18/05/2023
We come to the end of Kai & kutz and to the Beginning of "A.P.I.A. Trust" it has been a great experience, it's been fun and challenging at the same time, but it was worth all the effort, from the Kai & Haircuts, to the Youth and Adult Job mentoring program trying to help others better their lives, it was well worth it, yes my family had suffered at times during the last 3 n half years but we spent plenty of quality time together as a family enduring through it all and learnt many lessons... At the end it started to take a huge toll on my wife & I, She was doing all the admin and coding transactions for the accounting while studying for a PHD at the same time with a 7mth old when we opened in 2019 and two more babies during the 3 yrs, it was a lot to ask of her, It also was very hard with covid and the two lockdowns and then the street renovations which took over a year blocking & closing roads and paths to the shop where we had to close for a month and still pay overheads, but what really hurt us was when our extraction fan broke down and needed a replacement that cost 4k then on top was quoted by an electrician company 3-5k installation then ended up taking 8mths to install and costing a wapping 16k and not forgetting the overheads we still had to pay whilst being closed for 8mths, an extra 20k on top, how were we supposed to survive? We kept trying, So after re-opening in Feb 2022, and for the next 10mths I did what I could to keep us alive, we had debts left right centre, we paid the overheads and then the builders then part of the electricians and still trying to put food in our cupboards and pay our home bills, it wasn't easy, that's when I decided to open 11pm-3am fri-sat nights, My typical weekend Fri 3am start making donuts till 9am, then work all day taking bookings for Haircuts, cooking and serving then close shop 7-8pm go home eat sleep 2hrs back at it 11pm open then close the food service 3am sat, then start donuts straight away again till 9am then povi, taro, lamb, curry, chopsui, etc, and all the cold food rawfish, mainis, otai etc...service starts 11.30am-open till 7-8pm then home shower eat sleep an hr, 10.30pm up 11pm open 12am food is ready, night club next door closes 2am food frenzy starts then, I sell out, close 3am then a thorough clean and sterilize the shop and close go home Sunday morning 5am... this is all on my own mind you...Up at 7.30am sunday, get ready and kids for 9am church or drive to Christchurch for speaking assignments and meetings all day till Sunday afternoon 4.30pm, then drive back and try spend family time before passing out till Monday morning then all 3 kids and i go back to chch for the whole day shopping supplies for the shop and to spend time together. It definitely wasn't easy the last 10mths, especially when people think that you are rich and rolling in money and say wow good on you then think the opposite, jealousy among some people is sad, secretly celebrating for my fail, lack of support from my own people, sadly thats how it is with some of us...when we see someone else that has the guts to go do something with themselves and follow their dreams and does ok at it, we automatically get jealous, and kind of resentful, unfortunately that's what some of us are like, if only we could turn those negative thoughts to possitive ones instead and let it inspire us to take our own leap of faith and follow our own dreams, only if the haters knew how much we struggled and how poor we actually were, maybe they wouldn't of hated so much...At the start of it all, it was all good for a few months into trading... Then we got hit by a steam train, we received 2x14day notices, one for our flat we were renting and another for the shop, my poor wife and baby lived on a 40-50 shopping per week, and I only ate at the shop, people have no idea the hardship my wife and I went through, mentally, physically & spiritually, though we still payed our tithing, it was only by the grace of God we made it as far as we did. You may ask, why did you do it then?, well i couldnt build anymore cause of my injured knees, so I thought this might help ease the pain and the bone grinding of my knees and get off the pain killers, also always had been a dream of mine to combine food and haircuts) it was a hard decision to make for us, coming from a Builder( building the Murney Main building at the time i resigned 90% finished) to a chef with a pacific island menu and haircuts upstairs... first couple of mths was all good, then BOOM, you can't just say, oops I've had enough I change my mind its not really working out the way i thought, No you can't, your already there and you must keep trying, So we did, until the 23rd December 2022 was the last day we opened and traded. It's been 5 months since and this week 18th of May we officially hand over 95% of every item in the building and the Lease to the new company thats taking over, they are a Trust, and will be involved in helping out the Ashburton Community and offering employment, the kitchen will be delivering meals on wheels for the elderly, and daily lunches for our tamarikis at school who are doing it hard at home, etc.... also a food storage to help those that are struggling, and eventually start the Ashburton Friday night markets with food stalls etc... out on Tancred street car parks, where the road will be closed off. The trust will also come up with their own menu and join the hospitality competition here in Ashburton, I wish them all the best, I may share my marinated Lamb ribs recipe with the trust to thank them and bring some Kai & Kutz customers whom been missing them ribs lol. I would like to thank all my Barbers who come to help over the years with our little family, thank you so much my Brothers, Huge love for you guys @ Teki, Ton'i, Villi, Fat Boy, Niko, Peki, Pasi, Julz, Moni, Jada. To those that stepped in the kitchen thank you to you all for helping out, my son Steff, and to my big sister mama Nunu, thank you Sis and son for coming to help out love yous. A huge shout out to my Wife Lydia for enduring well and sticking by me through all the tough times, You are my Rock, I couldnt of done it without you, thank you. Last but not least, To All our customers, thank you so much, for all your support, for buying our Kai, for getting Haircuts, and for bringing your kids, for buying our merchandise, I remember all your faces, thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts, from my little family and I.
Mahu & Lydia
