Mussel King wins red meat Dragon's Den comp - Ron Park

0:00This is a podcast from Rover. All right, so a New Zealand Red Meat product range with tongue-soft texture for elderly or unwell people has won the 2026 Meat Industry Association Dragon's Den Competition. Now it was won by Ron Park and he joins us now on the program. It's lovely to have you on and congratulations on the win. Thank you, Dominic. Glad to be here. Firstly, just set the scene so you are based in Canterbury, correct? Yes, Christchurch, yeah. Right, yep. And you have a health supplements company. Tell us a little bit about that. Yes, so I started this health supplement company, called it a, while I was at uni, University of Canterbury. And I started that back in 2017 as part of the Entrepreneurship course at University of Canterbury. And the origin story of that is I was a bit of a hustler when I was young.

1:00So first in the uni I started selling New Zealand supplements into Asian countries such as Korea, where my family's from. And what happened was that I realised all these New Zealand supplement companies were actually just importing products from overseas, from China and India, and sticking a label saying that it's from New Zealand, made in New Zealand. Regulation was a bit more freebacked things so you can actually claim that it was made in New Zealand. No, you can't do that. So you know, someone that has actually grew up with taking New Zealand supplements all my life, I can't put like, I'm actually backstabbing my family and friends, I was selling this to and becoming a liar. So that's what I realised. I wanted to create something that was genuinely New Zealand. Then I found New Zealand Greenland Muscle, which was really clinically well studied, was good for joint health, native to New Zealand, right? So you couldn't fake it. That's why I started with that supplement. And now I'm known as the Muscle King. Not like these muscles, but New Zealand Greenland Muscles. And that's where it began. And I believe we're coming up nine years now. So it's been a wee while.

2:00I may look 21. I'm actually 31. I was going to say, I'm like, you've packed a lot in because you're honestly, yeah, you look like you're in your 20s. I got to say, but anyway, well done. Thank you. Congratulations on that as well. Something must be working. The muscles. It's probably the muscles, right? Yeah. So what's it about muscles, the Greenland Muscles, that are so beneficial? Right. So I can kind of talk in three points. So firstly, Greenland Muscles itself, being from New Zealand cold waters, you know, we're at bottom of the world. We have one of the coldest waters we're in Antarctica, right? So the cold waters allows the Greenland Muscles to have very high level of omega-3s, which are really good for you. And it's unique to us. Like you can grow Greenland Muscles from, let's say, China and India, let's just say, it's not going to have the same health benefits as what we have here. So our environment is really unique. And of course, they have unique omega-3s, such as ETA,

3:03eco-tantraomic acid, which is a secret to why it's so good for joint health. It has been a lot of papers around it. It's anti-planetary properties. And it really helps a lot of people with arthritis or joint pain, like relieve the pains of the connection, move again. Wow, that's great. So that's effectively anti-inflammatory properties, these sorts of things. Actually, I can't believe that we were repackaging products from other countries and sending them off. That's crazy. I wouldn't have picked it, but there you go. You found it out and you've done something about it. Good on you. Definitely. And over the last decade, when I was running the business, the regulations has changed now, and you have to write things like made from imported ingredients. But back then, when I first started, it was worldwide, where you could label anything, you can claim anything. Some products were sold in cancer, and it was a bit different back then. Well, that sort of thing with regulation isn't bad.

4:05Generally, it can be a little cumbersome, but you need it sometimes. So tell me, the Kiwi Tender range of premium New Zealand red meat products, what made you firstly decide to go down that road and then enter the dragons' den competition with this Kiwi Tender range? So I'll just have to tell you another quick story, if you've been online. It's a bit of a passion project online. Imagine a typical Kiwi Christmas dinner. You've got your family, you're having your roast and whatnot. And last Christmas, I realized that my grandma wasn't really eating properly. So I was just kind of curious, and I was asking her, like, hey, why are you not eating? Are you on well? And I realized that when you get older, as you get older, you struggle to do a lot of day-to-day things, and that includes chewing and eating meat. As you can tell, meat has fibrous texture. Elders actually struggle to consume that as a younger person.

5:08Not young, but younger person. You don't really think about these things. And when I learned that I wanted to find a solution for my grandma, and sort of the model that I have for this venture is, every dinner where everyone can enjoy, not just selected few. So that's sort of the story behind why I wanted to do this. Obviously, sort of coming from university, sort of technical background, I wanted to find innovative ways to make this happen, not just make a product. So I went back to, I talked to my, a couple of my business partners, lecturers from universities, and whatnot, and found ways that we can tenderize meat. So it's tongue-chirical. I love the word tongue-chirical, because you can really imagine, right? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, so that's the story. We're early stage. We've made some lab products at the moment, but we're getting help from, you know, universities, Massey, Canberre, and Tiago, and guys at Anscomre Alliance to make this really come true. Because we are not the first to create this Kiwi tenderisation.

6:10We're using New Zealand Kiwi Fruit to tenderise using the enzymes. There's been a lot of work that has been done before, but we're just wanting to take it to the next level. Right, okay, so go back a step. Kiwi Fruit, so that's the tenderisation process. You use that to be able... That's sort of the technical process. Talk me through it. How does it work? You've got a lovely bit of grass-fed New Zealand meat. You want to make it a bit more chewable, palatable, as it were for, you know, the elderly, et cetera. How do you do that? Exactly. So the Kiwi tender wasn't just... It was actually a play on words, you know? We are from New Zealand Kiwi, but the same time, we're literally using Kiwi Fruit enzymes to tenderise meat. So it's almost like a pre-treatment. So, you know, you have your lovely New Zealand premium beef, lamb, venison, you call it. You will use the extracted Kiwi enzyme, treat it almost, and then it'll... The enzymes in Kiwi Fruit will actually dissolve the meat and tenderise it during that process.

7:11Interesting. Okay, so this is done, what? Prior, you can buy it like... When you envisage this on the market, that process will have taken place. You then sell that... That's being... Had the Kiwi Fruit treatment as it were on, and people buy it like that, ready to... What, then you just cook it, and it's tender. Is that the way it works? Exactly. That's exactly right. So we have other sort of trace secret processes that we have in between. So we'll pre-treat it, and then we'll further tenderise it using different techniques that they will have come up with. But essentially, the final product will be ready to eat meat. You can cook it if you want to, like sausages, for example, but just way better. You can cook it if you want to. You can eat it straight away if you want to. So, Ron, what does it do to the... I guess the nutritional value, etc. Is there any... Is any of that compromised in the process? No, it's actually it's better. So there's been a clinical trial or work that's been done

8:14by, you know, amazing Kiwis. So what has the results from the studies show that the hydrolysis or the Kiwi sort of treatment process actually increases the aroma, the texture, and also, most importantly, for elderly's, the absorption rate of the protein. Oh, great. So it's not just a tenderised meat. It's actually a bitter product because sorry to go into this, because I'm a little bit passionate. Well, the leaves, actually, as you get older, you struggle to absorb protein. And lower amount of protein, they eat less, lower amount of absorption, meaning that their overall muscles are decreases, which results in many different health issues. So this treatment will not only just make a great, amazing product, but also at the same time make product that is actually absorbable, more bioavailable, that will in turn be good for the elderly's. Yeah, right. The bioavailability, yeah. That's the key to the whole thing, really,

9:16which is fantastic. And when you say, it can be crushed with the tongue. So what sort of texture are we actually talking about here? Yeah, no, that's a really good question. So in regards to the tenderisation process and the softness, so there's actually four different levels. And I haven't reinvented this well. It's actually something that has been used in Taiwan at the moment, and that's the model that we're adopting. So the four sort of levels is obviously you've got your firmness, like a normal meat firmness. And then on the other spectrum is almost a super, super texture. Yeah. So and then you've got the in-between the two. So if you can imagine our sort of caretender products will sit on this level and this level. So you'll be able to chew it with your tongue, yeah. Yeah, right. So yeah, okay. Well, that makes a lot of sense then. So yeah, the idea came from obviously, yeah, your family and Christmas dinner and that there. And so you've got sort of other examples around the world.

10:17You dimensioned sort of Singapore. There are any other like products on the market. So there's only one company that's actually commercialised this. And it's only in Taiwan from my limited piece. Yeah. Yeah. And what I can say is that we're going to become the market leader because of their products. I'll send you a photo later. Looks like some lolly you buy from a corned dairy. Like it's colourful. It's like in a little wee. I don't even know how to call it like a bag. And it's got gooey stuff inside and like small pallets of meat. I'll send you a photo. It looks quite disgusting really. It looks like, you know, I mean, even pet food is better than that these days, right? Yeah. So that's their sort of way of doing it. Highly, highly processed. And our sort of aim is to bring the whole premium New Zealand meat as soft as possible as it is, not highly processed

11:19and make it into some corned dairy lolly looking thing. Yeah. Because that's an important part of it. Because, you know, people's perceptions of what they're buying if they want to be going meat. Then they want it to kind of look like meat for a start, right? Exactly. I mean, that's the whole thing, right? No one misses out. If I were to bring up that Taiwanese product to my grandma, I don't think she'll eat it. I wouldn't want to eat it, right? So we want her to experience Christmas dinner or just dinner in general, where she doesn't feel like she's missing a minute. So it just needs to look apart, really. Yeah. I think that's part massively important. Yeah. Okay. So what was it like to pitch this to the team in the meat industry association that the Dragons den comp and go through that process? It was pretty amazing, really. You're sitting in front of the market leaders, the thought leaders, the scientists, people that are the smartest sitting in front of you and listening to your pitch.

12:19So it was quite nerve-wracking, I'll be honest. I honestly didn't think I would win, given that all the ideas that were in the finest panels were highly innovative, very technical. So that's number one. I was quite nervous. Secondly, everyone's very supportive. So we had the pitch, and then afterwards we had dinner together. I've just got barbecue dinner, because there was a meat in my eye, right? A lot of good meat there, so we had barbecue. And everyone was just a loved idea. They just asked me like, how can you support? Like, what can we do? Like you need grants, funding, blah, blah, blah. So it's been a really cool experience. It really helped me. I'll say it like this, Dominic. If it wasn't for this competition, I don't think this idea would have gone through. Oh, wow. Okay. I'll say that. Yeah. From this competition, it's not about the prize or anything. It's the network and the support that comes with it that really shapes the future or businesses.

13:20So yeah, it's been great. Yeah, that's cool, because I imagine there'll be a scenario where they will kind of, yeah, be a shoulder to lean on, I suppose, and lend expertise throughout the process. They won't just go, okay, here's the prize money. Go and do your thing. They'll be a bit more, you know, sort of hands-on, maybe. Yeah. I've been having multiple, multiple meetings since the competition. So I'm meeting with, you know, obviously, EMAA, I'm meeting with the Dins, which is dear association. I'm having meetings with Anskell, like all these guys, Massey University, Canberra, of course, so very supportive. Yeah. Yeah, that's cool, because I guess the thing is, you know, these ideas, they don't necessarily always come off, do they? I mean, you've been given the chance. What do you think is the chance of success of this? Actually, you know, and I don't know, you tell me the timeframe, but, you know, I don't know if you've got one,

14:20but actually, this being on the shelves available for, you know, people in this country, and beyond, to purchase. Definitely. I do have a play, which is a good start. So first, yeah, for us, is finalising the product development. It's getting their MVP ready. So we've got a lab trial down. We want to scale that up slightly, and actually have product testing. So I'll at least try the product and, you know, the flavour profile and whatnot. So that's the first year, just getting that done. And then the second is actually scaling that up into a pilot a plant where we can actually prove to, you know, investors or for the community that we can actually scale this further. And then the third year is for us to really fully go commercial, into the export markets, like the Asian markets that we're targeting, and whatnot. Yeah. Great. That's good. I like it. I like it. I think initially, you get for winning the Dragon's Den Comp.

15:20So that will help, obviously, with, you know, that phase of it, that sort of research phase, I suppose. Yeah. Definitely. And I'll be, I'm very grateful for this, but I just have to clarify, and I hope this message goes out there because 10 grand is not a lot of money when it comes to innovative technical products like this. So anyone that is listening, you know, if you're listening, please tell your family and friends, we need funding. I'm just going to be very blatantly out there. I'm not a person who's going to just say, I want this competition, I'm not going to do anything about it. I've got 10 grand in my cash. I'm not going to do something about it. And then completely honest, 90s of business, this is not my first business. This is my first technical commercialisation that I'm doing. It needs millions of dollars. Millions of dollars. And if we want to improve our country's economy and when it comes to meat through innovation, because I'm very passionate about this, what we lack in New Zealand right now is that we're great at doing primary industries. But all the money is being made overseas.

16:21They're processing it. They're selling it. They've got the margin. What we need to do as a country is to increase our products value. And that's what we want to do. And we need funding for such as, you know, tenderised meat. We'll be able to create margin doing these innovative things, right? That doesn't happen overnight. It needs money. It needs funding. So if anyone's hearing this, please give me your money. I'm not going to waste it. I'm actually going to do something about it. An agro-economy. Well, I totally agree with you. I think those things have to be looked at. I guess that's the reason why MIA, you know, set up something like this is to get the ball rolling on some of this innovation and stuff like that. So good pitch too. I like that. Yeah, yeah. Good man. How do people get in touch with you? Should they want to find out more? You can email me or call me. I don't really mind, really. So I'll drop by and draw an email. Yeah. Currently, my email that I'm using is just ron.park, which is my full name,

17:21rn.prk at quarterday.com, which is the company that I funded out of University of Canterbury. So yeah, all my phone number, 021290, I don't know if I should do that. Yeah, I'll tell you what, let's look at my number out, man. You don't know what kind of can of worms. That one will open. People Google, as you say, the good quarter day was K-O-R-U-R-E. Yes, correct.com. Yep.com. There you go. You'll find her on that way and you can find out more about Kiwi Tender, which is very cool. It's just one, as I said at the start there, the 2026 Meet Industry Association Dragon's Den competition. We'll be watching with great interest. Ron, it's been nice to talk with you. Thanks for that. Thank you, don't worry. Thank you for your time.