Baking star's brave survival 'I LOST MY BUSINESS BUT GAINED A LIFE'

The Magnolia Kitchen owner shares her tough recipe for change

- Debbie Harrison

When Bernadette Gee's bakery and café business Magnolia Kitchen went into liquidation in late 2022, it wasn't just the end of her company - it was the closing of a life chapter that she'd poured every ounce of herself into for more than a decade.

"I was Magnolia Kitchen - I didn’t know how to not be that," the 42-year-old admits. "It was my identity, so it was too hard to make the decision to close it myself. In the end, it had to be taken away from me. It was traumatic."

Bernadette started the brand in 2012 and opened her boutique cake shop in 2016, the Monday after she and husband Harley returned from their honeymoon. Over the next decade, she juggled life with Harley, their daughter Charlotte, now 23, and sons James, 12, and Edward, 10, with growing the company to supplying more than 230 stores across New Zealand with her famous fudges, marshmallows and baking kits.

But behind the glossy café, bestselling cookbooks and large social media following, the business and Bernadette had reached their limit.

Then COVID happened, leaving Bernadette's family in debt that they're still paying off.

After the Auckland business collapsed, Bernadette took to her bed and decided her family would be better off without her.