In April 2026, Forbes travel writer Daniel Scheffler wrote about how a small Glen Eden roastery in a West Auckland suburb that the internet hasn't yet got around to romanticising — got the worlds attention and why two of New Zealand's greatest places had both come knocking on the same small door.
The feature traces our founders arc: growing up in Samoa among the rituals of koko, a cup of something hot pressed into every visitor's hands; the early years run on duct tape and prayers; and his late father's principle that has guided everything — "if you can't do it by feel, don't bother, because it won't have any soul."
"Every time an Aunty Tommy's product lands on a menu or a shelf, it's an act of cultural affirmation" it tells Samoan and Pacific families that "our food, our heritage, and our identity belong here too."
The recognition Forbes documented is real and rare. Aunty Tommy's koko features at Tala, Chef Henry Onesemo's Auckland restaurant, and at Flockhill Lodge in the Southern Alps — the only two New Zealand entries on TIME Magazine's World's Greatest Places 2026 list, and the only two from the Oceania region. Both of New Zealand's greatest places, by TIME's reckoning, chose the same West Auckland roastery.
We're proud of the feature. But we're prouder of what it's really about: koko, made our way, finding its place in the world without leaving home behind.
L-R: Marlon Rivers, Muaausa Shane Rivers, Apia, 1976.
Sources
Forbes — "The Pacific Food Revolution Starts In West Auckland, New Zealand," by Daniel Scheffler (30 April 2026): https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielscheffler/2026/04/30/the-pacific-food-revolution-starts-in-a-west-auckland-new-zealand/
