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Last modified: 19 Oct 2020 2:33pm

Black haired woman and man in cap, stand in shop wearing Taste of Kiwi branded black hoodies

As part of our Selwyn Open campaign we’re profiling some of the many excellent businesses local to you. You can find these businesses on the Selwyn Business Directory. This week we talk to Cam Clark and Kristina Squires-Ward from Taste of Kiwi in Springfield.

At the age of 22 and 25, Cam Clark and Kristina Squires-Ward saw an opportunity to give travellers an experience to remember.

After travelling around the world and working in Canada, they came home to start their own business replacing the old Springfield café.

The pair wanted to give the Springfield community something fresh and different to look forward to, starting with a complete renovation of the place.

“We found that the business that was here before was more convenience-based, grab and go type thing. Our offering is more of a sit down and spend half an hour.”

Since they opened in January, Cam and Kristina say they have received amazing support from the community and attracted lots of new customers.

“It’s going really well. We were a bit concerned with the tourism not being around, because we do cater for tourists mostly, but the local support has been awesome. When we first opened they put an article in the Malvern News and lots of people from different townships came out to congratulate us and have a coffee and support us, which was so nice.”

For Cam it was a little daunting living in the country and working in hospitality for the first time, but thankfully Kristina had experience in both.

"My family is from Springfield, so it was nice and close to my old home, I used to actually work here when I was a kid, so it’s kind of gone full circle,” Kristina says.

“I wouldn’t want to have Taste of Kiwi anywhere else,” Cam says.

Offering great coffee, fish and chips, homemade soup, classic kiwi pies and gifts and plenty of gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan options, they aim to make Taste of Kiwi the place to stop on your journey through to Arthur’s Pass.

You can read more stories of Selwyn businesses on our Selwyn Open page.