Matthew | Matakana
“My name’s Matthew, and my home is Matakana. I moved over here last year and started a business after only spending 10 days in this country with my partner.
Was a bit scary to leave where you’re from, and move to the other side of the world, and start a business. So, that’s what I’m currently doing. It’s all new, and it’s a wonderful country. We have a catering business in Matakana surrounded by some of the best produce in the country and amazing vineyards. So we’re based in the heart of awesome produce, and we are serving weddings from Auckland to the North of the country, and our focus is to bring restaurant quality food from the producers to a catering event, and not feel like a catered event is all frozen food. So, there are no battery farms. We know where all our food comes from in the country, and there’s a story with every meal we produce.
I’m a trained chef from London. I trained in London in some interesting restaurants, and then I travelled the world working in the rest of Europe, Hong Kong, Sydney and now here, and this is probably the best place I’ve been to, in terms of being able to go outside and actually experience what’s happening outside. When you’re from a city, you only really see it on TV or on holidays, but to be close to the sea and go fishing whenever you can, whenever you want to is pretty amazing.
I think you have to be brave. I think you have to put yourself forward. I’ve trained a lot of young people who were scared about stepping foot inside a kitchen, or moving to the next part of their career, or going somewhere else, or going abroad to work. So, with my experience, it’s been great to show what you can do, and be brave. By taking big leaps that you probably wouldn’t even think about doing, which can completely change your life, and change the person you are.”
