Our Team

Mark & Jo
Jo Macdonald & Mark Yardley took over Cortado as a new adventure and challenge in 2015. They expanded and renovated the restaurant less than a year on to make it the awesome space it is today as Mark & Jo love to challenge themselves and strive to improve.

Kody
Kody is the bundle of energy that you will see running all over the place. He knows his food and he knows his drink and he loves to meld the two together. He never stops coming up with clever new ideas and the grass does not grow under his feet.

Wei-Nee
Wei-Nee started with our family in late 2019, she quickly worked to become one of core team members. She strives to provide the best, most attentive hospitality in Picton and loves to push herself to learn more about our industry.

Curt
Curt is a awesome part of the team, he loves to serve his customers with a bit of cheeky banter and a bright smile! He's off on an excursion soon to cycle the whole of NZ, top to bottom... We think he's crazy, but hey - he'll bring some good yarns to back to the restaurant for ya!

Ollie
Ollie has been a member of the Cortado family since 2017 and has grown from Kitchen Hand to Chef d’partie during this time. He loves to pair wines & beers with food and if you love spicy food, Ollie is your man.

Shayla
Shayla has worked hard to become one of our core team leaders. She strives to provide her guests with an exceptional experience leaving them felling fulfilled and happy. Shayla is a master on the bar and makes a mean cocktail, ask her for a suggestion when your in next!

Ilah
Young Ilah joined the team early 2021, she has a passion for customer experience and quickly become know as smiley-illy for her bright happy smile. Ilah looks forward to exceeding your expectations and giving you an experience to remember

Sean
Sean has been with a for a few years now and has big dreams to one day own his own cafe, right now he's using this time to soak up as much information off our chefs as possible! He has one of the most important jobs of all, ensuring your cutlery & plates are sparkling clean. He is crazy for all things coffee, if you see him around say hi!

Sunny O'Regan
Sunny is originally from Ireland and has been working in hospitality since he was pretty young and just loves it. We are really excited to have Sunny join our team and he will bring not only a wealth of experience, but excellent organisational and team building skills.
Welcome Sunny.
Welcome to Cortado Restaurant & Bar in Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand, a great place to socialise with friends while enjoying a bottle of wine & some fantastic food.
Our people have a passion for the hospitality industry and our Cortado culture. We value honesty, integrity, loyalty and an excellent sense of humour at all times, towards each other as well as our guests. Our local community is small and vibrant and especially important to us. We pride ourselves on being a part of the Picton culture where people choose to visit us time and again because of our ability to consistently surprise & delight.
We value professional development and encourage everyone to take responsibility to identify opportunities for learning. Being responsible for your own learning and teaching others, pushing the boundaries and encouraging each other, enables the entire team to develop professionally and personally.
Our philosophy is to encourage all members of our team to be the best that they can be and to strive for excellence. We don’t want anyone to feel stuck in a rut and will offer ongoing coaching to improve business skills as well as offering professional development opportunities, both in-house and externally for the right people.