It’s been a whirlwind time of celebration for the owners and team at Burton’s Catering.
On June 24, the team claimed high praise as the #2 Highly Commended Wedding Caterer for 2026 at last week’s Couples’ Choice Wedding Industry Awards for 2026.
Owner Kris Burton said she was really excited to snap up the award. “We actually got the same award last year. It was really cool to see that we got finalists again and knowing that we’d had the second tier last year as well. I didn’t actually know what we were in for,” she said. “It would always be nice to get number one, but when you are going up against New Zealand, there’s catering companies that you haven’t even heard of before. To still get top two, I think that’s pretty cool.”
It was a big thing, not just for herself and husband Elliot to be recognised, but for vendors across the wider Coromandel Peninsula, she said.
“A lot of people still bring those vendors from out of town. They’re not actually shopping local and, you know, are they realising that vendors in the area are award winning as well?,” she said.
“They’ve got the standard just as much as everybody else.”
Burton’s was proud to make it an “easy breezy experience” for clients, she said, from the admin side to planning and obviously the top priority – food.
People remembered the taste of Burton’s. Kris said brides and clients approached her to cater for them because they remembered tasting Burtons’ food at other weddings they’d been to, or family members who used their catering.
Clients walked away thinking “mmmm”, she said.
“It is nice because I absolutely love what I do. Catering is so much fun because you never know what you’re going to get.”
Kris said she wanted to thank her husband Elliot and family, all her Burton’s Catering staff and all the team at Burton’s on Pollen.
“I couldn’t do it without them. It’s a real team effort.”
Kris and Elliot, who also own Burton’s Butchery, were in the running for the second year in a row at the Bacon Awards for 2026 would find out their results on July 1.
By DAVIDDA HIKATANGATA
