Kitchen Day Podcast

Nici Wickes loves restaurants. Not just the food, but the people behind them, the risks they take, and the passion, drive and talent that goes into creating somewhere people want to be. It’s what made her become a respected restaurant critic, and why she approached the job a little differently: she wanted to champion restaurants, not tear them down.

In this conversation, Nici takes us inside the world of restaurant reviewing - including her thoughts on giving and receiving feedback - before we trace her unexpected path from corporate coaching to food television, thoughtfully written cookbooks and an unlikely social media career born from a desire to help others.

There’s plenty here about the realities of working in food and hospitality, the courage it takes to change direction, and ultimately, about what it means to build a life that feels right for you.

THE KITCHEN DAY PODCAST IS PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY DROPPAH. See why Droppah is the leading choice for hospitality rostering.

Kitchen Day listeners can try Droppah for a month free.

Click here!

WITH THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTING PARTNERS

💻Tevalis - Leaders in POS technology

🥂Angie Atkinson at Blanc Distribution

🚚Goodman Fielder Foodservice

Episodes of the Kitchen Day Podcast were filmed at Apero on K'Road in Auckland, and Loretta on Cuba Street in Wellington.

Created, hosted and produced by Dominique Fourie McMillan

Film production and editing by Jono Tucker at Empire Films

Got a question? Drop us a line: [email protected]

Thank you for listening!

Hawthorn Lounge was only ever meant to last two years. Make some cash, buy a house, move on. Twenty years later, Justin McKenzie is still behind that black door on Tory Street, running one of Wellington’s most respected cocktail bars. In this episode, we get into the wild early days of 42 Below, a bartender sabring champagne on a helicopter skid, the year-long ritual behind the perfect Manhattan, and why Justin still reckons you can tell a lot about a bartender by watching them make a G&T.

But underneath all the stories is a pretty clear idea of what hospitality is actually about. Justin talks about why every guest gets welcomed and farewelled, why he backs his team’s decisions 100%, and how you build a bar people keep coming back to for twenty years. We get into cutting people off, the details that make Hawthorn what it is, and what happens when the job you love starts taking more from you than it gives back.

THE KITCHEN DAY PODCAST IS PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY DROPPAH. See why Droppah is the leading choice for hospitality rostering.

Kitchen Day listeners can try Droppah for a month free. Click here!

WITH THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTING PARTNERS

💻Tevalis - Leaders in POS technology

🥂Angie Atkinson at Blanc Distribution

🚚Goodman Fielder Foodservice

Episodes of the Kitchen Day Podcast were filmed at Apero on K'Road in Auckland, and Loretta on Cuba Street in Wellington.

Created, hosted and produced by Dominique Fourie McMillan

Film production and editing by Jono Tucker at Empire Films

Got a question? Drop us a line: [email protected]

Thank you for listening!

Leah Kirkland’s career has taken her from waiting tables in Takapuna to fifteen years working alongside chef Adam Byatt in London, cooking for Michel Roux Jr. in Provence, working a harvest in Burgundy, and eventually finding her way back home to New Zealand. Today, she looks after wine and beverage across the impressive Emett Group, including Onslow, Gilt Brasserie, The Oyster Inn and the newly opened Lottie’s on Queen Street. In 2025, she was named number one in the inaugural Champagne Louis Roederer Top 100 Sommeliers New Zealand, though interestingly she’s not all that keen on being called a sommelier.

Leah is one of those people who has spent a career at the very heart of hospitality, learning from some of the best in the business and developing a very clear idea of what great service actually looks like. She has stories from some seriously good dining rooms, strong opinions on everything from wine lists to team culture, and a refreshingly no-nonsense take on what it means to actually succeed in this business. We get into all of it with her, from the art and business of wine to why the smallest details can make the biggest difference.

This is a conversation with someone who really knows her craft, so if you're in the industry too, prepare to take notes!

THE KITCHEN DAY PODCAST IS PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY DROPPAH.

See why Droppah is the leading choice for hospitality rostering. Kitchen Day listeners can try Droppah for a month free. Click here!

WITH THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTING PARTNERS

💻 Tevalis - Leaders in POS technology

🥂 Angie Atkinson at Blanc Distribution

🚚 Goodman Fielder Foodservice

Episodes of the Kitchen Day Podcast were filmed at Apero on K'Road in Auckland, and Loretta on Cuba Street in Wellington.

Created, hosted and produced by Dominique Fourie McMillan

Film production and editing by Jono Tucker at Empire Films

Got a question? Drop us a line: [email protected]

Thank you for listening!

Jared-Lyron Fa'asalele took the long way into coffee. Fashion school, then a stint at Deadly Ponies, then founding his own leather bag label, before moving into buying.. a lot of seemingly logical 'next steps' before he finally worked out what he was actually good at: talking to people, finding common ground and looking after others.

Now the general manager of Red Rabbit Coffee, Jared sits down with Dom to talk about finding your calling, chasing validation, being the golden child, and what happens when you start to separate your self-worth from your work.

At the heart of this chat is service. Growing up Samoan in central Auckland, Jared learned early that hospitality isn't just a job, it's an honour - from serving elders first to carrying the bowl of warm water around the table. They get into the millennial manager experience, Gen Z boundaries, leading with empathy, his ADHD diagnosis, and Red Rabbit's exciting next chapter.

Expect a warm and very honest chat about work, identity, and learning that you don't have to earn your worth.

THE KITCHEN DAY PODCAST IS PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY DROPPAH.

See why Droppah is the leading choice for hospitality rostering.

Kitchen Day listeners can try Droppah for a month free. Click here!

WITH THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTING PARTNERS

💻 Tevalis - Leaders in POS technology

🥂 Angie Atkinson at Blanc Distribution

🚚 Goodman Fielder Foodservice

Episodes of the Kitchen Day Podcast were filmed at Apero on K'Road in Auckland, and Loretta on Cuba Street in Wellington.

Created, hosted and produced by Dominique Fourie McMillan

Film production and editing by Jono Tucker at Empire Films

Got a question? Drop us a line: [email protected]

Thank you for listening!

Judith Tabron has spent nearly 50 years in hospitality, from accidentally landing an apprenticeship as a teenager, to cooking in London, running Sails through the '87 crash, owning Ramses in Newmarket at just 26, and spending 18 years at the helm of the iconic Soul Bar & Bistro. Now, with First Mates, Last Laugh at Westhaven, she’s back doing what she loves.. and with five decades behind her, Judith has plenty of lessons worth sharing.

Judith joins Dom for a brilliantly candid chat about what it really takes to build and run great restaurants: knowing your numbers, learning from the best, front-footing the hard conversations, understanding your customers, opening slowly, and knowing when it’s time to move on. There are brilliant stories along the way, but underneath them is something every hospitality professional can take away: keep learning, keep adapting, and don’t spend too much time looking backwards.

THE KITCHEN DAY PODCAST IS PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY DROPPAH.

See why Droppah is the leading choice for hospitality rostering. Kitchen Day listeners can try Droppah for a month free. Click here!

WITH THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTING PARTNERS

💻 Tevalis - Leaders in POS technology

🥂 Angie Atkinson at Blanc Distribution

🚚 Goodman Fielder Foodservice

Episodes of the Kitchen Day Podcast were filmed at Apero on K'Road in Auckland, and Loretta on Cuba Street in Wellington.

Created, hosted and produced by Dominique Fourie McMillanFilm production and editing by Jono Tucker at Empire Films

Got a question? Drop us a line: [email protected]

Thank you for listening!

Charles Williams of Bowler has spent the last decade learning from businesses that didn’t quite go to plan. From opening Ceremony in Grafton with a $20,000 car loan, to a gallery café at the Pah Homestead and then seven years running the uber chic Williams Eatery, Charles talks openly about the mistakes, setbacks and hard-won lessons that eventually led him to the supernova that is Bowler.

It’s a conversation about why past failures can set you up for future success, and why sometimes the thing that feels like a constraint can become the Big Idea itself.

We get into the thinking behind Bowler: the tiny kitchen that shaped the menu, the influence of fast-casual brands overseas, the winter that nearly undid the business, and the family reset that became Bowler 2.0. We talk about building a business with his brother Patrick, bringing in partners, and the ambition to take healthy fast food to the masses.

This is a candid chat about hospitality, resilience, family, and staying in the game long enough to find what works - I hope you enjoy!

THE KITCHEN DAY PODCAST IS PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY DROPPAH.

See why Droppah is the leading choice for hospitality rostering. Kitchen Day listeners can try Droppah for a month free. Click here!

WITH THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTING PARTNERS

💻Tevalis - Leaders in POS technology

🥂Angie Atkinson at Blanc Distribution

🚚Goodman Fielder Foodservice

Episodes of the Kitchen Day Podcast were filmed at Apero on K'Road in Auckland, and Loretta on Cuba Street in Wellington.

Created, hosted and produced by Dominique Fourie McMillan

Film production and editing by Jono Tucker at Empire Films

Got a question? Drop us a line: [email protected]

Thank you for listening!

Sophie Egan has hospitality in her bones. She started as a glassy at 12, spent five years at Caravan in London where she was running a restaurant by 23, then came home to lead teams at Onslow and Gilt. She is a brilliant front of house operator, a natural host, and someone who cares very deeply about the people on both sides of the pass. Now, after taking some much-needed time away from restaurants, she’s figuring out what the next version of a life in hospitality looks like.

This is such a fun, generous conversation about the craft of service and the pride that comes with choosing to make a career of it. We talk about hiring for personality, why you can teach someone to carry three plates but you can’t teach them to care, 500-cover brunches in London, two-minute martinis, burning menus, Friday-night fights and what happens when caring deeply about your work starts to cost you. Sophie also talks candidly about leaving Gilt, learning to put herself back on the priority list, and finding a new way to stay connected to an industry she very clearly still loves.

I hope you enjoy this episode, the very first of Season 3. I’m so happy to be back in your ears. And if you like what you hear, please subscribe!

THE KITCHEN DAY PODCAST IS PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY DROPPAH. See why Droppah is the leading choice for hospitality rostering.

Kitchen Day listeners can try Droppah for a month free. Click here!

WITH THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTING PARTNERS

💻 Andrew at Tevalis - Leaders in POS technology

🥂Angie Atkinson at Blanc Distribution

🚚 Anna, Sarah and the team at Goodman Fielder Foodservice

Episodes of the Kitchen Day Podcast were filmed at Apero on K'Road in Auckland, and Loretta on Cuba Street in Wellington.

Created, hosted and produced by Dominique Fourie McMillan

Film production and editing by Jono Tucker at Empire Films

Got a question? Drop us a line: [email protected]

Thank you for listening!

Eric Kong is 24 years old and runs Dragons, Wellington's most beloved yum cha institution on Tory Street in Wellington. But the story starts in 1908, when his great-great-grandfather arrived in New Zealand alone at 14, paid the Chinese poll tax, and started a fruiterers' guild that gave the Chinese community a foothold in Wellington. Five generations of hospitality has followed, and Eric has been part of it since before he could really choose otherwise.

In this episode Dom sits down with Eric to trace the whole arc. The fruit shops, the fish and chip shops, the fine dining restaurant his aunt founded, and the massive yum cha room Eric now runs with a team of twenty through weekend services of 600+ covers. This is a story about legacy, about family, and about a deeply held belief that service is the most honourable career you can have. 

A huge thanks to the rostering gods at Droppah for backing Season 2 of The Kitchen Day Podcast.

We also couldn’t do this without the support of the team at Coffee Supreme and Craggy Range . These guys love hospo as much as we do. 

Melissa Lind didn’t plan to become the General Manager of one of Wellington’s busiest restaurants. She walked into Charley Noble with a single CV, no appointment, and asked for a job. Three months later, she was running the floor. Eight years on, Mel oversees Charley Noble and The Food Lab as GM of Knife Block Hospitality, leading huge services, managing teams of up to 75 staff, and navigating the beautiful chaos of modern hospitality. This episode is packed with the kinds of stories you genuinely couldn’t make up: clarified butter taking out the power during a packed dinner service, celebrity walk-ins, brutal restaurant reviews, impossible customers, and the line that won an entire dining room after one guest pushed too far.

In this candid and often hilarious conversation, Mel talks with Dom about what really goes into running a high-volume restaurant in Wellington, New Zealand. They get into restaurant culture, hospitality leadership, hiring for values over experience, post-COVID staffing shortages, and why the old-school “screaming chef” era had to die. Mel also reflects on the five-day stage she did at legendary Vancouver restaurant Chambar, an experience that completely reshaped the way she thinks about systems, service, and team culture in hospitality.

The episode also dives into the emotional side of the restaurant industry: how reviews affect operators, the pressure of maintaining standards at scale, and why great hospitality is ultimately about reading people. 

If you’re interested in restaurants, hospitality, food culture, leadership, Wellington dining, or what actually happens behind the scenes of a busy service, this is one of the most honest conversations we’ve had on Kitchen Day so far.

The Kitchen Day Podcast is proudly supported by Droppah. These guys make rostering for hospo feel like a walk in the park. 

A big thank you also to the team at Coffee Supreme and the folks Craggy Range for bringing these episodes to life. 

Natalia Schamroth never planned to open a restaurant on the North Shore. She and partner Carl Koppenhagen had a list, they'd searched for a year, and the day they went to see the old post office in Northcote Point they'd already talked themselves out of it. But then they saw the steel-framed windows, and the rest is history. Twenty years later, The Engine Room is the restaurant everyone in this city has a story about, and this week Natalia tells us hers.

It's a conversation about what it actually takes to build something that endures. We talk about hiring for warmth and teaching everything else. Borrowing against the house, then borrowing against it again. And surviving the last five years when, as Natalia puts it, the business basically ran as a charity. And through all of it, never once compromising on the things that matters most. If you've ever wondered what real, genuine hospitality looks like from the inside, this is the episode. The Kitchen Day Podcast is proudly supported by Droppah. These guys make rostering for hospo feel like a walk in the park. 

A big thank you also to the team at Coffee Supreme ( and the folks at Craggy Range for bringing these episodes to life.