Pete’s Naturals is a family-owned business based in Motueka that makes high quality, low sugar sodas using only NZ grown spray-free fruit, that is 100% natural.
Pete’s Natural was borne of the desire to create a healthier, natural alternative to the standard unhealthy, high sugar, fizzy drink. After much trial and error, owner and founder Pete Blommaert has created eight low sugar boutique sodas, three functional flavours with no added sugar, and sparkling water.
In New Zealand, a lot of fruit is wasted as it rots on the ground. This is because it is cheaper to import a concentrate from overseas than to use fresh fruit. Unfortunately, these concentrates are full of additives, preservatives, and artificial colours and flavours.
All Pete’s Natural’s fruit comes from New Zealand.
“We choose to support the NZ fruit industry and call this Fairtrade@home, supporting our own first,” said Blommaert.
“We pay a fair price to all our fruit suppliers and make it worth their while to pick it for us. By doing this, we ensure that there is no additives, preservatives, or anything artificial in our drinks.”
“Our feijoas come from Appleby, lemons and limes from the Tasman region and Hawkes bay, chillies from Auckland hops from Nelson.”
Blommaert also uses spray-free fruit. Many fruit farmers in New Zealand are not certified organic but use the same processes as a certified organic fruit farm because they just cannot justify the cost of the certification.
“We don’t get the benefit of the certification,” said Blommaert, “but we Walk the Talk.”
As well as spray-free, the sodas are made from freshly squeezed juice.
“We don’t use any preservatives, additives, artificial colours or flavours, unlike concentrates which have lots of them added. As our drinks are 100 percent natural, you can see the sediment at the bottom of the bottle – this reinforces that this is an entirely natural product.
“Plus, with a simple ingredient list people can understand, consumers know exactly what they are putting into their bodies.”
Pete’s Natural’s sodas are also sweetened with Manuka honey from local Nelson honey. Nelson honey is a family-owned business established over 100 years ago and draws on three generations of beekeeping and honey production. It has strict quality control that ensures it provides high-quality products free from insecticides or other agricultural sprays.
As well as being naturally focused, sustainability is another core value for Pete’s Natural.
The brand uses recyclable glass bottles that are made from up to 70 percent recycled NZ glass, paper labels and the factory is solar-powered.
“You won’t find any plastic on a Pete’s product,” Blommaert confirmed.
“We use a special bottle called the Infinite bottle that is made from up to 70 percent recycled New Zealand glass and is 100 percent recyclable.” All the drinks are produced and bottled using solar power as well.
“This helps us ensure we have a cleaner, greener New Zealand, both now and for generations to come.”
