Candice Kiss has built three thriving cafés across the City of Moreton Bay while raising five children, and last October the region’s business community recognised that effort by naming her Business Woman of the Year at the 2025 Moreton Bay Business and Innovation Awards.
The award, presented at a gala evening at Eatons Hill Hotel on 30 October 2025, was decided by a panel of 25 judges drawn from the public and private sectors, with 61 businesses competing across the night’s categories. Candice took out the award representing all three of her venues — Gather & Feast in Caboolture, Annie Lane Cafe on Bribie Island and Ruby Tuesday Café in Burpengary East.
For Candice, the win carried a weight that earlier accolades had not. She has collected national awards before, but being recognised by the community she has lived and worked inside — the people who watched her build, struggle and grow — landed differently.
From a Food Truck to Three Venues
Candice grew up in Bundaberg and left school at 16 knowing hospitality was where she was headed. She started her apprenticeship in the Whitsundays, working across a range of venues from franchise restaurants to five-star resorts, and by 18 had been recruited as head chef of a restaurant in Adelaide — before she had even finished her apprenticeship.
From there, her career took her to Cape York, Sydney and eventually Moreton Bay, where she put down roots. The pivot to business ownership did not come from ambition alone. When her husband Richard returned from a tour of Afghanistan and was medically discharged from the army, Candice became the family’s sole income earner — pregnant with their fifth child.
She and Richard renovated a food truck together and started trading. Gather & Feast on James Street in Caboolture grew from that foundation, built on her read of the local market: that residents commuting to Brisbane for work had city-level expectations for food and nowhere local that met them.
Annie Lane followed on Bribie Island in 2019, earning a reputation as an award-winning boutique café specialising in innovative brunch fare. Ruby Tuesday opened at 115–117 Buckley Road, Burpengary East in February 2025, with a deliberately distinct identity — more refined plating, a stronger focus on house-made produce and a menu Candice designed to stand apart from her other two venues.
Leading a Team of 35
Across three venues, Candice now leads a team of 35 staff. Many have been with her for six or seven years, a retention rate that reflects the way she runs her business. She approaches leadership as a human discipline — understanding what is happening in her staff’s lives and building rosters that accommodate real-world pressures — rather than a purely operational one.
That approach is shaped by her own experience navigating kitchens as a young woman. She began leading kitchen teams at an age when few took her seriously, and she had to establish her authority early. One of her staff members, Olivia Tulloch of Gather & Feast Café, also won an award on the same night — taking out the Employee of the Year category. It underlines what Candice has built: not just successful venues, but a workplace that develops people.
What the Award Means for Caboolture
Gather & Feast has won multiple community food awards including category wins at the Moreton Bay Forkies Eat & Drink Awards, and the business has been a consistent presence in the region’s award nominations since it opened. But the Business Woman of the Year title sits in a different category — a recognition of Candice as a leader and operator, not just of a café, but of a growing hospitality group embedded in the community.
For Caboolture, having a local business owner recognised at this level matters. The suburb sits within a region that is rapidly growing, and the presence of locally owned, quality venues like Gather & Feast signals to both residents and newcomers that the community has depth and ambition. Candice’s success also demonstrates a practical pathway: that it is possible to build a meaningful business in Moreton Bay without starting somewhere else first.
Gather & Feast is on James Street, Caboolture. Annie Lane is on Bribie Island. Ruby Tuesday is at 115–117 Buckley Road, Burpengary East. More about the 2025 Moreton Bay Business and Innovation Awards is available at moretonbaybusinessawards.com.au.
Published 7-March-2026.
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