Both born and bred in Samoa, Trina was the first to move to New Zealand to study in high school, with Ralph following her in 2001. Living in west Auckland for the past 20 years, they currently are in Te Atatu Peninsula with their two sons and Trina’s mother, who helps with the boys when Trina and Ralph are pursuing their food business dreams. Trina comes from a family of bakers and cooks who, while not professional, were famous in the village for their baking, especially their fruit or pineapple pies. Trina loved hanging around the kitchen helping her Mum and Mama cook or bake. Ralph on the other hand, had completed a food tech course back in the Islands and was naturally talented in the kitchen.  While he didn’t end up pursuing this as a career, he has always had a passion for food and creating new recipes.

The concept for Trina and Ralph’s business was inspired by their recently discovered love of camping, which not only meant outdoor sleeping, but outdoor cooking as well. When they started barbequing different meats during their camping trips, they would find the delicious smells soon resulted in an audience of other campers, wanting to try and even pay for their creations. This motivated Trina and Ralph to start their Low & Slow BBQ business K-Bones, offering backyard low & slow smokey barbequed meats served with some of their Island sides, starters, and baked goods, creating full meals for families to share.

Trina initially applied for The Kitchen Project, hoping to get help with her Food Control Plan and to understand the legalities of running a food business. Since joining, she has also gained a wealth of knowledge in food costings, setting up social media platforms, how to run a small business and more. A real highlight for Trina and Ralph was a tasting session where they were able to showcase their food and menus and get honest, quality feedback in return.  “This was invaluable for us, especially in this start-up phase. We are forever grateful for everything we’ve learnt and accomplished whilst being a part of The Kitchen Project not forgetting the friendships, we’ve created with all the other entrepreneurs along the way.”

With Trina and Ralph’s current commitments, their full-time work, their son’s activities, and church, they are looking to start their business catering style as this will give them a bit more flexibility. They plan to continue with one-off larger events such as Pasifika and Polyfest, with the ultimate aim of a K-Bones backyard style eatery where family and friends can come together a share a low & slow barbeque meal.

Currently Trina and Ralph are doing catering orders through word of mouth, church, work, and family. They are also working on setting up an online platform to sell various menus locally once a week, starting soon.