NiuEats – The Niu Way of Bringing Polynesia to the Table
Tania Falanitule and Nina Ikitule are the beating hearts behind NiuEats, a culinary and catering start-up business that offers grazing tables, desserts and sweet treat tables and gift boxes.
Nina Ikitule and Tania Falanitule
“We bake and cook for love, love for our families and our kids.” The Niuean duo, who are also cousins, share that they’ve always been passionate about food. “We’ve been in the kitchen since we were little, baking and cooking for family gatherings.” Tania shares that as Pacific Islanders, food has always been a big part of family gatherings.
Bringing joy and creating memories through food is what inspired Tania and Nina to share it with others.
Tania shares that as an entrepreneur, finance is the biggest hurdle. “As a start-up business, there’s also a lot of little things you overlook when running your day to day operations.”
Tania shares that the Generator and Kitchen Project have played a significant role in who NiuEats are and what they offer as a business.
Through the Generator, NiuEats were able to receive seed funding and business mentoring to establish their business. The Generator provides financial assistance and business development advice to help entrepreneurs define and execute their business objectives and plans.
“Knowing that we were able to open these doors that we thought weren’t available for us was awesome”, says Tania.
Tania and Nia sought assistance to generate a secondary income for their families. In addition, Tania sought financial assistance for her autistic son to attend a programme that would better meet his learning needs.
NiuEats acknowledges the support of the Generator, Kitchen Project, Vaka Tautua and Emerge Aotearoa.
NiuEats encourages anyone who has a business idea or dream to reach out to the Generator. The Generator is designed to help people realise and build their talents and abilities, increase their income and build strong networks in communities. The Generator is implemented by Vaka Tautua and Emerge Aotearoa.