:

That makes so much sense and I love how you've sort of built that framework and policy idea there. You've obviously got such a great vision. So I'm keen to know what would success look like for you, not just personally, for you and Yaala, but for the broader transformation you're driving and how Aussies connect with their indigenous food heritage?

Tara:

Yes, I always say my big hairy audacious goal is Yaala to be the true drink of Australia, like Aperol is to Italy or Bintang is to Bali. You know, I'd love to see it be a symbol of local pride and, you know, served proudly in people's homes and something you pick up as a souvenir at the airport. It's truly encapsulating the land and the Australian cuisine and the plants and the flavors that we have here. And I think that is something to be celebrated. And I would love to see our brand continue to grow and be available all across Australia and everybody to sort of be proud of it as Australian flavors.

Angeline:

I love that vision. I could imagine it on Qantas and you fly back in or something like that.  Yes, introduce all the tourists to our culture here.

Tara:

Absolutely, I would love to see that and love to see people tasting these flavours too.

Amie:

Thank you Tara and Angeline and a big thank you for listening to this episode of Women Transforming Food. If you've enjoyed this episode, feel free to like and subscribe wherever you tune in to your podcasts.