The Snug Café on Bowen Island is run by the Hayes family. Castaways from a 1994 sailing odyssey that began in Cape Town bound for New Zealand, they found themselves washed up on Bowen. A slight navigational error but still the Pacific, albeit the other side, and indeed still an island. Being self-taught foodies from four years on a boat, eating and enjoying what they caught, they thought “Heck! Why can’t we share with others what we have so enjoyed ourselves?” And so The Snug under the Hayes’ banner was born.

Prior to becoming ‘The Snug on Bowen’ the cafe had many incarnations. The building was shipped over from the mainland on a barge about fifty years ago. It has housed a car mechanic’s workshop, a feed store, a notions shop (zippers, needles, fabrics, greeting cards, etc), a delicatessen and finally a coffee shop called the Whirling Dervish, which came into existence about 30 years ago. Eventually it was renamed ‘The Snug’ and was passed through a few change of hands until it came to rest with the Hayes family in 2005. To date they have owned and operated The Snug for the longest period of time.