Celebrating women of hospitality, here’s our women hops heroes from the last year:
The General, new to Mt Maunganui in 2017 it quickly gone on to win multiple awards and most recently the Nourish Magazine Outstanding Cafe of the Year at the 2019 Bay
Hospitality Awards.
Check out our Q&A with Malika
In 2002, Emma and Ahmed met and moved from Wellington to Abu Dhabi and started a family. On a trip back to Ahmed’s hometown Toronto one year, they stumbled across the fabulous Snakes & Lattes. A board game cafe! Coffee and beer and food and board games.
The germ of an idea started to form, and desert life was beginning to get hot and monotonous, so… they moved back to Wellington. They started looking and looking for a place to open a board game cafe and share their love of board games and coffee and beer and food. One day, they saw a TO LEASE sign underneath their old super cool inner city apartment. In a mad chaos of sleepless nights and ‘What ARE we doing?’ moments, they opened the doors of Counter Culture Board Game Cafe and Bar on 1 June 2017.
Check out our Q&A with Emma
Emma Mettrick and Welshman Paul Howells met working in Galway, Ireland in 2007.
On returning to/being dragged to New Zealand they set up the Little Bistro in Akaroa in 2010.
Post quakes, a longing to return to Emma’s home town Christchurch meant selling up and opening Twenty Seven Steps in August 2015.
Check out our Q&A with Emma
Starting as a humble food caravan, Sushi Ninja opened their first restaurant in central New Plymouth in 2007, followed by a second, Sushi Ninja Express in 2017.
Owner and manager, Sophie Kurota was born in New Zealand to a Japanese mother (Tokyo) and a Kiwi father. She has lived for an equal period of time in both countries, getting the best of both worlds and is a bi-cultured person. She is the manager and face of Sushi Ninja and in charge of the front of house team, marketing and overall making sure things go smoothly. Her hobby is her job. She loves people and loves her customers and team. Often she is referred to the “Work Mum”. She quotes, “Ken fell in love with Taranaki’s surf and I fell in love with the landscape and the people.”
Check out our Q&A with Sophie
Certified Sommelier and writer for wine columns in M2 and M2Woman magazines, Angie Atkinson, has twenty years experience in the Hospitality and Wine industries including owning two restaurants and a cafe along with her own wine business which has been in operation for more than ten years.
Angie is passionate about wine and hospitality. She takes pride in providing exceptional service and has built lasting relationships with customers. This has won her the Restaurant Association of New Zealand Outstanding Sales Representative Lewisham Award in 2019.
Check out our Q&A with Angie
Sue, a renowned chef, set up The Great Catering Company in 1995. Trained at the Savoy Hotel in London, she saw a need to cater to the food-driven dreams of a discerning market. Sue’s stellar kitchen talents have brought tremendous success. Her company is the leader in the private and corporate catering world.
Check out our Q&A with Sue