The only quinoa in the aisle: how Kiwi Quinoa earned an 800% return on ad spend

Kiwi Quinoa grows quinoa in Taihape, on New Zealand's North Island, and sells it through New World and Pak'nSave. They were Appetise's first customer, and they've watched the platform grow up alongside them.

Kiwi Quinoa are the only quinoa supplier on Appetise in New Zealand, which means their products are the default for every NZ shopper who opens a recipe calling for quinoa. The question was whether that default position would actually convert, or whether shoppers would treat it the way they treat a supermarket shelf: skim, compare, and fall back on price or the brand they already recognise.

We put Kiwi Quinoa where the decision gets made, inside the recipe. Their products appeared 2,837 times across 248 recipes between April and September 2026, in dishes like the Moroccan Quinoa Power Bowl, Quinoa, Sweet Potato & Black Bean Power Bowl with Hommus Dressing, and Quinoa & Chicken Hotpot with Sweet Potato & Vegetables. No shelf to compete on. No price war to enter. Just the ingredient a shopper had already decided to cook with.

- 800% return on ad spend

- 42% conversion rate on Kiwi Quinoa Wholegrain

- 61% capture rate on their strongest recipe, the Quinoa, Sweet Potato & Black Bean Power Bowl with Hommus Dressing

- 56% to 58% capture on their next best performers

- 1,367 New Zealand households reached

- 248 recipes featuring the product.

On a shelf, being present is the start of the argument. In a recipe, being present is the end of it. When the product is already in the basket by default, shoppers don't go looking for a reason to swap it out, they just cook.

"We're a small grower in Taihape, so we're never going to outspend anyone on shelf. Being the quinoa inside the recipe means we don't have to. Shoppers find us because they're already making the dish," Jacqui Cottrell, Co-Founder at Kiwi Quinoa, says.