Community and Connection
At Mai Kai, you’re not just picking up a box of food, you’re connecting with a kaupapa-driven hapori that knows we can achieve better outcomes for everyone together.
Joining Mai Kai means participating in a community that cares deeply about our kai, the whenua it comes from, and the wellbeing of our whānau. A hapori building a food system rooted in connection, care, and collective strength.
Knowledge and Education
At Mai Kai, we believe skills and knowledge are foundational to health and wellbeing. Not just for individuals, but for whānau and whenua alike.
Knowing how to grow, cook, and care for kai connects us to the land, to each other, and to our own sense of agency. That’s why sharing mātauranga is woven into everything we do — from pack-out sessions to hands-on workshops, from garden tips to kitchen hacks.
Joining Mai Kai means rebuilding confidence, restoring traditions, and reclaiming the everyday skills that help whānau and hapori thrive.
Nutrient-Rich Local Kai
Mai Kai believes in the abundance of our whenua, and that every whānau has the right to access nutrient-rich, high-quality kai — just as our ancestors once did.
Our boxes are packed with organic wholefoods sourced from growers and producers whose names we know and values we respect. The kai is carefully curated each fortnight and designed with choice in mind, so you can tailor it to suit your whānau needs.
This is food grown with care, shared with purpose, and rooted in a system that nourishes both whānau and whenua.
Zero Waste
Joining Mai Kai is an easy way to commit to caring for Papatūānuku. It’s about recognising that the health of our environment is in our hands. At Mai Kai, we empower our whānau to live this responsibility by providing access to packaging-free groceries and encouraging simple, sustainable shifts with a big impact.
Kai Security and Resilience
Joining Mai Kai is an act for food sovereignty, security and resilience.
It’s choosing to redirect your grocery dollars away from global food giants and back into the hands of your neighbours, your whānau, your hāpori. Every box purchased helps generate local income, support meaningful employment, and strengthen the resilience of our regional food system.
This is how we build real food security, not from the top down, but from the ground up. By backing small-scale growers, local producers, and community-led systems, we create a future where good kai is accessible, abundant, and rooted in our own whenua.
