Physio shifts focus to food Capers

Friends say Suzy Brown has a"lovely healing energy". PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Business mantra is organic, fair, sustainable.

Susan Brown came to Rotorua for a friend's wedding in 1997 en route to Canada, met her future husband, Gregg, and stayed.

In May this year, after more than two decades as a physiotherapist, she took up the role of retail manager in the family owned Capers Cafe.

"I've always been involved in the background, but it's been really lovely for me to come in and have a more front-line role," she said.

"This is our extended family. We've got a loyal, passionate and innovative team who know how to look after our customers and each other."

She credits the return of Rotorua-born head chef Victor Edelesten, from Melbourne, for transforming the kitchen with new ideas, trends and a more "edgy" presentation. A combination of circumstances led to Ms Brown's change of roles. After more than two decades as a physio - which included working with travelling sports teams - she developed instability in both wrists and thumbs, a not uncommon affliction in the profession, which led to a break from the demands of private practice.

Ms Brown also combines work as a wedding and funeral celebrant with a role as a trustee on the Aratika Trust, which facilitates lifestyle-based medicine workshops and retreats for people diagnosed with cancer. And she has recently come through her own bout with cancer. (See story below)

"Coming into Capers has been a change in focus and thinking for me compared to physio," she said.

Her longtime involvement in wellness, health and nutrition has seen her shift the cafe's focus to New Zealand organic, fair trade and sustainable food products in its dishes and foods stocked in the Capers Larder.

Ms Brown was born in the small rural town of Lumsden and grew up in Invercargill, completed an arts degree at Otago University, then qualified as a physio.

"I've always had an interest in health and wellbeing," she said. "Physiotherapy was a way of being able to contribute."

She practised briefly in Invercargill, then went overseas with a group of friends and had a "fantastic" time working in the UK and Europe. On her return in 1996, she did locum work in Te Anau, then came up to Rotorua the following year to attend her friend Dr Cate Mills' and Bill Lawson's wedding and also ended up meeting and marrying Gregg Brown.

The family businesses include Capers, the Pig & Whistle Historic Pub, and a farm homestay. She initially worked at Rotorua Hospital, then in private practice, moved to Step Ahead Therapy, and was most recently with the Whare Aroha Care centre, specialising in residential elderly healthcare.

Dr Mills, who recently set up her own GP practice, Three Lakes Clinic, with two other doctors, described Ms Brown as "an amazing" woman.

"Suzy has a heart for the community and does lots of altruistic things," she said. "She has a warm, caring spirit so people really feel better around her. She has a lovely healing energy."