Ms Nicol set up permanently at Aspiring Village two years ago after catering for the wider community and it was all plant-based initially.
The villagers were particular about their food, she said with a laugh.
"It’s definitely been a learning curve. It’s been a journey, I would say they’re probably the world’s hardest critics, and they will tell you.
"Some feedback we needed to take on board and some feedback was actually them just having a bad day, as we all do. Once I learned that and I got a bit of a tougher skin, I have loved every minute."
The owner of Balance Me, Ms Nicol said this work, especially for those who were more dependant on receiving their meals, was the most rewarding work she had done.
"It’s very much a community and team-driven business and we very much want to look after people with food. And I feel like so many people have forgotten their connection with food."
Balance Me started by mistake, she said. While studying psychology, she needed to make money and started a small plant-based meal delivery business. Business picked up so fast that she was delivering to over 50 customers initially. That doubled and then tripled.
The business took off so well in Wānaka that she was then providing cafes such as Dojo, Urban Grind and Nanny Goat Winery with her plant-based wholesale products, namely the "sausage-less" roll.
"It was re-creating New Zealand classics. The whole idea of Balance Me wasn’t to turn the world vegan. It was actually just to get the world to eat more plants."
Ms Nicol is a plant-based eater, but will try the gravies made from meat that she feeds the village, because everything she serves, she needs to know tastes good.
She said her philosophy was to strengthen her clients’ mental health through their physical health. "Everything that you eat is kind of consumed through your body and then, depending on how your gut health is, if like your gut wall is strong or not strong, is how much is absorbed. For example, it might be absorbed really fast and then you get blood sugar spike and then you get kind of irritable and things like that.
"It affects our hormone health, it affects our mental health, and it affects our physical health."
Since starting at the lifestyle village, she has doubled the attendees at the Thursday night dinner, hosted regular themed dinners, started a Wednesday cafe and started serving the assisted living Pembroke Residents morning team, their main lunch meal and afternoon tea daily.
"When I came into the village, I saw what they were doing for these residents and was impressed. My interpretation of a rest-home or an retirement village is actually just what my great grandmother had and that was really sad.
"When you hear the team here and you see what they’re trying to do, they’re really trying to redefine elder living, and I wanted to be part of that."
And just as with grandparents, the positive feedback exceeds anything else.
"They have been so grateful, they are always saying they like the variation of what we do. It’s nice seeing the smile on faces.
"The daily impact on the residents and the reward from this, it’s huge."
