Meet Moreton Bay’s Business Woman of the Year: Candice Kiss
When Candice Kiss answers the phone, she is already on the move.
She is between school pick-ups, covering a staff shift at one of her venues and squeezing an interview into a rare quiet moment. It is a snapshot of the life that has earned her the title of Moreton Bay’s Business Woman of the Year.
Candice is the owner of three cafés across the City of Moreton Bay: Gather & Feast in Caboolture, Annie Lane on Bribie Island and Ruby Tuesday in Burpengary. She is also a mother of five, a wife and a chef by trade.
“I live here,” Candice says. “That’s always been the number one thing. This is my community, and everything I’ve built has grown from that.”
Built from necessity, grounded in community
Her path to business ownership began out of necessity. Pregnant with her fifth child, Candice became the sole income earner after her husband Richard returned from a tour of Afghanistan and was medically discharged from the army.
“We had to work out how we were going to make it work with a newborn and four other kids. So we bought a food truck, renovated it ourselves, made it beautiful, and worked our guts out.”
The food truck quickly built a loyal following across Bribie Island and Caboolture. Within a year, Candice was ready for something more permanent and opened Gather & Feast.
“People thought we were crazy. But I knew there were locals commuting to the city, with city expectations, who wanted great food close to home.”
Annie Lane opened on Bribie Island in 2019. Ruby Tuesday followed in Burpengary last year, filling what Candice saw as a gap in the area.
A career shaped in the kitchen
Candice has worked in hospitality since she was 16.
“I’ve never done anything else, and I genuinely love it. I love cooking, I love creativity, and I love making people happy.”
But kitchens have not always been an easy space for women.
“It’s getting better, but historically it has been a very male-dominated industry. Especially as a chef. I was young, female and leading kitchens where most of the staff were men. I had to learn very early how to hold my own.”
By 18, she was running a kitchen in Sydney and pretending she was older so staff would take her seriously. Today, Candice leads a team of 35 staff across her cafés. Many have been with her for six or seven years.
“You become incredibly empathetic as a leader. You wear a thousand hats. You need to understand people, their families, their pressures. If you want good people to stay, you have to build work around real life.”
Business Woman of the Year
The weight of that journey came into sharp focus when Candice was named Business Woman of the Year at the Moreton Bay Business & Excellence Awards.
“I’ve won national awards before, but nothing has ever meant more than that moment.”
“To be recognised by people who actually know you, who have seen the struggles, the late nights, the highs and the lows, I’ve never felt so seen. I was humbled. I was emotional. I cried a lot.”
Winning alongside her team made the moment even more powerful.
Moreton Bay Business & Excellence Awards Photos courtesy of Tourism & Events Moreton Bay
Her advice to women in Moreton Bay
Candice’s story reflects the reality many women know well: building something meaningful alongside school runs, sick days and hard conversations.
Her advice is simple.
“If you are genuinely passionate about something, it would be a failure to yourself not to try,” she says. “If it doesn’t work, that’s not failure. Failure is never giving yourself the chance.”
Still juggling, still growing and still deeply connected to her community, Candice Kiss has built her success in the middle of everyday life.
Growth is on the horizon. What comes next, she says, is something to watch.
More from our International Women’s Day 2026 series
You can read more stories celebrating women across the City of Moreton Bay here.
Leading with purpose: Tash Wheeler
Service to lifesaving: Lynda Barry
A lifetime in hockey: Jenny Heron
This story is part of our International Women’s Day 2026 coverage. Explore more local profiles and features here.