About Us

MIKE has always had a passion for good food and was blessed to have his parents shout him a course at the London School of Cordon Bleu Cookery, Parnell, in 1988.  His ‘cheffing’ career started off as a dishwasher at Simon Gault’s Bell House in Pakuranga.  Soon, he became a commis chef and Simon saw his potential and Mike worked hard and worked as sous chef and then at Gault’s on Quay, Mike became Simons Head Chef.  In 1999 Mike was too busy cheffing to spend the time with his two young children, 4 and 6 that he wanted to.  So, in many ways, at the peak of his career, he lay down his cooking career for the love of his family and started his training as a social worker and has worked in community mental health since.                                                    

BUT…you can take the Chef out of the kitchen, but cheffing and the love of flavours and good food, cannot be taken out of the heart or palate.

Mike still cooked for friends and family, because cooking was still a great part of who he was/is, and his community work hours were far more family friendly. Over the years he was still using and ‘sitting’ on some special recipes – waiting for the right time; we were not sure whether Mike would publish a cookbook, or whether he would end up producing food under his own label.  Both were a dream!

PAULINE aka ‘MRS MIKE’ is the other half of MIKE’S Food Products. 

Pauline helps to keep MIKE on track and does a lot of the day to day running. She is passionate about salads and vegetable dishes, fresh flavours and anything ‘mushroom’ and has many food ideas and is working on some blends which we will be trying out in the test kitchen soon. 

  • In 2019 MIKE’S  food products was launched, we hired kitchen space and were registered and verified and we started producing MIKE’S Original Marinated Shiitake Mushrooms.
  • December 2019 saw the debut of MIKE’S Chilli Marinated Shiitake Mushrooms – just in time for Christmas Gifts. 
  • 2021 saw our home kitchen rebuilt, verified, and registered. 
  • 2021 saw the introduction of MIKE’S Smokey Marinated Shiitake Mushrooms
  • 2022 we launched our Life Changing All Purpose Seasoning Mix.
  • 2023 – MIKE’S Real Good (if I do say so myself) Shiitake Sauce and MIKE’S Noodle and Stir-fry Sauce were launched together and MIKE’S Smokey Chilli Marinated Shiitake Mushrooms – came to the party!  And what a party – we now have 7 products.
  • Late in 2023 we were thrilled to be awarded a Silver medal for our Smokey Chili marinated shiitake mushrooms and Bronze medals for our Original and Chili marinated shiitake mushrooms in the NZ Artisan Awards. 

We have many ideas for new products, so check in regularly for updates. Have a read of our Blog and Recipes pages before you go and thank you so much for visiting.

MIKE’S – Making Shiitake Happen Since 2019!