Pitango for the Family,
Body and Soul…

It all began with a simple, yet radical idea – to create ready to eat organic foods in a prepackaged product which was not only tasty, but fresh, healthy, GE free, organic, convenient and easy to prepare.

This was in 1999 - not too long ago - but even then this notion seemed a bit mad as the predominant thinking on "organics" was that it was "too healthy" and exclusive to hippies and greenies or it was too expensive.

Not so easily deterred, within a few years of arriving in NZ with only their backpacks and heaps of determination, Ofer and Yasmin Shenhav endeavoured to prove this could be done. The combination of culinary talents and health conscious backgrounds made the creation of Pitango inevitable.

Ofer is a chef by trade, having worked in top restaurants in London and Israel. Yet, the roots of his culinary passion go deeper, back to his childhood in Israel. He comes from a household where food is loved and very much an expression of the Jewish tradition. His childhood home is also a place of strong Mediterranean culture where the influences of Middle Eastern spices and the hearty richness of food from Eastern European ghettos fuse together to create the exotic nature of Israeli food.

Yasmin is a trained dancer, with an MA in fact and had taught for years.  In addition to being born in NZ and raised in Israel, she too shares the expectation that food be fresh, healthy and readily available. Her passion for healthy eating was further fueled by her dance training – a dancer inherently knows that taking care of your body requires good quality nourishment to perform.

Thus Pitango was born with their passion, drive and not soon after… serendipity! They started off with a range of fresh and healthy organic pasta salads which were perfect for summer, but as winter took hold, found that interest dropped. At the same time Yasmin went in search of fresh, healthy and warming soup to warm to nourish her and her family. She didn't find it in the supermarket shelves, but what she did find (and here is the serendipity!) is opportunity. Not only would creating a fresh organic soup that is pre-packaged and easy to prepare satisfy their own needs for quick and healthy meal they reckoned, other busy families must be looking for the same thing.

So Ofer and Yasmin had set out to do what had not yet been done. From the very beginning they believed Pitango soups have to be inspiring. They have to have an edge and be special. Some would call it fate, but whatever you call it, Pitango worked and people loved the soup when it appeared in supermarkets.

They first introduced the range with Tomato & Thyme, and the Pumpkin soup, adding a touch of ginger to reinvent this enduring kiwi classic. People loved it and they found that consumers obviously wanted a quick and healthy organic food for themselves. Success!

And this has been the key to Pitango's success; innovative flavours, clean presentation, quality organic ingredients and never losing sight of the main incalculable ingredients – passion, love & dedication – the heart and the soul in the preparation of every product.

This is the food Yasmin and Ofer serve their family. And as the range of soup flavours grew to meet customers demand for something extraordinarily delicious and healthy, their own family grew.  Having children of their own fortified their passion to make such foods available. Yasmin discovered this first hand while she was pregnant how important it is to provide the very best quality food for your child. Now being a busy mother of two growing boys, the awareness of the need for convenience for everyone's busy lifestyle still bears strongly on the development of Pitango products.

With the success of bringing organics to the mainstream six years ago to New Zealand supermarkets Pitango have expanded the soup range to 11 flavours, added a fresh organic dips range and are now found on supermarket shelves all across Australia, and further abroad in Hong Kong and other markets. Only having exported to Australia for three years, Pitango is now the market leader in the category. Yet, despite all this growth, Ofer and Yasmin apply the same principles to production that they began with –every product matters. This dedication to create a beautiful healthy organic product, by extension, involves the labour of love made by Pitango chefs and includes the longstanding relationships established with organic growers to ensure Pitango receive the most flavourful and freshest quality ingredients.

All of the success that Pitango have achieved so far is only the beginning of the story. Pitango is not content to rest on their laurels – they are inspired to stimulate not only customers’ tastes, but their own as well! The dynamic relationship between customer demand and Pitango's innovation to provide new products, tastes and flavours is ongoing and is a constant source of challenge.  And with that you can be assured that Pitango will continue to produce original, innovative and delicious foods for the family, body and soul.