Pahoa business to pitch Walmart merchants

Four Hawaii businesses, including Healing Noni in Pahoa, are scheduled to be among the nearly 850 Open Call applicants selected from approximately 4,800 businesses around the country to pitch their U.S. manufactured products to Walmart’s team of merchants.

Healing Noni Co. began in 1998 and is now one of the largest producers and suppliers of noni in the world. Noni fruit has been a traditional food of the Hawaiians and Polynesians for thousands of years. The company grows and manufactures a variety of products including 100% noni juice, powder and honey. For more information, visit healingnoni.com.

“It would be amazing for us to become a Walmart supplier,” said Michael Harvey, owner of Healing Noni, Co. “We have 450 acres of Noni and are currently working with 100 farmers here on the Big Island. The possibility of increasing our sales would be huge for us. It would help provide additional stable jobs for our workers and farmers on the island.”

The three other Hawaii businesses selected are Meli Wraps, of Kilauea, Kauai, which began in 2016 and manufactures handmade food wraps designed to reduce plastic and help keep food fresh; Pono Chocolate, out of Paia, Maui, which opened in 2018 and offers unique chocolate bars, handmade in small batches with locally-inspired ingredients such as dragonfruit, coconut and coffee beans; and Smoky Valley Lotions out of Waimea, Kauai, which produces an organic insect repellent body lotion made with Hawaiian taro.

Ecah will have the opportunity to pitch Walmart merchants at Walmart’s annual merchandising event on Oct. 1.

This year, more than 4,800 businesses representing 49 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Canada, Australia and Mozambique applied, a 44% increase in submissions from last year. The businesses selected to participate in Open Call will now start preparing for their 30-minute virtual one-one-one pitch meetings.

Participants could secure deals ranging from a handful of local stores to supplying hundreds of stores and Sam’s Clubs as well as Walmart.com and Walmart Marketplace.