When the data does the talking: how Appetise helped Kaitaia Fire stay ranged on supermarket shelves
“We've had the good news that the supermarket is retaining our Waha Wera sauce, which we're stoked about. A big thanks to Appetise for all your assistance in putting our argument together, we literally couldn't have done it without you.”
Rogan PolkinghorneChief Saucerer & Managing Director, Kaitaia Fire
TLDR
- Kaitaia Fire sauce was up for a range review in a major supermarket chain, and was potentially going to be delisted.
- Their team turned to Appetise and specifically our FMCG agent, Radish, for help building out an argument to stay on shelf.
- The data provided helped Kaitaia Fire secure their place and stay ranged.
Introduction
Every founder knows the feeling: the range review email lands, and one of your products is on the chopping board. For Rogan Polkinghorne, Chief Saucerer at Kaitaia Fire, that moment came in March 2026. A major New Zealand supermarket had flagged Waha Wera, his kiwifruit and habanero hot sauce, for potential delisting as part of a category reset. A New Zealand made product from the Far North, family-run since 1989, was one decision away from losing its place on shelf.
The challenge
Kaitaia Fire came to us with a simple ask: help build the argument to keep it. Using Radish, our range-review engine, we turned Appetise behavioural data into a tight, buyer-ready pack that answered the review on its own terms. The supermarket wanted to cut duplication and sharpen its offer, so we showed exactly where Waha Wera fits, who reaches for it, and what pulling it would cost the category.
The role of Appetise data
This was the evidence Rogan took into the room:
- 26.9% list-to-shop conversion, the second-highest in the entire supermarket's NZ hot sauce set. When shoppers add Waha Wera to a list, they follow through and buy it, with a 1.58x repeat rate.
- Completed shops quadrupled between September 2025 and January 2026, and unique shoppers more than doubled. A product gaining momentum, not fading out.
- Zero duplication. Waha Wera is the only fruit-forward habanero and the only NZ-made artisan sauce in the range. Delisting it opens a gap rather than trimming overlap.
- Trend-aligned. In a global hot sauce category growing at 8.6% a year, "fricy" (fruit plus spice) is tipped as the next flavour wave. Kiwifruit and habanero is textbook fricy, and it was already on shelf.
The results
Rogan presented the pack to the retailer. The verdict came back: Waha Wera stays.
Range reviews reward whoever can prove their value in the retailer's own language. A great product is rarely enough on its own, as someone has to make the case in numbers a buyer can act on. The heat was never the problem here, it was the evidence was the missing ingredient.
"We've had the good news that the supermarket s retaining our Waha Wera sauce, which we're stoked about. A big thanks to Appetise for all your assistance in putting our argument together, we literally couldn't have done it without you," Rogan said. "The pack you put together for Waha Wera was bang on. Really, really helpful, and it covered all the bases."
