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Speaker 1: Time for catch up with one of the country's best

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Speaker 1: hospital operators and all around food hero. Ben Bailey owned

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Speaker 1: six restaurants these days. A seventh is a great story

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Speaker 1: and we'll come to that. Also as television show, if

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Speaker 1: you've been watching it in New Zealand, Food Stories just

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Speaker 1: wrapped its fourth season. So but to cover and Ben

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Speaker 1: baders back.

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Speaker 2: It's good to see you, same here, Thank you.

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Speaker 1: The food story was the stone Fruit in Central Otago.

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Speaker 1: We like that, isn't it amazing? It's just it's well class.

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Speaker 2: You know. Did you see the Forest Lodge orchard. The

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Speaker 2: Elecgend cherry is a very first electric farm in New Zealand.

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Speaker 1: That's Mike.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Mike, He's amazing.

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Speaker 1: Mike hates me. Mike, Mike loves me and he hates

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Speaker 1: me well because we've got this electricity thing going on.

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Speaker 1: I'm a sort of a I'm not as enamored with

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Speaker 1: evs as he is. And he wants to the whole

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Speaker 1: world electric and so he writes to me on a

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Speaker 1: regular basis. But when it comes to cherries, nobody does

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Speaker 1: it better than he does.

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Speaker 2: That's right. And you know the cool thing about this

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Speaker 2: is that I've never seen a cherry chair and that

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Speaker 2: actually give birth cherries. It was my first time plucking

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Speaker 2: it cherry off the tree and that sounds weird because

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Speaker 2: New Zealand grows the best cherries in the world and

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Speaker 2: when you see the cherries you can purchase from Forest

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Speaker 2: Ladge orchard or electric cherries. They want a big balanced

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Speaker 2: farm environment awards as well, they won every Bloody award.

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Speaker 2: You actually get export cherries in your home, so if

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Speaker 2: you buy cherries from a supermarket, they're the tiny, little

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Speaker 2: kind of B grade ones and so ordering from him.

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Speaker 2: That was really my first experience as a New Zealander

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Speaker 2: in New Zealand eating an export cherry and this big

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Speaker 2: you can't really see, but they're like thirty two to

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Speaker 2: thirty six centimeters millimeters.

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Speaker 1: The the interesting about you see. High Peak Station was

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Speaker 1: one of my favorites as well, because I can't work

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Speaker 1: out whether it's just the high station where I'm from

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Speaker 1: Canderbur anyway. I find looking at those sort of places

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Speaker 1: actually quite emotional.

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Speaker 2: Yes, and do you absolutely.

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Speaker 1: Because there's something it's so big. What they do at

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Speaker 1: a place like that is it's a significant business, isn't

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Speaker 1: It's not just some sheep running away? You know, hundreds

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Speaker 1: of hectares away.

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Speaker 2: It's a story about farmers diversifying. And if you look

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Speaker 2: at that family, who are just wonderful human beings. To

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Speaker 2: be honest, how do you Especially when farms pass on

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Speaker 2: through the generations, they often get divided up or sold.

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Speaker 2: And so the father who sadly passed away wanted the

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Speaker 2: whole family to live there together and to work it out.

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Speaker 2: So you've got one person running the farming element, then

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Speaker 2: you've got the terrorism element, and then you've got the

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Speaker 2: honey element. So so much land, ten thousand acres, you know,

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Speaker 2: and right at the foothills of Mount Hart and so

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Speaker 2: I mean you're just as a New Zealander getting access

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Speaker 2: to that high country is phenomenal and in fact it's

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Speaker 2: sort of like if I wasn't a chef, that's what

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Speaker 2: I'd like to do. So for me, that's emotional.

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Speaker 1: Do you has this worked for you? What was your

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Speaker 1: purpose of because I think I'm correct and saying tell

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Speaker 1: me if I'm telling tales here, But this was self funded,

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Speaker 1: wasn't it. This was sort of a gift from you

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Speaker 1: to the country.

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Speaker 2: To Yeah, we're fully self funded and we do sponsors

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Speaker 2: like Balanced Farm Environment Awards. Without those guys, we wouldn't

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Speaker 2: be able to make the show, So we don't get

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Speaker 2: any money from New Zealand on air or anything like that.

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Speaker 2: For me, it's a couple of things, like as a chef,

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Speaker 2: it's my responsibility to get out there and make sure

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Speaker 2: I know what the farmers having for breakfast, let alone

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Speaker 2: how they've grown the animals. And you've got to find

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Speaker 2: out like what's good out there. There's you know, you

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Speaker 2: go to the supermarket and you kind of don't know

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Speaker 2: the story of food. And when you go on the

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Speaker 2: farm where you go out on a boat and you

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Speaker 2: hear the stories and you hear how hard it is,

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Speaker 2: you have a new respect. That is the beginning of

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Speaker 2: the creative process for coming up with a dish. Like

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Speaker 2: there's just this natural process that goes on in my brain,

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Speaker 2: like you know, I want to create a dish from

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Speaker 2: these ingredients and I want to buy direct from these people.

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Speaker 2: So there's that process, and then there's a whole New

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Speaker 2: Zealand ink story where if we tell our food story better,

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Speaker 2: we can sell our products for more, especially when it

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Speaker 2: comes to export. I think we're hiding this story too

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Speaker 2: much in New Zealand. And we want to uncover and

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Speaker 2: see the soldier of the earth. Kiwis who are doing just.

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Speaker 1: Doing phenomenal autistic stories? Are you running yourself too thin

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Speaker 1: at the moment? Six restaurants? And when I happened to

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Speaker 1: be an h couple of months ago, you were there

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Speaker 1: and you look like you were doing something. That's like

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Speaker 1: you weren't wandering around am So how do you do that?

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Speaker 1: Plus your television? Plus the seventh restaurant?

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Speaker 2: It's like for me, I feel like I've just started

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Speaker 2: out in my career and I just feel like I'm

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Speaker 2: a commie chef, just started out from culinary school or so.

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Speaker 2: I have the sense of enthusiasm that I that I

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Speaker 2: can't can't extinguish. I get a lot of I get

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Speaker 2: a lot of pride and value out of seeing other

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Speaker 2: people sort of rise up, employees or staff members rise

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Speaker 2: up through the ranks, and I'm constantly replacing myself and

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Speaker 2: giving a pathway to those staff members to be able

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Speaker 2: to level up. I mean, I'm just a stepping stone

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Speaker 2: for everyone that works out there restaurants. So my job

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Speaker 2: is to make sure that they go on to do.

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Speaker 1: So quick health check on the hospital industry, which has

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Speaker 1: so many headlines. If you want to in this current

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Speaker 1: environment in New Zealand, and can you do well if

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Speaker 1: you want to?

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Speaker 2: Absolutely? I mean you've got to love what you do, right,

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Speaker 2: And I don't have a job. Hospitality is a lifestyle business.

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Speaker 2: I work on the weekends. I answer emails and take calls.

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Speaker 2: Someone will text me, I'll make a booking and I

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Speaker 2: love that stuff. You know, it's really it's a noble

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Speaker 2: thing to serve someone. Someone walks in the restaurant, you

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Speaker 2: look at them and you go, I wonder what you need.

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Speaker 2: And there's nothing better than putting a smile on someone's face,

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Speaker 2: you know, when people leave, like say, ah, we will

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Speaker 2: do one hundred covers a night. I get one hundred

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Speaker 2: thank you. Like what other job do you walk out

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Speaker 2: at the end of the day and every single customer said, Wow,

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Speaker 2: that was amazing, Thank you so much.

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Speaker 1: That's so true and it's really cool.

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Speaker 2: Industry A it's hard. Yeah, sure, every job's hard, but

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Speaker 2: that for me is it really fills my carp And

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Speaker 2: so you talk about big spread and people go, oh,

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Speaker 2: you can't be every at once. Well, I don't need

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Speaker 2: to be real ever at once. I want to do

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Speaker 2: it like this. I mean, I could stay at one

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Speaker 2: restaurant and just cook every day, but I love the

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Speaker 2: sense of adventure, and that's there's nothing better than cruising

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Speaker 2: around and pretend you're working.

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Speaker 1: That's the truth. I've made a living out of it.

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Speaker 1: Is there another series in the New Zealand story?

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Speaker 2: Do we know? Yeah? We started already there. Yes, so

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Speaker 2: we're going to go. We're doing a pop up up

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Speaker 2: in China, so I sort of want to see in

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Speaker 2: Shanghai for the CIOE, the big International Import Expo in

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Speaker 2: Shanghai November, and you know, it's just sort of seeing

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Speaker 2: where our food goes past New Zealand. I find that

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Speaker 2: fascinating as well, and seeing who's exporting, what they're doing,

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Speaker 2: how the story has been told to the world. So

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Speaker 2: that's going to be fun. We're doing a week in

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Speaker 2: Shanghai at w Hotel fourth to the eighth of November,

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Speaker 2: so that's pretty cool.

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Speaker 1: Brilliant stuff.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: The seventh restaurant is at the What I would know

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Speaker 1: is the Rotunda, Yes, Wellington, Yes, Oriental Parade, Yes, prime

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Speaker 1: real estate, waterfront on the waterfront. Yeah, it's called the Pavilion.

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Speaker 1: It has been empty for twelve years. That's a disgrace

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Speaker 1: in itself, isn't it?

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Speaker 2: One hundred percent?

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Speaker 1: Yeah? And so how's this come together?

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Speaker 2: Well, I mean, twelve years empty of waterfront building like that,

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Speaker 2: it's kind of a symbol of Wellington. I mean I

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Speaker 2: love Wellington for a start. I've always loved going down there,

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Speaker 2: had family down there, and so when the opportunity came up,

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Speaker 2: I just flew down and checked out the building and

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Speaker 2: just fell in love with it and met the developer,

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Speaker 2: David love Bridge from Watson Group and then Rod Drew's

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Speaker 2: one of the investors who as zero as in zero yes.

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Speaker 2: So these guys are essentially doing a service to community.

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Speaker 2: They're spending the money, their own money to fix this building,

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Speaker 2: to get it ready to have a venue in it,

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Speaker 2: which in itself is millions of dollars.

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Speaker 1: So right, so that's what it needed. Because my understanding

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Speaker 1: is that you guys aren't the first to have a

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Speaker 1: look at it or a crack at it. But the

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Speaker 1: problem was the dosh.

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Speaker 2: Yeah exactly. I mean, one thing's for sure in the

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Speaker 2: next sort of well, you know, there's going to be

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Speaker 2: more earthquakes in New Zealand, right and Wellington's due. So

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Speaker 2: that's a big thing. Getting at earthquake strengthen is a

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Speaker 2: big Okay.

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Speaker 1: So they've got the money, you've got the expertise. How

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Speaker 1: did you get roped into it? They just said do

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Speaker 1: you want to?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? I guess once a week someone calls me up

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Speaker 2: and asks me to buy their restaurant and they think

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Speaker 2: it's a brilliant idea. And so that's what happened in

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Speaker 2: this in this case. And but I went down there

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Speaker 2: and found in love of the building and then got

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Speaker 2: along really great with David and the team down there,

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Speaker 2: and and so that was sort of the process. And

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Speaker 2: you've got to be super careful getting into business with people,

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Speaker 2: and you know you sometimes you just click and you've

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Speaker 2: got to go with your gut. And all these things

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Speaker 2: sort of sort of played out over the last sort

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Speaker 2: of since the beginning of the year.

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Speaker 1: And then that I, without getting too political, did you

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Speaker 1: deal with the council? And how was it?

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Speaker 2: Poor David had two Yes, but they've been good and

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Speaker 2: they just don't have the money to fix it. So

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Speaker 2: it's got to come, you know, from.

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Speaker 1: From So there's a mix of business and philanthropy in

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Speaker 1: that sense.

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Speaker 2: So my view is one hundred percent that's the case.

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Speaker 2: I don't think it's a good business. Is a decision

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Speaker 2: to fix this building. I mean they're doing it for

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Speaker 2: the community, I believe.

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Speaker 1: So you're in that windoes all this happen.

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Speaker 2: By the way, I reckon it will open sort of.

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Speaker 2: We're hoping for October each year. Okay, yeah, and I'm excited.

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Speaker 2: You know, we've got Garage Project involved and they're part

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Speaker 2: of the sort of cultural fabric of Wellington. So it's

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Speaker 2: been amazing working with with that team. That one of

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Speaker 2: the most amazing beverage companies in New Zealand. Seeing the

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Speaker 2: alchemy they make one hundred new beers a year, so

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Speaker 2: that's really cool. So there's some really good centergies there

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Speaker 2: between food and.

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Speaker 1: In some trouble the other day, I see I've not

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Speaker 1: tasted as zero alcohol beer that I can. I just

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Speaker 1: don't like it. There's something about it's just have you

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Speaker 1: got one? Have you tasted one? Is out there?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Not zero zero tiny percent? So their Garage Project.

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Speaker 1: Five or six percent something like that, just a little yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 2: I think it's point five tiny is really good from

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Speaker 2: Garage Project beer beer from Sawmal.

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Speaker 1: So you you argue they're good beers and you can.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean the drinkable.

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Speaker 1: You go.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I mean those beers are good. Yeah, I

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Speaker 2: mean you drink them. And I think when you drink

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Speaker 2: zero beers or lower it, very very low alcohol beers

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Speaker 2: and you're at a party or whatever, there's some sort

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Speaker 2: of sort of placebo effect.

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Speaker 1: Where you're just happy.

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Speaker 2: And you kind of I don't know.

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Speaker 1: What I like about you is that because we talk

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Speaker 1: about the economy a lot in this program and it

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Speaker 1: affects everybody, is that you don't seem affected by the

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Speaker 1: economy and you just do what you do. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Well, I'm kind of nonchalant about it because you can't

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Speaker 2: change it, and we are. Restaurants are a great barometer

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Speaker 2: of the economy. Just christ why spin right? So with

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Speaker 2: some of the I don't know, maybe people don't buy

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Speaker 2: a new car and they don't go out for dinner.

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Speaker 2: So you know, second quarter of this year we saw

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Speaker 2: a huge drop because the economy was going backwards and

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Speaker 2: tourism dropped. So when those two things combine, then it

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Speaker 2: really can affect restaurants. We had an amazing Christmas, a

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Speaker 2: really good first quarter, but yeah.

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Speaker 1: That really are you seeing some life now in Q three,

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Speaker 1: as they say.

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Speaker 2: In Q three, Yes, I mean it's really dramatically picked up.

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Speaker 2: There's been some great activations in Auckland with Auckland Restaurant

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Speaker 2: Month and things like that, and corporates are sort of

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Speaker 2: spending a bit a little bit more money.

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Speaker 1: What about your entire empire around the country you were

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Speaker 1: a half dozen.

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Speaker 2: Well, yeah, you know, if I'm in Queenstown, you're in Queenstown.

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Speaker 1: You can't go wrong in Queenstown, can you.

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Speaker 2: Well you can. There's a saying you can sell shit

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Speaker 2: sandwiches in Queenstown and make money, so apparently, yeah, I

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Speaker 2: hate but I don't live by that, just so you know.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean I think when you know you've

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Speaker 2: got summer and winter season and then you've got two

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Speaker 2: shoulder seasons. Some years those shoulder seasons are really small

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Speaker 2: and some years are really long, like last one, for example,

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Speaker 2: we didn't have many Australians come over for a ski

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Speaker 2: and then this year a lot of Australians, So you know,

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Speaker 2: it swings.

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Speaker 1: It swings around about. Always good to see mate, go well, well,

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Speaker 1: thank you. We'll talk close to the time of the

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Speaker 1: Wellington operation. Thanks Mane Ben Bailey for more.

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Speaker 2: From the Mic Asking Breakfast. Listen live to News Talks

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Speaker 2: it B from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast

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Speaker 2: on iHeartRadio