Bird’s owner taking flight
Buying a business at age 21 is a huge plunge.
The decision to sell it four years later provides a similar surge of gravity for Alice Little, but with the satisfaction she is coming out the other side with skills and poise that will serve her next adventure.
She famously, or infamously, took ownership of the Ginger Bird Cafe in Colyton in February 2020, as the nation was on the brink of Covid-19 and an alert level 4 lockdown.
Though there were initial fears the distinct cafe, made from two shipping containers, would be sunk by the pandemic, Little’s ability to adapt, the loyalty of locals and a compassionate landlord kept Ginger Bird afloat.
A little blissful ignorance also didn’t hurt. “I didn’t know what I didn’t know,” she said. “I was pretty lucky that I hadn’t set anything up, in terms of paying rent and things.
“I then had to run contactless, which was more like takeaways and working out the window, which actually worked well, because the container has a takeaway vibe.“
Little was thankful for the loyalty and rapport fostered in the rural community, about eight kilometres east of Feilding, by previous owner Ellen Bradbury, who had opened the cafe a year earlier.
She admitted to not even knowing where Colyton was when the opportunity to join Bradbury’s crew came up.
“I thought it was quite far away, and I didn’t want to drive all the way out [from Palmerston North].
“But I really needed a job, so I was like, OK, just do it. And then I just loved it out here. “It was really cool, and you get to know the customers. You get an attachment to the people.”
Patrons loved to get things off their chests when standing at her counter, and she loved that they felt comfortable doing so.
But a three-month holiday in England last year planted the seeds for her departure.
Little, who had been a representative level hockey player before taking on the cafe, was scouted to play for a club while abroad, and loved it. “I just found a different lifestyle over there. Any they wanted me to come back. There’s a lot of opportunity there, so they accommodate you, pay for flights, that kind of thing. It’s a good opportunity not to turn down.“
The UK season starts in September, and ideally she would return to England well before then so she could settle in and enjoy the northern summer.
The College Hockey Club midfielder/ striker said she would pick up a Mondayto-Friday job in hospitality and travel on the weekends she wasn’t playing hockey.
“That’s the exciting thing. To be able to just use what I’ve learned here to go and do endless different jobs.
“Because you kinda feel quite accomplished after owning a business, you know? You feel quite confident in yourself.”
But running a cafe had presented its challenges. Just as she had watched customers’ children, attending the school around the corner, grow up, they too had seen her grow as a person.
As a young adult, managing staff who were older than her had been particularly difficult.
“I felt undermined. But my personality – I’m very confident in myself, and I’m particular in how I like things – that helped me push through the undermining of some people.”
Little has listed Ginger Bird with Steve Davey at ABC Business Sales, pricing the cafe at $200,000.
When asked what sort of person she thought should buy it, she said someone young – but not as young as she had been – who would maintain the cafe’s homely vibe and quality home-made food. “Just a loveable person I suppose. They need to enjoy what they’re doing, because that comes off onto the customers.”
Little said her idea of success at Ginger Bird tended to change week to week, due to the nature of hospitality and its unpredictability.
“Sometimes success is making money, sometimes it was about enjoying the week. Sometimes it’s being able to have time off because you’ve got enough staff.”
“Because you kinda feel quite accomplished after owning a business, you know? You feel quite confident in yourself.”
Alice Little