We moved home to Westport from Christchurch in January 2020, with the plan of eventually moving across to Melbourne. We weren’t planning on staying, but COVID came along and changed our plans.
We’d always worked in hospitality and had always talked about owning a café in our future, so we started looking into coffee and food cart ownership and decided to go for it.
We opened The Nourish Nook in September 2020 with the help of a business loan from NBS. We’d tried to get a loan from a big national bank but had been denied, but NBS stepped up and made it happen for us.
We’d initially been nervous that because we don’t bank with NBS personally, they would not approve our loan, but the process couldn’t have been easier in the end and there was no trouble getting it all up and running. It was also a nice bonus that, at the time, NBS had the lowest business loan rate and we had heard positive things about them from Max’s mum, who had an account with them.
We do all our business banking through NBS. They look after our business account, and we have the business loan with them. We love that we are not charged extra to deposit our takings with them at the end of the day.
Every interaction we have in the branch is great. The team are super friendly, approachable and helpful. Everyone says hi when you walk in, not just the teller serving you. The whole team has a warmth and is bubbly and welcoming. There’s no question too silly, they always make us feel comfortable regardless of the help we may need.
That friendly approach and community feel is so important in a small town like Westport. That’s what we love.
The NBS team has a coffee tab with us, which makes us feel really supported by them and I know they run a lot of community support initiatives for others in the community, too. You see NBS promotional gear like umbrellas and picnic blankets everywhere in town, which NBS has gifted to various teams and causes. It’s a visible support.
NBS is the only bank in town that is open five days a week which means they are there for you when you need it. That’s what banking for life means to me – it’s that accessible service and support when you need it most.
