Hoeata behind ‘smooth’ business
When a concussion confined Riki Hoeata to bed, the former rugby union player set out to exercise his brain.
Hoeata pushed himself through dazed days on the field after taking a knee to the back of his head during a tackle drill in 2015.
But the former Taranaki lock finished the rugby season with a medical diagnosis that stripped him of his dreams. ‘‘You go from training four hours a day to you can’t do anything,’’ he said.
‘‘I couldn’t concentrate and I wasn’t doing well so I was kind of just looking to do something.’’
Hoeata couldn’t exercise like he wanted, but he knew he could still treat himself to his favourite health food - smoothies. And thus began his business venture.
Craft Smoothie - a weekly smoothie ingredient delivery service - was launched in October 2016 from the back corner of Hoeata’s New Plymouth home. The 29-yearold entreprenuer packs locally sourced ingredients with five different recipes into a box with an oversized print of a motivational or light-hearted quote.
‘‘Don’t count the days, make the days count’’ and ‘‘Be somebody who makes everybody feel like somebody’’ prints are stuffed in the bottom of a cardboard box topped with fruits such as nashis or feijoas, fresh greens, and preportioned nut superfoods.
The $54 boxes are shipped nationwide every week with varying recipes and contain enough ingredients for 10 smoothies. ‘‘It’s something to put myself into and I’m also helping people lose weight.’’
Nearly one year on, the smoothie business has been nominated in three categories under The David Awards, which applauds small New Zealand businesses.
It is up for Most outstanding triumph over adversity, which is awarded to a business that has succeeded in spite of challenges beyond the usual; Most outstanding fledgling business, awarded to a young or start-up venture with a passionate owner; and the Solo Meo Award, handed to a business owner who operates singlehandedly. The home-based business has allowed Hoeata to stay in touch with the things in life he enjoys most.
‘‘There’s a lot of parallels between doing sport and running a business,’’ he said. ‘‘You have to be passionate and you have to have discipline.’’
The growing venture hasn’t garnered attention because of his name, Hoeata said, but his connections with past rugby players have been used wisely. ‘‘I got quite a few of the Tasman boys into it,’’ he said with a chuckle.
And while he’s had to farewell his favourite sport, Hoeata gets a taste for the field when he cheers for older brother Jarrad, former All Blacks player and current lockloose flanker for North Harbour, and younger brother Fin who plays lock for the Chiefs.
He’s even picked up some coaching time for the New Plymouth Old Boys Club and the Taranaki Secondary School Rugby Club.
‘‘It’s been two years now and I’m still not 100 per cent but looking back, I can see how far I’ve come. You learn how far and when you can push yourself.’’