The Small Business Project: No-fuss food ingredient for lucrative ‘lifestyle’ business
Monday, 16 March 2026
The Small Business Project is a weekly series that shines the spotlight on Kiwi small businesses doing interesting and unusual things in their industries.
Fiona van der Pol, founder of Christchurch catering company Fiona’s Food, is no stranger to reinventing herself. After decades in various forms of retailing, van der Pol has found a lucrative sweet spot - and says she loves her work and the flexibility it has afforded her.
At a time when everything is crafted for Instagram-worthy perfection, the self-declared opportunist tells Aimee Shaw she has cut through the market by sticking to what she knows best: good old-fashioned tasting food.
What has your venture set out to achieve?
I'm 66 years old, and I started life as a nurse; I then got out of that and opened shops. I had three lovely giftware shops around Christchurch, then after four kids and 10 years of doing that, I fell into second-hand dealing. I ended up making a living out of buying and selling freezers. That worked really well before Trade Me came along and killed it. I thought “what next?”, and then realised I could cook, and I had confidence. So I got on the phone, rang every single person I knew and offered a free morning tea - and very few people turned that down.
My husband was working in the business world, so he gave me a lot of leads, and I started building up the catering, doing a lot of funeral work at the start, and now my business is mostly private events, like significant birthdays and weddings. I do a lot of morning teas and corporate lunches. It’s always home-made per job and I don’t freeze anything delivered warm. Some food sings and some food looks flat, and I can hardly explain what it is, but I ultimately put that down to it being freshly made. It is colourful, it's fresh, it's healthy, and it looks like it just came out of your home oven. It’s the food my kids grew up on; where taste is the biggest thing, not appearance.
How much time and money have you invested?
It cost nothing to get started. However, because I work from home, I am registered, council-approved and food compliant, and that costs more than $1500 each year.
Quite often I'll start at six in the morning, and I'll work through all day until six at night. I might then have a very small wedding the next day due at 12 o'clock, so that'll be probably three hours work, and then I have the afternoon off, so the hours are varied. If I add up my work input, I do about 10 to 15 jobs per week, which is about 20 to 30 hours a week, and I work two out of every four weekends. During the busy season at the end of the year, sometimes I’ll have six to seven jobs in a day.
I'm very fast and very focused, so while it might usually take 1.5 - 2 people to do my job, I can do it myself. I employ my children or their friends to help if I have time off. I’ve been a caterer for 19 years now. It’s the best job I've ever done, as far as earning really well and having as much flexibility as I want.
What’s the biggest challenge your business is facing?
You have to be continually marketing yourself. Wherever I go, people will ask what you do, and I'll tell them and often they store it away for something coming up. Yes, the cost of living is expensive, but I don’t think that is a challenge for me.
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What’s the biggest issue impacting your industry?
If I was running a catering business where I employed a dozen staff, and had a much bigger presence, I think those people are really feeling it. However, the actual margin of food is very good, even with food price increases.
What’s next for Fiona’s Food?
I want to continue doing what I do and do it better than what I'm doing. It is a very good part-time job that keeps me motivated and fits the most amazing lifestyle. It's a job that would morph well into my 70s.
There's no point changing what you are doing if you're actually fine tuned, because the more you do something that's time on the tools, it's muscle memory, the more you do something better or faster, or the more economical, you get. There's no point in me looking for new recipes, if what I do goes really well.
In three years’ time you will be …
My husband always says you need to make sure you start winding down. There's so much food in our garage. I have everything on shelves, and everything's lined up in multiples. I’ve got a very good system in my head, but I don't think, unless you were brought up with it like my kids are, somebody else would understand how I work. What I would love to do in my older age is take a step back and have my kids running it, and me help out and advise, and perhaps do the deliveries.
What’s one thing you wish you’d known before starting the business?
I would have fast tracked myself a lot better if I'd been more computer savvy, and tech savvy. I don't do my own accounts, I only do marketing, but I don't do my own computer stuff. I think if I had been able to do that, I would have a made more money, and I would have probably got cracking a lot faster, because I would have understood how to market online faster.
Most helpful piece of advice you have ever received?
Go with your instincts. Start small and totally back yourself. I know people who are absolutely first-rate cooks, but they couldn't market to save themselves. It's your confidence in backing yourself and picking up a phone that determines your success. Always say yes, and take every opportunity.
If you would like your business to feature in The Small Business Project, email Aimee Shaw at aimee.shaw@stuff.co.nz