TEA Gardens’ own Tea Gardens BBQ Boats have taken out two major awards at the MidCoast Business Awards.

The business, which only began operations in 2019, is thrilled to have received both the Tea Gardens People’s Choice and Tea Gardens Best Start Up awards at the virtual MidCoast Business Awards which took place on 12 February.

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Tea Gardens BBQ Boats is owned and operated by a local husband and wife team, Jason and Kathrine Riley.

The couple told News Of The Area that they were just excited to be named as a finalist, and weren’t expecting anything else.

“It was such a wonderful surprise and an honour to win two awards,” they said.

The People’s Choice Award for Tea Gardens are popularly-voted and the couple are thankful to all those who voted.

“We don’t know how many people voted or what they said, but we are very grateful for what must have been wonderful feedback; there was a lot of cheering and high-fiving in our household when we heard the result,” Jason and Kathrine said.

For all winners of the awards, it is a recognition of the resilience that businesses have possessed over the past two years.

“Winning these awards is such sweet acknowledgement of the extreme hard work, passion and resilience we have put into establishing and growing the business over the last few years.

“We created the business in August 2019, opened up to boat hires on Christmas Day 2019 then only a few months later the COVID-19 pandemic, first of several lockdowns and economic challenges hit.

“We are proud of, and so glad of, the decisions we made to pivot the business when needed resulted in being able to continue providing the opportunity for everyone to explore the beautiful Myall River or build their dream boat despite the challenging times,” they said.

The couple are hoping to have their first uninterrupted year of boat hires this year, alongside building a Private Island pontoon boat for a client in Western Australia and in 2022 they are are planning to step up marketing strategies for the manufacturing side of the business to keep creating new designs to meet a broader range of boat build needs.

“We would like to send another huge thank you to our amazing customers and cheer squad for their support.

“We look forward to expanding the business in the future, supporting sustainable development and doing our part to ensure Tea Gardens is a great place to live and visit,” they said.

By Tara CAMPBELL