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Mangawhai’s ‘dizzy’ Lizzy Hutchin kept three restaurants in business and staff employed during lockdown, thanks to Mangawhai’s appetite for Thai food.
Liz is something of a prolific businesswoman having taken on three businesses in three years, starting with Dizzy Lizzy in 2015 and taking over the Mangawhai Pizzeria and Oasis Bar by 2018.
She says her small business empire happened more or less by accident. It began five years ago when her ailing mother moved to Mangawhai.
“My mum thought Mangawhai would be more like her home in Samoa than Auckland. It’s quiet and peaceful here,” Liz says.
Liz sold her business in Silverdale and moved up, but was soon met with tragedy.
“Mum had one last check up in hospital and we thought she was going to be fine, but she actually never made it out.”
Having no choice but to rebuild, Liz started the Dizzy Lizzy Milkbar on Wood Street.
“It was a rough time, but I had come to love the place.”
Liz decided to make her mark by serving fresh gelato made from scratch but quickly realised the milk bar didn’t have the space for such an operation.
“There’s not enough room to swing a cat in there, let alone a pregnant one,” she says.
When the Mangawhai Pizzeria on Moir Street came up for sale, Liz was able to buy it thanks to the backing of some friends.
“I just wanted it for the kitchen to make gelato, but then I thought, ‘Shucks, why don’t we try actually selling pizzas?’”
Then in 2018, Liz was approached to take over management of the Ivy Bar on Molesworth Drive, which was facing closure.
“When I arrived to take a look, it reminded me of Samoa because of the lush greenery and I felt my mum there. I immediately said ‘yes’, without even talking to my husband.”
In true dizzy style, Liz managed to renovate and reopen the premises as the Oasis Bar & Eatery within two weeks, thanks to the hard mahi of some helping friends and neighbours.
“We made the menus at the photocopier’s,” she says.
Having successfully turned the business around as a café, Liz wanted to explore the idea of opening Oasis in the evening and hit on the idea of Mangawhai’s first Thai restaurant.
Liz managed to find a Thai chef of 40 years who had lost his job in the South Island and brought him up immediately.
However, just as chef John and his family arrived, the Covid-19 lockdown was suddenly put in place and he was ineligible for the wage subsidy.
“I felt terrible. We put him in accommodation, but I was worried about how long we could keep it up.”
But Liz says when Level 3 allowed the restaurant to open for takeaways, Mangawhai’s appetite for Thai food proved something of a miracle.
Chef John’s money bags proved so popular, the income from the Thai restaurant meant Liz was able to keep up all of her staff’s hours.
“I am so happy for the staff. They really stepped up during this time.
“We were very lucky to have opened a brand-new restaurant, but I think we could have sold pig’s head, and it still would have been popular during lockdown.”
Liz says she has never had to work so hard in her life as she had running three businesses in Mangawhai.
She now has a handshake agreement to purchase the Oasis Bar from the owners.
