Xie (Queenstown Central)

Welcome to our latest St. Pierre’s partner feature! Today we’re in Queenstown, in the beautiful South Island, visiting Xie.

Originally from China, Xie came to NZ as a student in 2006. She began working for St Pierres at the Symonds Street shop in Auckland’s universities district in 2013. But interestingly, she had not had a long-standing connection to the food business.

Xie explains that

When I came to New Zealand I didn’t really know how to cook! But I did some part time hotel hospitality work as part of my studies, and did a cooking course at university, which got me up to speed. One day after graduating I was passing by the St Pierres on Symonds Street, so I applied, and things just went from there!

After working her way up to Symonds Street manager, in early 2018 Xie was thinking about her next career move. As it turns out, a great opportunity was brewing within St Pierres.

I have to confess I wasn’t thinking about a partnership. I had received an offer from the University of Auckland for further study, and was wondering what path forward was best for me. I had coffee with Takeshi, my area manager at the time, who asked me what my future plans were. He talked about the partnership programme, and the opportunity coming up in Queenstown.

To be honest, I didn’t even know where Queenstown was! But I believed in what the partnership programme offered, and accepted the offer without even having been there. I visited Queenstown for the first time in July that year, and the shop opened in December 2018.

Since opening the first St Pierres in her area, Xie has had to build a team, cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and huge loss of tourist trade in Queenstown, and face strong competition. Famous for its unique and stunning scenery, Queenstown is also a business environment like no other.

It’s a very transient place – everyone is always passing through, visitors and residents. And for a smaller place there is lots of competition. But some things are the same everywhere – whatever you do, word always gets around, so we constantly work to first and foremost deliver great customer experiences.

At the same time, I try to build a strong workplace culture by celebrating success with the team. We often have dinner as a team, when I shout the meal of their choice, and we always have great staff parties. It’s important that our staff feel valued and enjoy working here as much as they enjoy Queenstown’s amazing outdoor activities!

Xie loves living and working in Queenstown, so make sure to stop by and see her if you’re in the area. Here’s to more successful partnership ventures to come!