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Puku Ora co-founders Erana Ngaruku and Amy Wray have been awarded the Tohu Aorangi, the Māori businesswomen’s Supreme Overall Award, just as their business faces the blow of no longer providing school lunches.

The awards, hosted by Māori Women’s Development Inc (MWDI), recognise the resilience, creativity and dedication of Māori women in business.

Puku Ora is a Gisborne eatery focused on the importance of a healthy puku (stomach) for a healthy life. In addition to catering services, it offers holistic wellness products, educational initiatives and collaborative workspaces.

The Puku Ora team’s approach is based on the principles of Te Whare Tapa Whā Māori health model, which emphasises the balance of mental, physical, spiritual and whānau (family) wellbeing.

Puku Ora was part of the programme for the Government’s Ka Ora, Ka Ako Healthy School Lunches initiative and had been providing daily lunches to 10 schools - serving 2800 meals a week.

However, Associate Minister of Education David Seymour announced in October the new suppliers of school lunches - the School Lunch Collective - would be national businesses like Compass Group, Gilmours and the Libelle Group.

“It was a shock to find out,” Wray said.

Wray said the last communication she received was in May when Minister Seymour announced the Government’s plan to change the Healthy School Lunches Programme.

“There was a part of me that thought we made it through Covid-19, we made it through Cyclone Gabrielle, we can make it through this,” she said.

Ngakuru said it was disappointing because they had put so much work into it.

“We appreciate working with a great team at the MOE (Ministry of Education). It was out of their hands and that is why we were so blindsided by this.

“At the same time, that is business. Being in business with the Government especially, you can lose contracts just like that.”

Puku Ora has 30 staff and is working to absorb them into other projects it is planning.

Wray said their point of difference, compared to the Government’s new suppliers, was they valued manaakitanga (relationships), kanohi ki te kanohi (face-to-face interactions), and keeping the connections and standards in the community.

“We originally came on board with this project to inspire positive change and make intergenerational change around food.”

The pair were feeling down but then Wray received a phone call from the MWDI team asking when they were going to arrive for the awards night in Wellington.

“The awards came at a point when we felt crushed and was a chance for the team to be recognised for the hard work they do behind the scenes,” Wray said.

“I told them what had been happening and how we were feeling quite low about it all, and then they told me what we were going to get.”

It was actually two awards - the supreme award and the Pakihi Whai Ora Social Enterprise award.

Ngakuru was unable to go but arrangements were made for Wray, who rushed to the airport, and was on the plane on the tarmac when it was announced it was grounded because of a mechanical fault.

Wray ended up sending a video through to play on the big screen at the awards night.

“This came at a time when we needed a little booster to keep us going,” Ngaruku said.

“I am proud to be Māori,” Wray said. “Don’t let being Māori limit you. In fact, it’s what inspires me.”

They had a message for Seymour: “Put your money where your mouth is and eat the food every day.

“We would love to see the Government eating those lunches every day,” Ngaruku said.

In response to this request, Seymour said he left school in the year 2000, “so sadly I missed out on eating the lunches every day. I would be happy to if I was at school”.

The meals from the School Lunch Collective met the exact same nutritional standards as the old programme, he said.

“While developing the programme, we received clear feedback from schools that they didn’t want different models for Years 7 and over. That is why we successfully negotiated a like-for-like solution for all student age groups in the programme, as per schools’ wishes.”

He acknowledged some businesses would lose contracts as part of the new model but said the priority was delivering lunches at a cost affordable to the taxpayer.

“We can’t justify keeping the old model when it’s possible to deliver the programme at half the cost.”

Seymour said the Ministry of Education completed a robust registration of interest process, which included giving advance notice that businesses could be impacted in the transition to the new model, which allowed them time to prepare for any changes.

All current contracts between the Ministry of Education and suppliers expire on December 24.

Along with Puku Ora’s two awards, the regional MWDI Tairāwhiti winner was Chrystal Edmonds of Stirling Logging, who also won last year, while Jonique Oli of fashion boutique Waiapu Rd won the Te Whanaketanga Employment and Growth award.

- Matai O’Connor, Ngāti Porou, has been a journalist for five years and Kaupapa Māori reporter at the Gisborne Herald for two years.