Bex and Andy of Stoked Restaurant and Bar were surrounded by literally hundreds of well-wishers for their tenth birthday last Saturday, 5 September.
Balloons, lights and decorations, a free drink on entry and lots and lots of people added to the celebration of this achievement by this young couple.
It really all began with Bex doing a backpacking OE in New Zealand. Bex began her journey of New Zealand when she was in her late teens.
“It stood out for me and stayed with me. When our youngest daughter was two and a half, I suggested to Andy we make a move to try living overseas before our daughter, Chloe, reached school age. We came over to New Zealand on a holiday visa for a year. We didn’t get back on the plane.”
“We were working on the ski fields at Ohakune and kept coming to the Coromandel Peninsula for holidays. We were getting lots of New Zealand experience in hospitality, which was what we knew well in England. For a time we were running chalets for seven years in Kuaotunu. Nieve arrived so now two children, and we asked ourselves, ‘Do we stay doing this or start a new dream of our own?’”
When Bex and Andy first visited Whitianga, Andy was working in Tairua and Bex was still in Ohakune. Andy needed to stay at the job in Tairua to achieve residency. They were looking after 120 beds and lots of travel was involved in keeping the family together.
“We knew we needed to do something for ourselves. We had a lot of experience and we were ready,” says Bex.
Their first step was setting up an outside catering company, doing major events on the Coromandel such as the Keltic Fair and Taste of Matarangi. When the Pour House opened at Cooks Beach, they leased their kitchen and prepared all their food for them.
“We started looking for a business and we saw this house. We could imagine it clearly as a restaurant. We purchased it and began converting it. We had in mind a 40-seater restaurant, but over time that has changed. We have added and adjusted. It has evolved as the business has grown.
“After Covid we changed the dynamics of Stoked,” says Andy. “We knew we needed a more family-friendly ambience. People need to feel they could drop in, have a drink and nibbles, and not have to follow the formality of ordering a meal.
“We have the perfect location,” says Bex. “People feel relaxed about calling in, staying for a drink or spending several hours. We made it more relaxed.”
“We love hospitality. It is what we know and have done all our years here and back home. We look back at what we have achieved. To come so far, we are very thankful. We had no prior reputation when we began here; we were strangers. Now we are a part of this community. We love fishing and diving and we have made some fabulous friends.
“Our message on our tenth birthday as Stoked and as a family is: Thank you for all the continuing support and for making it possible for us to celebrate 10 years in hospitality as STOKED Restaurant and Bar. Thank you to our staff and the Mercury Bay community.”
