Mimi Gilmour Buckley in association with the Restaurant Association of New Zealand

Mimi Gilmour Buckley is a restaurateur, businesswoman and well-known hospitality personality.

After graduating from the Elam School of Fine Arts with a major in photography, Mimi travelled to Sydney and began running events while also working the floors of some of the city’s most prestigious restaurants. Mimi went on to become the events and marketing manager for Appetite for Excellence, the Australian hospitality youth awards program, and then ran the chef program at the Taste of Sydney festival.

In 2010, Mimi opened District Dining Sydney with chef Warren Turnbull and she was then asked to be Creative Director of Taste of New Zealand, which took place in Auckland during the Rugby World Cup in 2011. She designed and managed all aspects of the events, which happened twice-daily over the forty five days of the Cup. During this same year Mimi brought the District Dining concept to Auckland and opened District Dining Britomart.

Mimi co-founded the MEXICO restaurant group in 2012, and managed all creative direction as well as operations. The group opened 5 locations in NZ in quick succession, before Mimi returned to Sydney to launch Chur Burger in 2013.

The following year, Mimi returned to New Zealand to launch Burger Burger in Auckland’s Ponsonby neighborhood. The inviting restaurant keeps the price point low, the burgers delicious, the music loud and the ingredients ethical. Burger Burger served 160,000 customers in its first year and expanded to a second location in 2015 and third in 2016. To date Burger Burger has served it’s customers more than a million burgers.  Mimi & her team are about to embark on a growth strategy that will see them open another 12 locations all over New Zealand, over the next five years.