A $70,000 business award has taken the “hugest weight” off the shoulders of the owners of a Dunedin restaurant known for their $4 meals.
The Bowling Club, in Caversham, was named yesterday as one of four New Zealand small businesses and non-profits who were the recipients of Xero’s 2024 Beautiful Business Fund — a collective global prize pool worth $750,000.
Entries were submitted by Xero customers from countries including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, the United States and the United Kingdom.
The restaurant was named as both the New Zealand and global winner of the “strengthening community connection” award.
Winning the award in New Zealand netted the restaurant $20,000, but by also taking out the global category, this boosted them to a grand total of $70,000.
Co-owner Jackie Bannon said she and her partner and fellow co-owner Liam Arthur found out about a week ago and were “both in disbelief”.
While the restaurant had also applied for the award last year, they had not expected to win, Ms Bannon said.
“I thought if we were to win, best is like $20,000, which is amazing … but then we won globally, which no-one was expecting that at all.”
The Bowling Club, which began its life as a food truck before moving into a restaurant in Caversham last year, is a community-based eatery that provides affordable, accessible vegetarian food.
They typically charge $4 per meal, but end up giving away many for free.
Ms Bannon said their 90-second video entry had been filmed at the last minute, and the staff member who made it was “crying on the phone” after being told of the win.
The $70,000 award was a “huge deal” for the Bowling Club and would make day-to-day work far easier.
Both of the restaurant’s ovens were second-hand, and they had spent thousands of dollars fixing them.
Now they could buy a properly-functioning oven, upgrade their electricity and cover the cost of a new freezer they had recently acquired to store their free meals.
Ms Bannon said she and Mr Arthur had “poured everything” into the business and had stretched themselves thin, financially and energy-wise.
The award had taken “the hugest weight” off their shoulders and had allowed her to appreciate the abundance and “spirit” of the Bowling Club more.
The only reason they had even been able to apply for the award was because of their community.
“Community is so important for our business and so is our team, obviously — everybody is really essential to making this work.
“That’s the beauty of The Bowling Club. That’s the point of it.”
