Wayne Pidduck outside Starfish Kāpiti. Photo / David Haxton
You’ve read about the generosity of Starfish Kāpiti and its owner Wayne Pidduck who has become an unsung hero for providing a helping hand to those in need — the latest being shipping a tonne of filleted fish to flooded Wairoa.
But who is he? Locally, he is probably best known for his highly popular fish and chip and fresh fish shop in Te Roto Drive, Paraparaumu, but behind the scenes he runs a major fish processing and supply operation around the North Island.
The story of Pidduck’s fish business began in 1957 when his Australian lion tamer father Bobby and mother Nora, the eldest of 19 children, set up Kāpiti Fisheries, a wetfish supply and fish and chip shop, on what used to be the Main Rd North just south of Paraparaumu.
The shop was run by his parents and their seven children and became a landmark stopping point for locals and travellers until the land was bought by McDonalds in the late 1970s.
The family then concentrated on developing a wetfish supply business, first with a mobile caravan on the Main Highway just south of Paekākāriki, then adding Pak’nSave, before concentrating on becoming a major fish supplier.
Sixteen years ago Pidduck married Thi Ly Xuan Son, of Khmer Krom, from Vietnam, in a partnership that was to save his life and grow their company.
In 2021 he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and went through radiation and chemotherapy courses with limited effect.
Instead of undergoing an operation he was persuaded by his wife to return to her home town in Vietnam where Buddhist monks began a healing process which he says cleared him “and left doctors back in New Zealand amazed”.
He and Thi have one son and, over the years more family members who are Khmer Krom, in Vietnam.
Today, Pidduck and his wife own a fish processing plant they called Starfish in Te Roto Drive, a fish supply shop in Levin owned by the local ‘Queen’ of fish and chips, Essie May Pidduck, and they also have a major operation in Hamilton where, like Kāpiti, they fly in, or truck fresh fish and shellfish from around New Zealand.
Starfish puts on a special treat at Christmas by taking orders for live crayfish from the Chatham Islands.
The company is also involved with ‘Fish for Good’, a joint venture to provide free food for those in need which has so far included food bank, local iwi, and local church groups.
It’s run by the Combined Lions Clubs of Kāpiti and Kāpiti Rotary Club and team leader Mal Bird said with support from sponsors led by Starfish Kāpiti the project has already given away hundreds of kilograms of high-protein fish.
Next month’s goal is to deliver 200kg.
Pidduck has already donated one tonne of fish to the project, and Bird says other sponsors are coming on board.
His goal is to make the project self-sustaining by maximising the whole carcass of fish to provide an income stream for the organisations which need help.
“There is quite a bit of wastage and participating organisations in need will be enabled to extract value which, in turn, enable them to make money to buy their own fish.”