Fresh approach to catering a winner

Belinda Lombard founded Lemongrass Catering in Tauranga six years ago. Photo / George Novak

Belinda Lombard learned her craft as a chef the hard way, working her way up through a range of jobs in the Scottish hospitality industry during a 15-year OE trip, before returning to found Lemongrass Catering in Tauranga six years ago.

"They wouldn't let me in the kitchen at first because I didn't have any formal training," says Ms Lombard, who went to the UK at the age of 21. "But I'm probably one of the few chefs that could walk into a hotel and do anything from cleaning a toilet, to pulling a pint, or booking people in."

And, obviously, cook. She credits her catering skills to working under really good chefs for what turned into a 15-year stint at the Spittal of Glenshee Hotel, in Perthshire.

A former Otumoetai College girl, she returned to Tauranga seven years ago with her accountant husband Pierre, with an 8-month-old baby and another on the way. But after working at a busy hotel for years, it was a culture shock to be homebound. After a year, she set up Lemongrass Catering, initially with a small kitchen in a converted garage of their house.

"We grew it from nothing," she says. "One job led to another."

After outgrowing their premises, the couple bought a larger place in Welcome Bay with a massive garage, half of which was converted to a 28sq m commercial kitchen, just under the maximum allowable size for a home-based catering business.

The business now has three delivery vehicles, one fulltime and a part-time staff member, as well as a pool of six who assist at events. "And we're continually growing," she says.

Lemongrass Catering made the finals in two categories of the Westpac Tauranga Business Awards last year.

"I entered a few years ago and didn't come anywhere, but I took on board what they told me," says Ms Lombard. "The feedback you get from the judges was very good - I knew what needed to be done."

One decision she took was to abandon a short-lived attempt to try and compete with lower-cost competitors using bulk-bought frozen food.

"I realised I was risking ruining our brand," says Ms Lombard.

Cheryl Brown, account director at Wave Creative Communications Agency, a judge in Westpac's brand and marketing category, says she was impressed by Ms Lombard's awareness of opportunities within the market she operated in, and her nimbleness in reacting to them.

"Belinda has invested in the development of a brand identity system and it is used consistently across all of her business collateral," she says.

"She also has a clear understanding of her competition and their offerings, which ensures she is able to maintain her own point of difference."