A Bit Dressy
Meet Lara Hayes, the multi-award-winning force behind A Bit Dressy, who infuses her gate-to-plate Bay of Islands heritage and Mediterranean expertise into premium, small-batch olive oil dressings and nourishing bone broths.
New Zealand’s old-school steamed vegetables and cupboard-forsaken condiments are a thing of the past. Today, Kiwis are savouring vibrant flavours other cultures have picked straight from trees for millennia. Chef Lara Hayes is helping lead that shift. The one-woman producer behind A Bit Dressy is bringing Mediterranean liquid gold to kitchens across Aotearoa - sending olive oil based dressings, broths, soups and condiments from a Matakana market stall nationwide, one recycled jar at a time.
That dedication to flavour and quality has not gone unnoticed. At the 2025 Outstanding New Zealand Food Producer Awards, Lara took home four Gold medals and one Silver - proving that simple, nourishing ingredients done exceptionally well can turn everyday meals into something a bit dressier.
A Bit Dressy began after Lara returned to New Zealand following six years as a yacht chef in Europe. Immersed in Mediterranean food culture, cooking with olive oil, fresh herbs and seasonal ingredients had become second nature. Back home, she was surprised to find it so difficult to buy a quality dressing to take to a barbecue.
“I was shocked you still couldn’t buy salad dressings made with olive oil,” she says. “Everything was heavily processed and made with refined oils.” Encouraged by friends, Lara launched A Bit Dressy with three top quality olive oil based dressings built around seasonal flavours and nutritional integrity. “The base ingredient matters,” she explains. “For me it had to be good fats and real ingredients.”
One such creation turning heads is Lara’s Crazy Good Coriander Yoghurt and Lime Dressing with Jalapeño, a favourite with judges, customers and even the most stubborn coriander-sceptics. “People will say they don’t like coriander,” she laughs. “Then they taste it and go, ‘Oh my god, I love it.’”
“People will say they don’t like coriander. Then they taste it and go, ‘Oh my god, I love it.’”
Like many small food businesses, her journey fared challenges. Lara waited six months for MPI approval - only for the paperwork to arrive the week New Zealand entered its first COVID-19 lockdown. Rather than pause, she pivoted, producing bone broths and soups, delivering homely meals across Auckland when the city needed it most.
Gut balancing broths remain a cornerstone, like this year’s Gold-winning Keto Spicy Thai Chicken Soup, made with Chicken Coconut Bone Broth. Judges described it as “a great jar full of vegetables” with a complex spice balance and comforting nourishment.
Such focus stems from Lara’s gate-to-plate upbringing in the Bay of Islands. “We grew everything in our garden - vegetables, fruit, fish from the ocean,” she said. That appreciation for seasonal food and homemade nostalgia stayed with her. A Bit Dressy encourages customers to return jars to be sterilised and reused, earning a small credit while reducing waste.
But the most rewarding part has been connecting with customers. “Food is a way of gifting love,” Lara says. Some drive from Auckland to her Matakana stall every weekend. One customer tasted her NZ Artisan-Gold awarded Veggie & Barley Soup based with the ONZFP Gold-stickered Chicken Bone Broth and was instantly transported back to childhood. “His eyes filled with tears because it reminded him of his grandmother,” she recalls.
Despite recognition, A Bit Dressy remains a small, hands-on operation. Lara still produces everything in small batches each week, recently employing the indispensable Rachel part-time. Her contribution is said to be “always cheerful with a brilliant palate”.
“When people tell me ‘please don’t stop doing what you’re doing,’” Lara says, “that’s what keeps me going.”
Today, A Bit Dressy fresh produce can be delivered nationwide, or meet Lara at the Matakana Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings. North Island retailers include Matakana’s Foursquare, Smokehouse and Charlie’s Gelato Deli, Warkworth’s Bin Inn Wholefood Market, Northland’s Keri Berries and Auckland’s Westmere Butchery. In the South Island, McKibbon’s supermarkets in Arrowtown and Queenstown are piloting the small business expansion - bringing Lara’s Mediterranean-inspired condiments, broths and soups to kitchens all across Aotearoa. Visit A Bit Dressy online here.
