Side hustle helps home buyer
Small business owner Reesie Mose started her Polynesian catering business two years ago to earn extra income to get on the Auckland property ladder. This year, she achieved that goal.
Nesian Bites is your classic ‘‘side hustle’’, a favourite pastime turned into a money-earning small business on the weekends, though when she is busy she’s also preparing and cooking in the evenings, after her full-time job.
When she started in 2018, Facebook and Instagram were the only marketing platforms she used. ‘‘I seriously wouldn’t have done it without these two media sites,’’ Samoan-born Mose said. ‘‘They pretty much pulled in all my customers, and there have been a lot.’’
Covid-19 lockdowns stopped her weekend business in its tracks but because she and her husband had full-time jobs, the impact was not too severe.
Post-lockdowns her business is busier than before, which has surprised her. It had a more consistent customer base of businesses and corporates, rather than families and young professionals celebrating or having events like weddings, who were mainly her customers before Covid. Her specialties are Polynesian grazing platters and tables which include bite-sized mixes of vegetables, cheeses, cured meats, seasonal fruits, nuts, sweets and desserts.
It’s not easy to set up a registered and licensed catering business, she found, as Auckland Council has certain requirements. Through online searching she discovered The Kitchen Project, a programme developed by Auckland Council’s Panuku development agency and ATEED (Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development) to help indigenous and migrant communities in west and south Auckland turn their food hobbies and passions into a business.
Mose was interviewed and had to present her products to chefs and council staff. She attended the programme three times a week for six months. The programme, which takes five to eight business owners in each intake, helps new small-business owners set up a business, develop a business plan and subsidises the commercial kitchens for hire.
Instead of paying more than $100 an hour to hire a commercial kitchen, she pays $10 an hour through The Kitchen Project.
Various specialists from banks, the accounting profession and digital technology companies came to talk to the small business owners. The programme was run out of the council’s Henderson office.
‘‘That’s been a blessing for my small business,’’ Mose said. She had to fulfil certain requirements – like insurance – before being taken onto the programme but she said it was worth it.
‘‘It was like everything was meant to be, because work was just around the corner from their [Henderson] office.’’
Other competitors offering ‘‘grazing’’ food were also popping up online, but they were not registered food businesses. There was a hefty fine for selling food without being a registered food business.
In August, she and her husband were able to buy a home in Auckland. Now, the focus is on enhancing the business and continuing to build the customer base.
Through online searching Mose applied through ATEED for a business coach who is helping her set goals and form a business strategy, revamp her website and look closely at her profit margins. The cost of the business coach is subsidised.
‘‘You have to look for this stuff when you’re a small business owner, you just have to do your research.’’