Hard work hooks couple

By ELLEN READ

From a hectic North Shore lifestyle, to a small town up north, to a move back to Auckland - a lot has happened in the past year for small business owners Michelle and Tony Bellette-Hutton.

Things were capped off nicely last month when their Paihia fish and chip shop - One Hot Tuna Cafe - was named the best in the land (in the Grand National Quest for New Zealand's Best Chip Shop, 2002).

In June last year, just four months before their Fiji wedding date, the couple were up north as part of Michelle's job at the time - selling Country Fried Chicken franchises.

Stopping in Paihia, they noticed the lack of an appealing fish and chip shop and that's when things got interesting.

The former real estate agent (Michelle) and the plumber/renovator/decorator (Tony) started thinking. That led to them buying a fish and chip shop just a few days later and moving to Paihia to run it.

To convince the bank to lend them the money, they sold their car and the Takapuna home they had just finished renovating. (And yes, they did make it to Fiji for the wedding.)

Finding the experience something of a culture shock, the pair worked long hours running the shop - with the help of the previous owner who they kept on.

"It was a battle from day one. It turned our life upside down, moving from a nice Auckland lifestyle to renting up there with its 2000 person population," Tony said. The couple both worked 90-hour weeks, even taking the work towels home to wash to save money on a laundry service.

While neither of them had worked in the food or hospitality industry before, Tony and Michelle knew what they wanted to achieve - healthy, affordable fast food in a desirable location.

"A takeaway bar with a bit of Jafa flavour to it," is how Tony describes One Hot Tuna (the name came from their time in Fiji). The furniture and fittings are funky and loud music blares from the shop.

Chicken and takeaway coffee were added to the menu as they worked to turn the business into something they believed in.

Just when things were ticking along nicely, Michelle began suffering health problems - eventually traced to her having developed a nickel allergy.

A bit of a problem when the metal was in everything she had to work with in the cafe.

After a lifestyle rethink she returned to her original career as a real estate agent, working in Whangarei and commuting from Paihia.

However, that market proved too slow for her, so the couple decided to move back to Auckland, with Tony running the business from the city.

That presented a whole new set of challenges, which Tony says might have been insurmountable but for their wonderful staff in the cafe. They have four employees - three of whom are sisters.

Although Tony now has to get up at 4am to do the bookwork and travel weekly to the cafe, the couple decided not to sell the business.

"We didn't sell it because we knew it would be successful," Michelle says.

Things aren't easy though. While they are about to move into a new home in Auckland, Michelle, courtesy of an emergency trip to hospital, has discovered she has also developed an allergy to fish. Despite going into shock and almost dying, she is able to see the humorous side.