“Doing things right and doing them properly” has led to two awards for the team at Alexandra Night ‘n Day: Store of the Year and Excellence in Coffee.

Franchisee Brooke Williams said together with her husband Hayden she worked “really hard and won’t give up”.

“We’re heavily invested, it's our passion and we want to do it right.”

The pair employ 17 people from diverse backgrounds and cultures to keep the doors open at the convenience store.

Along with coming out on top of the 54 other stores from across Aotearoa, and winning a coffee award, they were named as a finalist in six other categories at the Night ‘n Day national conference in Dunedin recently. These were excellence in six areas: food safety and hygiene, compliance, continuous improvement, store presentation and cleanliness, marketing, and in food.

Hayden said a new coffee machine was a hit, and the “consistently good coffee” meant repeat business from locals keen on their daily brew

Brooke said the awards were recognition of all of the team’s hard work and there would be two get-togethers for employees (one for each shift) to celebrate the achievements.

Janice Lines and Brooke with the trophy to take pride of place on the main counter

The couple took over the business in May 2020, after moving home to New Zealand from Perth.

Brooke said jumping into business ownership as Covid-19 hit had been “tough”.

“We’ve been bringing everything up to scratch, working really hard and gaining the trust of the community and building our team… all amongst Covid.”

She said the secret to their success was that “all the small things are big things” and that everyone of their customers is greeted warmly by the team.

Presentation in store is immaculate from the glass fronts of the food cabinets, to the product on the shelf and the shiny floors.

“I like doing things right and doing them properly,” Brooke said.

“We know our customers… and we are all happy to see them and have a good chat.”

Brooke said their business is doing what it can to promote children's sports in Central including rugby, netball and soccer.

“We support local, because the locals support us.

“We’re gearing up for summer… and looking for people [who might want a job], it’s a hot spot here over summer with holiday makers and we also want to be able to give our regulars a break.”

It’s the first business venture for the Williams’. Hayden was installing fire extinguisher systems in the mines in Perth and Brooke’s previous role was for an accounting software company. 

They’re loving being back in the South Island as they’ve got family in Otago and Southland.

Their two young boys (aged seven and five) are enjoying being closer to family, and they’re all looking forward to exploring the South Island, and checking out some camping spots with their caravan this summer.