Our Stories: Lizzie Gurr
Lizzie and her husband James are the power couple behind bringing Ozone Coffee Roasters to London five years ago. Although always ambitious with a desire to explore the world, Lizzie never anticipated she would be where she is today.
She describes her New Plymouth upbringing as fairly typical and filled with lots of extracurricular activities and the odd entrepreneurial venture. Later, at university in Wellington, Lizzie began to wonder where her Art History degree would take her and worked almost every night in hospitality (or “hospo”) to avoid feeling like a poor student. It was during this time that she met her future husband, James – an Englishman and a coffee roaster.
Although James initially swore he would never live in London, the two started to crave an adventure and to start their own business. Wellington in particular felt small so they started exploring overseas opportunities.
This year marks the 8th birthday of the New Zealand Business Women’s Network. To celebrate, over 70 members joined us for a Summer Party in Brixton on Tuesday 13th June. The theme of the evening was celebrating innovation in the New Zealand beverage industry.
Rosemary Coldstream’s husband thought her timing was seriously off. She had decided to make a change from a long career in fashion to landscape design at a time when the TV programme ‘Ground Force’ had brought garden design into popular consciousness and new landscape designers were popping up all over. Lovingly he told her, “You’ll never make it.”
Having been born in Canada, raised in New Zealand and with Danish grandparents living just a stone’s throw away, it’s no wonder that London based chef, Anna Hansen takes her inspiration from cultures and cuisines around the world.