The Noodle Box Story
Jodi Mann and Nick Crooks story reads like something from a novel, a story started and continued by a mutual appreciation and sheer passion for food.
In the mid 1990s, Jodi left her home in Campbell River, British Columbia to backpack across South East Asia. After spending some time exploring the land and soaking up the culture, she made her way to Australia to experience something different. She only had enough money for a one-way ticket, but wasnít going to let that minor detail derail her plans. It turned out to be a life-changing decision.
Enter Nick Crooks. He was working as a Sous Chef at the Argo Hotel in Melbourne where Jodi landed a job as a Kitchen Hand. Jodi found Australia refreshing; the type of food and cuisine available amazed her, unlike anything found elsewhere in the world. The scope and diversity of fare found within the country was tantalizing, and inspiring.
Nick and Jodi discovered a similar passion for life, and it wasnít long before she convinced him to travel back to South East Asia with her. It was on this trip (Jodís third and Nickís first) that their gusto for food was further ignited; they spent countless hours analyzing the elements of South East Asian cuisine. As they ate their way across villages and cities, they wondered how they could improve on the dishes they sampled. They never jotted down one recipe, and there is no notebook filled with their findings.
Their South East Asian journey was a gustatory odyssey, one they still talk about with great enthusiasm.
It wasn’t until Nick had been in Canada for a few months and was still unemployed, did Jodi and Nickís unspoken idea crystallize into a full-fledged plan. They were going to fill the market gap and introduce Victoria to the delicious and varied food offerings that they themselves had eaten while in South East Asia, but with a Canadian spin.
The Noodle Box was born.
The Noodle Box opened in June 2001; Jodi and Nick ran the business from a refurbished hot dog cart they had purchased with the last of their savings. The Noodle Box Cart was located at the corner of Fisgard and Store in Victoria; it’s where they spent the next two years dishing out fresh, mouth-watering stir-fry noodles and soups. But the health department made their existence more than difficult to bear. Though Nick put up a stalwart fight and won numerous battles with the heavies at city hall, they nonetheless decided to call it quits in 2003 and began working on a plan to get themselves, and their fresh food idea, indoors.
Thanks to financial loans (and hard labour!) from family and friends, the first brick and mortar Noodle Box opened up in Chinatown, a block away (and literally down the street) from the old carts location. Loyal (and new) customers flocked to The Noodle Box and business has been thriving ever since. Two new stores were added to the now chain of restaurants, and Nick and Jodi are currently exploring how to bring their tasty fare to the rest of Canada, and possibly the world.
Even though they work together and have been married for over seven years, Nick and Jodi say they work in perfect harmony, carefully balancing roles and responsibilities of both home and the restaurants. They are so in sync, they both like to take credit for creating the same dishes on the menu.
And that original cart, you ask? Where is it?
The cart is safely housed in a storage unit. Jodi and Nick like to think of it as their insurance policy should things ever fall apart. But thousands of satisfied customers won’t soon let that happen.
