Back in Wellington, we both end up in jobs neither of us was enjoying. A small cafe/deli in Hataitai came up for sale for $15,000. We rashly bought it and with the help of friends transformed the space into Cafe Braga, named after a small town in Portugal. We opened the doors for business in 1992. This 20 seater was our first foray into owning our own business and the learning curve was steep. We also ran a catering company Get Stuffed Catering (we thought that was very funny at the time). The catering was essential as it helped pay the bills...
Caffe Astoria opened it's door for business on 23rd January 1996. Set up by Janice Kirkwood and Sue Dempsey with business partners Jeff Kennedy and Michael Hirschfeld.