The Kutai Guy: From spat to smoke—and now, the world
Mussel spat isn’t just part of Zarn Reichardt’s business—it has shaped his entire life.
Growing up in the Far North, Zarn was surrounded by the ocean, the beach and the mussel spat industry. His father, Sean, spent years working in the industry, and Zarn followed him into it.
“I’ve been around mussel spat forever. It’s all I’ve ever really known.”
In 2013, after years of working for other people, father and son decided it was time to back themselves and launched Reichardt Marine.
“We’d worked for everyone else for long enough, so we thought, bugger it—let’s have a crack ourselves.”
Today, Reichardt Marine supplies between 80 and 90 tonnes of wild-caught mussel spat each year to mussel farmers throughout New Zealand.
But this isn’t just another seafood business.
Zarn and his wife, Michelle—better known as Mama Kutai—have built something that connects the entire journey: collecting mussel spat from the beaches of Te Oneroa-a-Tōhe, supplying it to farmers, and then buying back the mussels once they’re fully grown to create their award-winning smoked Greenshell™ mussels.
It’s a true spat-to-smoke story.
Working with wild-caught spat has also taught the Reichardts that no matter how ambitious you are, Mother Nature is still the boss.
“We only collect spat when the conditions are right. Our whole lives revolve around an 18-day weather forecast. You can have all the gear, all the people and the best plan in the world—but if Mother Nature says no, you’re not going.”
Over the past few years, The Kutai Guy has grown from a small Far North smokehouse into one of New Zealand’s most exciting emerging seafood brands.
Zarn and Michelle have collected multiple gold medals for their smoked mussels, won the Cuisine Artisan Award at the New Zealand Food Awards, and built a loyal online community of around 80,000 people by openly sharing the wins, the setbacks and the reality of building a family business.
“We’re not marketing experts. We just tell the truth, show people what we’re doing and take them along for the ride. It’s not always polished, but it’s real—and I think people connect with that.”
Earlier this year, the Reichardts made the difficult decision to close their Houhora processing facility while they searched for a new home capable of supporting their much bigger vision.
That search took them across New Zealand and came with plenty of frustration and disappointment. But eventually, it led them to Havelock—right in the heart of New Zealand’s Greenshell™ mussel industry.
“From Houhora to Havelock—from the top of the North Island all the way down to Te Tauihu and the Greenshell™ mussel capital of the world. It almost feels like this is where The Kutai Guy was always meant to end up.”
The new Havelock site will become a purpose-built, export-grade home for the business, giving Zarn and Michelle the ability to increase production, create new products, employ more people and take their smoked mussels to the world.
“We’ve found a place where we can finally build what we’ve been dreaming about. We’ll be surrounded by the mussels, the farmers and the wider industry. You couldn’t ask for a better place to grow a Greenshell™ mussel business.”
Australia is firmly in their sights as the first export market, with Zarn recently travelling to Sydney to introduce The Kutai Guy’s smoked mussels to key people across the seafood industry.
The feedback confirmed what he and Michelle already believed: this little Far North business has created something capable of competing on the world stage.
“We genuinely believe we make the best smoked mussels in the world. We start with beautiful New Zealand Greenshell™ mussels, we don’t cut corners, and we stand behind what we produce.”
But exporting isn’t only about selling more mussels.
For Zarn it’s an opportunity to share the story of New Zealand aquaculture, the people behind it and the journey from a tiny piece of wild-caught spat to a world-class food product.
“All I know how to do is tell our story, tell the New Zealand story and back the quality of what we produce. Now we want to take that story to the world.”
The next chapter is ambitious: more mussels, more jobs, new products, Australia, export markets—and, in Zarn’s words, ‘some bloody big ideas we’ve been sitting on for a long time.’
But behind that ambition is something much more personal.
“This journey isn’t just about building a bigger business. It’s about building something our kids can be part of and something they can be proud of — and showing them that it doesn’t matter where you come from you can have a big dream and give it everything.”
From collecting mussel spat on a beach in the Far North to building an export business in the mussel capital of the world, The Kutai Guy’s journey is only just getting started.
Zarn and Michelle Reichardt of The Kutai Guy will speak at the Aquaculture New Zealand Conference in Nelson on 14–15 October 2026.
“From Houhora to Havelock—from the top of the North Island all the way down to Te Tauihu and the Greenshell™ mussel capital of the world. It almost feels like this is where The Kutai Guy was always meant to end up.”
