Bay Harbour: April 14, 2021

Wednesday April 14 2021 Bay Harbour News
OUR PEOPLE – NIC GRAHAM 13
Hospo a way to keep community together
Nic Graham calls
Governors Bay both
her home and her
workplace, having
established cafe
Harbour House in what
was once named She.
Samantha Mythen
talks to her about the
business and her role in
the community
How did you find yourself in
Governors Bay?
I have a really vast
background. I was in hospitality,
banking, account management,
sales and recruitment – all
sorts of things. Then I had my
children and we moved to the
bay about seven years ago. I’ve
lived in a lot of different places
and have never settled anywhere
before. One of the things I’ve
always wanted to do is live by the
water and I love it here.
When we were first exploring
to buy in Christchurch, we came
up out to the bay a few times. I
didn’t know Christchurch well
and we were told: ‘Oh you never
get any sun over there.’
We eventually bought a villa
in Spreydon, which we renovated
fully, finishing after two years.
Then the quakes wrote it off, the
house market went nuts, and we
randomly thought: ‘Let’s go look
at this place in the bay.’ We saw
the house on the weekend and
it went to auction on Thursday
so we didn’t have time to think
much about it, but we got it at
auction.
What do you love about
Governors Bay?
The environment here and the
views. It’s beautiful, especially
this time of year with all of the
autumn colours. It felt like a nice
environment to raise our kids,
to get out of the city commercial
life. I love the people, I love the
community.
Where are you from
originally?
I was born in Matamata and
I grew up in Hamilton. From
about 21, I left and did all sorts
of things. I lived in Westport
with my Dad. That’s where I got
into hospitality. I went down for
a holiday and ended up staying
thinking: ‘Oh my god, these
people are so relaxed, I want to
be like this.’
Dad at the time owned the
country pub, which was really
cool. Going from there, I ended
up working in the township at
Bailey’s Pub, function centre,
bar, bottle store, and restaurant.
What was your first stint in
hospitality like?
It was a real local wee pub
out of town and the banter was
great. When I started working at
Bailey’s, they had just renovated
this big function room, which I
got up and running. It was the
marketing side I really loved –
knowing there was no ceiling to
what you can do, so you can be
really creative.
COMMUNITY HUB: Nic Graham wants her cafe Harbour House to be a place where
people can take a relaxing break.
PHOTO: GEOFF SLOAN
How did you find yourself in
charge of Harbour House?
Things changed for me a few
years ago when I separated from
my girls’ father and I thought:
‘What am I going to do? I really
want to stay here in the bay.
Okay, I’m going to start up a
food truck, the community
needs something like that.’
However, I ended coming
up against walls, and then this
place came up on the market.
I inquired, and then long story
short, I ended up buying it.
January 31 last year was my
opening day. I shut down for
about three and a half days
before. We were doing so much
to get things ready. With help of
tradie friends, we painted it all,
put in new tiles, I had shelves
made, we moved doors and put
a storeroom in. We did loads in
such a short amount of time.
The night before the opening
the place was just a tip with
tools everywhere. Then probably
about 10-15 people walked in
and helped me clear up and do
the final touches, they weren’t
even asked, they just turned up.
So it was like the community
helped me to get this together. It
was really cool.
Then we had a massive
opening.
We had Carmel Courtney
and two of the local kids sing.
She teaches singing and actually
teaches my girls. We had three
food stations around the place, a
complementary drink on entry
and the place by 6.20pm was
chocker. My daughter, who was
12 at the time, was doing the till
for me as I had no time to train
on it.
How did the evening make
you feel?
It was so cool, a real blessing
to the place. Then it was also
overwhelming because I was
thinking: ‘Oh, tomorrow, we
are actually going to be in
operation.”
‘It’s about enjoying being
in here and receiving really
good service.’
– Nic Graham
What made you commit to
something as big as running a
cafe?
I wanted my girls to see me be
able to achieve my dream. I have
always wanted to do this and
now it has come to fruition.
I was terrified at first. Then I
ran around town for a month
trying to get everything together.
It was honestly the scariest
thing I’ve ever done.
Where did the name Harbour
House come from?
When I started hospo, Dad’s
FAMILY:
Graham
with her
daughters
Alexandra
(left) and
Zoe.
pub was in Cape Foulwind
and just past there is gorgeous
Tauranga Bay, so the pub was
named Bay House.
Ten days after the earthquake,
he passed away suddenly and the
pub went to new owners.
I’d been pondering what to call
this place for awhile. I wanted
to call it something “house,”
because I wanted it to feel like
home for people. I rang the Bay
House and asked if I could use
the name and they unfortunately
said no. I was stuck on Bay
House and was feeling so
disappointed, because we call it
the Bay here, so the Bay House
would have been perfect.
Then, a friend of mine texted
me saying: ‘What about Harbour
House?’ and I said: ‘Yes that’s it.’
You’ve mentioned quite a
lot that this is a cafe for the
community – what does that
mean to you? How do you
visualise it being a place for the
community?
I am wanting this to be the
hub of the community, where
people come to meet and bump
into their friends and relax and
just hang. It should be a place
where people can approach
me for anything they want. It’s
about enjoying being in here and
receiving really good service.
You have hosted several
community fundraisers at
Harbour House, tell me about
this.
We do all sorts of community
events. We have raised money for
the Kidney Society with a clothes
swap. We’ve done a function
for the Fire Service and had a
massive quiz and auction night
to raise money for the Governors
Bay year 8 school camp to
Wellington. We raised $4000 I
think. It was really cool and fun,
a good feel. It’s all about raising
money for the community.
I’ve also got local art in here
and it all often sells which is
really exciting and rewarding to
see for the artist.
We also came up with the idea
of takeaway meals, like cottage
pies during Covid, so people
could put them in their freezer. I
felt like the elderly wouldn’t want
to go into the supermarkets,
afraid of their higher risk of
contracting covid. The meals
went flying out the door.
As the business owner you
have many roles, but what’s
your favourite?
I would have liked to have
said marketing but right now, I
don’t do much of that because
I get tied up in everything else.
But really just being with all the
people who come in here is my
favourite part.
Any funny stories of people
here so far?
We were getting ready for
our first birthday celebration
earlier this year and just the
week before, we were about to
close and this girl came in and
I gasped pointing her out to an
employee, saying: ‘That’s the
singer.’ It was Hayley Westenra.
And I asked her and she yes. I
asked her to take photos with me
and I asked her to please come
to the birthday. She said she
would try. But she never showed
(laughs). I was so excited.
What has been the most
challenging side of running
your own business?
I was in business for seven
weeks and then Covid hit.
Then we went to level three
and had to change everything,
doing takeaways and losing
all of that tourism – this is a
tourism destination on top of
the local business. It has been
really tough, I feel like I’ve been
chasing my tail. Right now, I
don’t have a life or time out. But
I said to myself at the start: ‘I
know it is going to be a hard and
long two years.’ I am surviving
now and just have to keep going.
What are your happy things
outside of Harbour House?
Spending time with my girls
– one is 13 and one is almost
10. The other day we had fish
and chips at the beach and they
went for a swim. It was so nice.
I’m also very social, so catching
up with friends. Travelling is
massive for me, I love it. I’ve
been to Asia, Samoa, Raratonga
and Australia, and of course
throughout New Zealand. I
love camping, it is my big thing.
Tenting with my family. Okains
Bay is my favourite spot, it is
so great for children as well.
I’m really looking forward to
eventually having more time to
do that.
What does being a mother
mean to you?
It’s everything.
What’s your favourite meal to
eat here?
I am the most annoying owner
in the world, because I go into
the kitchen and say: ‘I’m really
hungry but I don’t know what
I want.’ But probably, our eggs
bennedict with salmon.