The PlantBased Pantry & Cafe on East Street, Ashburton is exactly what its name promises: a fully vegan grocery store and cafe where every single product — food, drinks, health, beauty and home items — is free from animal ingredients. Opened on 11 January 2025, it was created by Garry and Tony, who left Auckland in 2020, toured the country by campervan, and fell for Ashburton's bustling township and warm, welcoming Kiwi culture before settling here in 2021.
The idea for the shop grew out of their own frustration trying to restock campervan cupboards with genuinely plantbased goods. Today they've built the solution they wished existed: a shopping haven of 100% plantbased products for locals, visitors and holidaymakers passing through the Ashburton area, which they proudly call the South Island's destination for a fully vegan grocery store and cafe.
The shelves cover everything from breakfast staples (jams, cereals, muesli, plant milks, dried fruit and nuts) and hot drinks to pantry and cooking essentials like pasta, canned goods, sauces, oils, spices, stocks and soups, plus vegan baking, chilled and frozen foods, and meal solutions. There's a robust gluten free range across both the grocery and cafe selection, alongside organic, eco-friendly and proudly NZ-made choices, and a wider world of vegan beauty, body care, home cleaning, kitchenware, pet care and gifting.
Crucially, this is not a deli, organic store or health-food shop that also stocks animal-based items on the side. When you shop here, you can do so with total confidence that no animals were harmed to make anything on the shelves. The team is always happy to help with choices, recipes and suggestions — and as part of their commitment to New Zealand's clean, green image, they've recently joined the Trees That Count program to help offset their carbon footprint.
Every great shop usually starts with a frustration, and The PlantBased Pantry & Cafe is no exception. Garry and Tony left the Auckland rat race in 2020, jumped into a campervan and set off on a Kiwi tiki-tour from top to bottom, looking for the perfect place to put down new roots. Along the way they kept hitting the same problem: restocking campervan cupboards with genuinely plantbased products was harder than it should have been.
They knew Ashburton's reputation as a successful farming area, but they were charmed by the beautiful township and the warm, welcoming culture of its people — a town that stays bustling and still holds onto good Kiwi values, where people offer a friendly smile as they go about their day. Ashburton, as they put it, wouldn't let them go, and they happily settled here in 2021. The shop born from that campervan frustration opened its doors on East Street on 11 January 2025.
What makes this place different is simple: 100% of the products stocked at the Pantry and Cafe are vegan, containing no animal ingredients. This is not a deli, organic store or health-food shop that also stocks animal-based items on the side. When you shop here, you can rest assured you've shopped with a 100% vegan, 100% Kiwi business — and you never need to squint at an ingredient list wondering whether something is safe.
The team is dedicated to offering the best local, national and international vegan products that are free from animal testing as well as animal ingredients. There's a strong emphasis on proudly New Zealand-made goods, alongside imported favourites that are often hard to find in smaller towns.
The grocery range runs deep. Breakfast is covered with jams and spreads, grains, cereals and muesli, plantbased milks, and dried fruit, nuts and seeds. Hot drinks include tea, coffee and hot chocolate. The pantry and cooking section spans grains, rice and pulses, pasta and noodles, canned goods, condiments and antipasto, cooking sauces and pastes, oils and vinegar, seasonings, herbs and spices, stocks and broths, and soups. Around those sit vegan baking supplies, meal solutions, and a chilled and frozen section for fridge and freezer staples.
And it goes well beyond food. The health, beauty and wellness range covers functional foods, natural hair and body care, the Giovanni hair and skin care line, organic period care and maternity products, and masculine grooming. Home shelves hold eco-friendly cleaning products, kitchenware, bed linen, spa bath robes and towels, and even natural pet care, plus baby items, clothing and gifting.
Alongside the grocery store sits the Plantbased Cafe, so you can shop and then sit down to fully plantbased food and drink. Importantly for many visitors, the shop offers a robust range of gluten free choices across both the grocery and cafe selection. If you're after dairy free, egg free, gluten free, organic, eco friendly or sustainable products, the team is keen to help — the ranges are continually expanding.
Garry and Tony's commitment goes past the till. Like their customers, they care about animal welfare and about sustaining and enhancing New Zealand's clean green image — they've recently joined the Trees That Count program as one way to help offset their carbon footprint, with details of that work still evolving.
The store welcomes locals, visitors and holidaymakers passing through the Ashburton area, and the team is always available to help with choices, recipes, products and suggestions. You'll find them at 660 East Street, Ashburton, can email hello@theplantbasedpantry.co.nz or call +64 3 307 1550, and can follow along or join the mailing list for news, new products and cool stuff. For anyone who thought a fully vegan grocery run meant a trip to a big city — Ashburton would like a word.