Branding ‘Cooks Brewery’ the Rekareka Way!
Growing into the beer industry, creating business spinoffs for other local entrepreneurs to actively engage in the brewery industry and becoming a tourism attraction to taste 100% locally brewed beer is a first for Company Rekareka Breweries.

Making beer for the first time, having a real love for ‘its’ making’ and while contributing to the local economy is what Entrepreneur, Managing Director, Teariki Pennycook and Co-Directors, Stuart Davies and Edward (Tuki) Nee Nee from Rekareka Breweries are doing.
“Taking those first steps to start the company created a bit of nervousness for our families but fortunately, our team have strengths in different areas ranging from business acumen, sales and marketing to offset the nervousness and most of all a willingness to give it a go”, says Managing Director, Teariki Pennycook.
Pennycook admits that making Cooks Brewery brand beer has had its challenging moments when they first started but over time they have learnt to master the beer brewing technique. They have now mastered the beer brewing, to a level that makes their lager, dark and blonde beers uniquely a Cooks Brewery brand.
The experience gathered since its opening in October 2009 has definitely grown the team at Cooks Brewery’s confidence. It has grown their confidence to a level where they are now comfortable to bring in merchandise to add value to their Cooks Brewery beer.
Initiating ‘Free Beer Tasting’ of their three unique brands at their Avarua site, situated next to the recently opened Primefoods has taken off by surprise and increasing their visibility to the general public. The ‘Free Beer Tasting’ experience that Cooks Brewery provides has added real value to the company while initiating the possibility of introducing a ‘Beer Tasting Tour’ as part of a package deal with local tour operators. Pennycook welcomes everyone to come and try their newly developed Cooks Brewery beer in an interestingly shaped shot glass.
“Merging into a beer industry where it is highly competitive and you make up only 1% to 2% of the market share can be quite daunting, says Pennycook, but at the end of the day, what keeps us a float is the fact that we are giving it a go and we are still doing it. We know that we have to put in a lot of hard work but now that we have picked up the skills on how to brew our own beer brand, it is all hands on deck with a large dose of humour to keep us on to it”, says Pennycook.
Pennycook realises that remaining in the beer industry will require growing their local customer base. Building the local demand for Cooks Brewery beer is a priority, while maintaining and securing their positions in the major Hotels like the Rarotonga Beach Resort, Edgewater Beach Resort and Pacific Resort and various other restaurants.
“I can happily say, says Pennycook, that we are noticing an increase in our sales of our Cooks Brewery beer. It is clear that there is room for us to participate in the beer industry and bring value to our Cook Islands people and local economy. If our sales have increased, I can only say that we are obviously getting something right”, says Pennycook.

Herald Issue 463 10 June
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