Kitchen Day Podcast

In this episode of The Kitchen Day Podcast, I chat with Tait Burge and William Bridewell Roberts, two of the most driven, humble, and exciting entrepreneurs in New Zealand right now. These guys started out with a simple obsession: to make the perfect flat white. Fast forward to today, and they’re behind one of the most influential coffee empires the country has ever seen. And trust me, they’re just getting started.
In this conversation, Tait shares how his relentless dream to craft a perfect cup of coffee led to the creation of Swimsuit. What started with one location on Dixon Street in 2019 has now expanded into four venues, and their brand has become something way bigger than just great coffee. From the beginning, Tait and Willy have merged coffee with music, fashion, art, and events in a way that feels completely natural They’ve built something that taps into so much more than just the hospitality world.
But what really stands out to me is their approach to team culture. Tait and Willy have gone above and beyond to create a supportive and growth-focused environment for their staff. They care deeply about looking after their team, and it’s obvious in the way they talk about them. They’re all about developing people and creating a space where everyone feels valued and encouraged to grow. It’s this mindset that I believe is at the core of their success, and it's clear from chatting with them that their humility and genuine care for others are big reasons why Swimsuit has thrived.
This conversation was an absolute pleasure to have, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Special Thanks:
Big shout-out to Angie, Pete, and the team at Droppah for sponsoring this season of The Kitchen Day Podcast. We also couldn’t do what we do without the legends Coffee Supreme and Craggy Range, thank you for your ongoing support!

In this episode, we sit down with the incredible Renee Coulter, co-founder of Coco’s Cantina and one of the most influential voices in Auckland hospitality.
Opened with her sister Damaris in 2009, Coco’s Cantina was always intended to be more than a restaurant. It’s a place built on care, where generosity extends beyond the plate to staff, regulars, and the wider community. A true K’ Road institution, and a living example of what heart-led hospitality can look like.
To this day, there are very few venues in Aotearoa as deeply woven into the fabric of their city as Coco’s.
Renee is a force, thoughtful, generous, and deeply committed to doing things differently. This is a conversation about building something that lasts, leading with care, and creating spaces where people feel they belong.
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A huge thank you to Angie, Pete and the team at Droppah for sponsoring this season of The Kitchen Day Podcast.
A classy tip o’ the hat to our good friends at Coffee Supreme and Craggy Range for their ongoing support.
This episode was filmed upstairs in the private dining room at San Ray on Ponsonby Road.

Season 2 starts here - and we’re kicking things off with one of the true heavyweights of the New Zealand hospitality industry.
In this episode, we sit down with Mike Egan, President of the Restaurant Association of New Zealand and a modern-day restaurateur whose work has helped shape the restaurant scene in Wellington and across Aotearoa. This is a conversation about what actually stands the test of time: building strong team culture in hospitality, running successful restaurants, and why consistency - not perfection - is the real aim of our game.
We get into Mike’s early days (including a wild Bluff oyster story), the thinking behind some of Wellington’s most iconic restaurants, and the lessons that only come from decades spent in service in the restaurant industry. From leadership and staff retention to changing customer behaviour and the future of dining in New Zealand, this one’s full of perspective.
A big thank you to our season partner Droppah , the go-to rostering tool for hospitality teams who want to run better services. And to our friends at Coffee Supreme and Craggy Range. for their continued support of Kitchen Day.
If you work in hospitality, or are building a venue of your own, or if you simply love partaking in this vibrant industry and fancy a little look behind the scenes, this conversation is for you.
Head to our website www.kitchenday.co.nz to listen to the full episode, and subscribe to get each conversation delivered straight to your inbox each week. And if you got something from this ep, share it with your team, give it a like, and subscribe to the channel - all those clicks help us to keep telling these stories. ✌️

Roger Young is a true Cuba Street original - a hospitality rockstar whose venues helped shape the soul of Wellington. In this episode, Roger shares the wild, funny, and fearless stories behind building iconic spots like Little Gringo’s and Fidel’s, from scraping by in the early days to creating places that would become cultural institutions.

With no regrets and no filter, Roger talks about the chaos of hospitality, the importance of community, and why creativity and authenticity matter more than scale. He reflects on the risks he took, the lessons learned from decades in the industry, and a dramatic boating accident that mirrors the pressure and unpredictability of life in hospitality.

This is a candid, big-hearted conversation about resilience, storytelling, and what it really takes to build something that lasts - on Cuba Street and in life.

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The Kitchen Day Podcast is sponsored by ⁠Boring Oat Milk⁠, a New Zealand owned company making oat milk right here in Aotearoa, from NZ grown oats.

We'd also like to thank the good folks at ⁠Upstock⁠ - if you buy or sell wholesale, this app has all your invoicing, ordering, logistics and payments in one place.

We're supported by the team at ⁠Droppah⁠. Droppah takes the chaos out of scheduling with smart, skills-based rostering that helps you get the right people on, at the right time.

As always, we film pre-service at ⁠Loretta⁠ Restaurant, and our podcast is recorded and produced by Jono Tucker at ⁠Empire Films⁠.

Thanks for listening!

Hey! Dom here. This isn't an ad, but I have a favour to ask! I'd love your feedback on Season 1 of the Kitchen Day Podcast. It'll only take 3 minutes of your time, but it'll help us shape Season 2. Tell me what you're loving, and what you'd like to hear more of in future episodes!

SURVEY HERE - ⁠forms.gle/YJQeJ7fMM4WBSXWN9

In this episode, we sit down with Kate McMillan Hutchison of the iconic Wellington establishment Capitol, to talk about her journey into hospitality and how that path has changed over time. Kate shares how she first found her way into the industry, the role her education played in shaping how she thinks about service, and why hospitality became a place where she felt a real sense of belonging.

From there, the conversation moves into what happens when you add parenthood and partnership into the mix, and how returning to the floor can shift your sense of identity in ways you don’t always expect. We talk honestly about the day-to-day realities of working in hospitality while raising a family, the importance of strong support systems at work and at home, and what it takes to care for guests and teams at the same time.

Kate also reflects on Wellington’s hospitality community, the impact of COVID-19, changing expectations around sustainability, and why valuing the people who work in hospitality really matters. It’s a grounded, open chat about service, care, and finding a way to make hospitality work across the different seasons of one's life.

🔔 

The Kitchen Day Podcast is sponsored by Boring Oat Milk, a New Zealand owned company making oat milk right here in Aotearoa, from NZ grown oats.

We'd also like to thank the good folks at Upstock - if you buy or sell wholesale, this app has all your invoicing, ordering, logistics and payments in one place.

We're supported by the team at Droppah. Droppah takes the chaos out of scheduling with smart, skills-based rostering that helps you get the right people on, at the right time.

As always, we film pre-service at Loretta Restaurant, and our podcast is recorded and produced by Jono Tucker at Empire Films.

Thanks for listening!

Hey! Dom here. This isn't an ad, but I have a favour to ask! I'd love your feedback on Season 1 of the Kitchen Day Podcast. It'll only take 3 minutes of your time, but it'll help us shape Season 2. Tell me what you're loving, and what you'd like to hear more of in future episodes!

SURVEY HERE - forms.gle/YJQeJ7fMM4WBSXWN9