The Small Business Project - Fuelling business growth with nut butters
Monday, 23 March 2026
The Small Business Project is a weekly series that shines the spotlight on Kiwi small businesses doing interesting and unusual things in their industries.
When Shyr and Brent Godfrey first started making nut butters they weren’t thinking about getting into supermarkets or producing podcasts. They just wanted to start a sustainable business making healthy food.
A decade on their company, Forty Thieves, has soared beyond the farmers markets they first sold their nut butters in. Now, they have their products in supermarkets around the country, export to a host of markets in Asia, and have launched a podcast.
Shyr Godfrey talks to Miriam Bell about chasing adventure, fuelling business growth in a tough market, and building a unique brand.
What has your business set out to achieve?
The Forty Thieves mission is fuelling everyday and epic adventures. We believe pursuing adventure is what makes life meaningful - whether it's training for something, hitting the surf or the mountains, building a business or career, or raising kids.
Pushing yourself to do hard things requires good fuel. From day one our goal has been to produce natural, high-quality, sustainably-produced food that boosts energy and confidence. And food that tastes amazing too.
We’re proud that the quality of our products has been recognised consistently through national and international food awards. Those awards matter to us because they validate that you don’t have to compromise on taste to make something nutritious.
We also want to ensure our products are accessible to all, so we’ve remained competitive on pricing to ensure our peanut butter is affordable for all households.
How much time and money have you invested in it until now?
For the past decade Brent and I have both worked full time in the business, growing it organically and reinvesting profits each year rather than seeking external investors.
That’s allowed us to retain ownership of our growing company, and to build it to the scale it is today.
We now produce about 30,000 jars of nut butter each week to meet growing demand. Our products are stocked in more than 500 stores nationwide, and we have strong export markets in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Singapore is our largest export market. We recently doubled our distribution after securing ranging in FairPrice, and are now shipping a 20- foot container roughly every two months.
To support that growth we have established our own production facility and built a high-performance team of 12 across production, operations, sales and marketing. That enables us to manufacture at scale while continuing to grow strong brand demand in New Zealand and our export markets.
Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) is a cash-hungry industry, where there can often be around 60 days between paying for ingredients and receiving payment from retailers. At the same time, our growth continues to accelerate, with 80% year on-year growth in New Zealand grocery alone as of February.
This growth is exciting, but it also means the working capital required to support it continues to increase.
What's the biggest challenge your business is facing?
One of our biggest challenges right now is keeping up with demand. We’re seeing strong growth locally, and we’re also exploring some exciting new export opportunities - including one from a recent trip to London.
Growth is a great problem to have, but it puts pressure on the business. In FMCG you’re always trying to plan months ahead, making sure ingredients, production and retailer orders stay in sync. But an unexpected supermarket display or a large export order can land, and suddenly you’re scrambling to get everything out the door on time.
We also continue to invest in the brand. So we recently purchased a second production line from Italy, which will triple our manufacturing capacity, and this year we launched our podcast Smashing PBs, which has been well received by customers, retailers and fellow brand owners.
The challenge there is managing current growth and planning for future growth, while maintaining product quality and a positive, high-performing team.
What's the biggest issue impacting your industry?
One of the biggest challenges in our industry is the variability in ingredient costs. Nuts are an agricultural product, so pricing is heavily influenced by growing conditions, climate events and water availability.
On top of that, geopolitical tensions can disrupt supply chains and push prices up quickly. These factors are largely outside a manufacturer’s control, but they have a direct impact on the cost of producing food, and margins in FMCG are already tight.
Supermarkets are essential partners because they give brands access to customers at scale, but the cost of doing business in those channels is significant. Retail margins, promotional funding and supply chain requirements add up, which means manufacturers often carry much of the pressure when input costs rise.
For brands like ours, it means managing the pressure between maintaining product quality and ingredient integrity while absorbing cost increases and still offering value to customers. It requires careful planning, strong supplier relationships and highly disciplined operations to ensure the business remains profitable.
What's next for Forty Thieves Nut Butters?
A few years ago we realised one of the biggest opportunities for us was closing distribution gaps, increasing brand awareness and encouraging more trial.
We’ve worked hard on this, alongside our sales and merchandising partners who have been instrumental in lifting our in store visibility and building stronger relationships with retail partners. We also increased our advertising spend and adjusted our marketing strategy to reach more customers.
The results are starting to show. We’ve managed to triple our market share in our category in New Zealand grocery, and feel confident the obvious demand for our products means there is plenty more room to grow.
To support that growth we’ve invested in new machinery to increase our production capacity, and we have several new product ideas currently in development.
For Brent and I personally, the next stage is about continuing to build the team around us, and delegating more within the business so we can focus on working on the business. This will allow us to think more strategically about the direction we are heading, while ensuring we don’t burn out, and can remain focused for the long term.
In three years time you will be…
… a trusted pantry staple in households across New Zealand. We’ll be producing from a larger purpose-built facility and continuing to develop unique, award-winning products.
Through strong efforts in brand alignment with fitness, wellness and health-focused brands, communities and events, we’ll be the preferred nut butter for athletes, adventure seekers, wellness enthusiasts, active families and anyone striving to live life to the fullest.
Personally, I’d also love to spend more time sharing our experiences with other founders and businesses through speaking and mentoring opportunities – TedX here I come!
What do you wish you had known before starting the business?
One of the biggest things I’ve learned is that FMCG is a scale game. A huge amount of effort needs to go into getting as many people as possible to know about your product and, most importantly, to try it.
Occasionally I think about whether Brent and I would have started the business if we’d known how much work it would take. And the answer is still yes! It’s been an amazing journey that has created so many fun experiences for us.
Owning a business has also taught me a lot about resilience. I have learned to sit with disappointment and failure, and then channel that energy into the next opportunity.
Most helpful piece of advice you have ever received?
I love a piece of advice from Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph: “The goal isn’t to prove your idea will work, it’s to prove it might work, as cheaply and quickly as possible.”
I like it because it takes the pressure off trying to get everything perfect right away, and instead encourages you to just test ideas, learn quickly and adjust.
‒ If you would like your business to feature in The Small Business Project, email Aimee Shaw at aimee.shaw@stuff.co.nz.