‘Kiwis don’t take it seriously’: Migrants are driving Canterbury’s hospitality scene

Saturday, 4 July 2026

Christchurch hospitality is booming, with many cafes, bars, hotels and restaurants owned by people from around the world settling in the city – and they’re upping the standard.

Sav Sharma became the publican of the historic Hurunui Hotel late last year after years of working in Selwyn country pubs.

They include the Southbridge Hotel, Coalgate Tavern and Springfield Hotel, all owned by Harry Singh.

Sharma completed a commerce degree focusing on finance in India before moving to New Zealand in 2019 to do further study in applied management in hospitality.

Hurunui Hotel owners Sav Sharma, with his partner Aliyah Hyslop, says hospitality is part of his Indian culture.

Working with Singh inspired a thirst to run his own business, but Sharma said it was his roots that attracted him to hospitality.

“The culture in India is welcoming. We have a saying in Hindi [which translates as] ‘the guest is god’. Pretty much every Indian grows up with [that].”

He’s not alone. Migrants from India, Korea, China and beyond are quietly reshaping the Canterbury hospitality scene, running everything from such historic country pubs to city espresso bars.

Singh said a big pull to hospitality for many migrants was that it did not require a certification to enter the industry at the grassroots level, unlike a trade.

“Hospitality cannot be taught, it’s more like a passion.”

Restaurateur Shafeeq Ismail, also from India, agreed hospitality is a “passion industry” that Kiwis don’t take seriously, unlike places such as the United States, Europe and parts of Asia, where it is considered a career.

Owner of Edizi and Odeon and co-owner of Strawberry Fare in central Christchurch, Ismail said front-of-house, restaurant management and barista roles were often considered part-time jobs for students instead of skills that people could hone and use to earn a living.

Shafeeq Ismail, who owns Edizi and Odeon restaurants in central Christchurch, says Kiwis do not consider hospitality as a career, with the majority of jobs in the industry taken by people from overseas.

He said migrants leaving their culture, friends and family sacrifice a lot.

“For us, there is no going back. What counts here is you just need to work harder,” he said of the shifts required, often up to 16 hours.

According to the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, 20% of business owners in New Zealand are from overseas. Of that group, Chinese and Indian migrants dominate making up 29% and 26% respectively. Other communities include continental European 16%, other Asian 11%, African 7%, Southeast Asian, except Filipino, 6%, and Filipino, Latin American and Middle Eastern, each 3%.

These business owners are often highly educated – almost half hold a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Mia Zhao and her partner Andy Shiau, owners of hospitality company Double Dribble, have about a dozen eateries in Christchurch, focused predominantly on Asian food. Among them are Midnight Shanghai, Boom Boom Chicken, Ramen Ria, and the first eatery they opened in Little High together, Eightgrains.

Zhao fell into hospitality when she met Shiau, who opened his first eatery, Blenheim Rd cafe Dose Diner, in 2013.

Mia Zhao, from China, and her partner, Andy Shiau, from Taiwan, built their hospitality businesses from the ground up – the majority of them selling food from their cultures.

“I was in IT for my previous half of my life,” she said.

When Zhao, from China, and Shiau, from Taiwan, launched Eightgrains dumplings and bao eatery, those Asian delicacies were “not so well-known”, Zhao said.

“The bao Taiwanese street food concept was quite new.”

Nearly a decade on, Zhao’s parents have moved to Christchurch and work in the production kitchen for the couple’s umbrella brand, Double Dribble, which also sells frozen dumplings and Asian meal packages for people to cook at home.

Child Sister cafe, on Manchester St in Christchurch, has been acknowledged for a number of years as an “outstanding cafe” in the annual Canterbury Hospitality Awards.

“We want to show people how they can do Asian meals the way we do, but in an easier way.”

Although hospitality as a career is “frowned upon” by Taiwanese parents, according to Zhao, with parents preferring their children to be doctors, lawyers or accountants, over the last decade there have been a growing number of Asian families in New Zealand opening eateries.

“There are a lot more than before,” she said, attributing it to the economy and having to find extra ways to bring in money for families.

Starting a business in New Zealand was “relatively easy,” she said, particularly food trucks.

Sharing the flavours of their culture and upbringing is high on the agenda for many with roots outside New Zealand, but for some, it’s a way of life they’re bringing to the table.

Noki cafe owners Seungik Moon, left, and Adora Hwang opened in Merivale in 2023.

Gina Park, owner of Pebbles Patisserie in Sydenham and Odds Cafe in Middleton, Christchurch, was born in Korea and raised by Korean parents in New Zealand before becoming a fashion journalist in Paris for Vogue magazine.

It led to a decade-long career travelling the world and several years working in Korea, where she experienced the huge “review culture”.

She said Seoul is the testing ground for major food, technology and beauty brands.

“Because of that huge review culture, we just try to better ourselves all the time, especially in hospitality … everybody’s basically a critic.”

Reviews could “make or break a business,” she said, but added: “If you stay true and authentic to your business, you survive – that’s the belief we have in Korea”.

In 2017 Park moved back to Christchurch from Seoul to be closer to family and left fashion for food. She spent a year teaching herself to make the delicate pastries and cakes she remembered from life in Paris and attending A-list parties.

Her new skill led her to open Pebbles Patisserie a few years ago, and more recently Odds Coffee, which explores Park’s Asian heritage and global trends, including creating cookies with matcha, tahini and miso flavours.

Pebbles Patisserie and Odds Coffee owner Gina Park says the Korean review culture has a big influence on her motivation to “deliver a certain standard”.

Park is one of many Korean cafe owners in central Christchurch, including Akin, Doubles and Lux owners Jenny and Sung Park, Child Sister family owners May Shin, Jiyeon Shin and Yia Kim, and Andora Hwang and Seungik Moon, owners of Noki in Merivale.

She said the group, all friends, get together regularly to share ideas and moral support.

“It’s a sense of community I’m quite proud of.”

The group of owners, calling themselves K-hospitality, all had popular cafes because they were “driven,” she said.

“We’re very inspired to deliver a certain standard and we try our best to deliver”, she said, which stemmed from the review culture.

“It just hurts our ego if we don’t deliver.”

The community’s approach to good food and good service has not gone unnoticed – Child Sister has been crowned “outstanding cafe” several times at the Canterbury Hospitality Awards, and a Christchurch coffee supplier says Koreans have raised the bar in the cafe scene.

Switch Espresso roastery and Black Betty cafe owner Hamish Evans said the Korean and Japanese communities were “incredibly good cafe owners”.

“They set a very high, consistent standard.

“All the Koreans I know running cafes are very good operators with a very good understanding of food and what Kiwis like. I reckon they’ve upped the standard of New Zealand cafe cuisine – I’m a massive fan.

“If I hear of a Korean operating a cafe, I’ll go to it.”

Hospitality New Zealand chief executive Kristy Phillips said Kiwi consumers were wanting to “explore an expanding range of flavours and experiences”, leading to successful migrant hospitality venues.

“We see that new migrants and second or third-generation Kiwis alike are encouraged to share their cultural background and skills. Connecting people with food is, by extension, hospitality, and this has an intrinsic significance for cultures everywhere – it’s great to see this be supported and celebrated through our hospitality scene.”