Mimi Gilmour

Mimi Gilmour Buckley is a restaurateur, businesswoman and most recently, appointed the Jaguar XE Ambassador for New Zealand and board member of Co.Women,

Mimi’s restaurateur mother ignited Mimi’s passion for the business at an early age. Mimi set up her first hospitality business at 16, which cooked, styled and staffed private dinner parties. 

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 and during this time she also travelled between Auckland and Sydney to help launch Chur Burger in 2013. 

The following year, Mimi returned to New Zealand and decided it was time to leave MEXICO.  6 weeks later she opened 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, Newmarket in 2015 where it served 200,000 customers in it's first year. 

In 2016, Mimi opened Fish Fish in Ponsonby Central & Takapuna, alongside a third Burger Burger.  Burger Burger's ultimate goal is to become the most inspiring place to work for for under 25's in New Zealand.