July 12, 2026 • 32 mins
Nick Mills is joined for the business panel this week by two owners of successful businesses, Helen Turnbull, head chef and owner at Michelin recognised 50/50 and Deanne Milldove, co-founder and owner of Orizen Tyres, which has 8 branches across the lower North Island.
Both owners are Paraparaumu based, they share how doing business out on the Kāpiti Coast differs from the CBD. What makes the Kāpiti community better to do business in?
With more expansion on the way for Milldove and global recognition and award success for Turnbull, Nick finds out their secret to success and what it takes to build a growing business in this economy.
Milldove and Turnbull also discuss the biggest challenges in business right now including the cost of living - prompting Turnbull to make her own butter.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from news Talk said, b.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
A's promised, it's a business panel. Helen Turnbull, head chef
and owner of Fifty to fifty restaurant, part of part
of Umu Beach, good morning, good morning and welcome.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Thank you, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
That was a long time ago in the nicest, possible,
cleanest way that could have ever come out. Helen and
I work together.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
It's great to be here in your workplace.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
I haven't been to your workplace yet. Diane Melgrove, Horizon
Tires founders and owners of the camp can't be living
live in and Patoni. But you're also in Tawa too
in Tower.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
You've got a few more up up the North Island.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
But can I just read a text out to you?
Can I start the show with a text, A very
positive text? I like being positive? Hello, Nick, I just
heard you mentioned Horizon Tires Orison Tires, O Rise and Tires.
It always feels like you want to say Horizon Orizon
get the tire bumped up. And would like to take
this opportunity to give them acknowledgment of their amazing service.
(01:11):
Were Capiti Coast shuttles. Can't praise them high enough. They
go beyond the call of duty whenever needed, which is
what a well run business needs. Most regards Kathy, Capitty
Coast Shuttles PS. I'd love to phone them, but I'm
very busy. There you go. How does that feel make
you feel?
Speaker 4 (01:27):
That's fantastic. I love hearing from my customers like that.
That's most my heart beat.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Can you come a little bit closer to you, Mike, please?
Deane right now. I don't want to make this one
hundred percent on Capany, but I do really want to
mention Campany because we have a lot of listeners out
there and it's a great part of New Zealand. You
both built really successful businesses on the Capity Coast. Helen,
I'm going to start with you, what's the biggest difference.
(01:54):
I mean, you've run businesses in Wellington. You might not
have owned businesses in the city, but you've run businesses
in the CBD. What's the main difference between Capity and
Wellington or Lower hard or anywhere else?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
For me, I really wanted to open my business in
a suburb. I wanted to be part of a community.
I wanted to be a part of my guest lives
and grow with them and celebrate all their little milestones.
So I looked for a location in a suburb around
Wellington region and the wider Rallington region. To be honest
(02:31):
with you, Carbody has surprised and exceeded all of my
expectations because that sense of community is huge there, that
support and that wanting to how do I put it?
I think everybody gets up in the morning and carpeting goes,
how can we make Carbody better? Let's go out and
spend money in small businesses and take the time to
(02:51):
interact with the person that's in line waiting for a coffee,
and everybody seems to put effort into building that community.
So I'm really lucky to be there, and that's one
of the greatest reasons that fifty to fifty exists because
of that community support, and I wouldn't want to be
where else.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Dad heard egg to follow, isn't it?
Speaker 4 (03:10):
I completely agree. I was born and raised in pair Pream,
so I'm a big advocate for it. It was part
of the reason we started our first store there nearly
ten years ago, other than the fact we got to
raise our kids and both sides of my family are
still there. It is a great community. We all look
after each other and all the local businesses tend to
work together and make sure that we're all going where
(03:30):
we need to go.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
So what's the difference. I mean, you've got places in Tawo,
so you know you're around. You know, what's the difference
between the CBD and Capity. That's what I'm trying to
get to.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
I guess for me personally, capit is a bit more homely.
The locals will know each other. Yes, most of them
traveled to Wellington for work, but that's sort of the
only thing we think about as Capity locals, that the
only reason you would go to Wellington is for work.
You come home and you get comfortable in pair.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Param I think that's a really good point. Like at
fifty to fifty, it's one of the greatest moments for
me is when you've got this table. They've arrived and
they've sat down half an hour ago, and then somebody
else away and they're like, oh wow, hey Jeff, I
haven't seen you for ages, and they have a chat
and they do that. Everyone does seem to know each
other and connect with each other, and they don't see
that happen so much in the central city. It probably does,
(04:20):
but to I mean, I know it does, but to
the regularity that it happens in Carpitty is amazing.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Yeah, it's probably a bit more of a two degree
separation in pair Praam.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, you see, but you've moved on from part of
param as well. So I mean, think about that and that,
and that's why I'm going to come back to Helen
on that. Because you know, people either start their business
career in a in a suburban city. I mean it
is a city, and I'm not trying to make it
into a small town because it's not, but they sort
(04:51):
of almost start or finish there.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
Yeah, So we decided to grow outside of Pea Praam
mainly for our customers. We know that as a key local,
most of us travel for work, whether it be to
Wellington or Lower Heart, So we decided the best place
for our second store would be down a Potoni. We
can look after our customers when they're at work during
the work break and then again when they come back
home to pay prem So it was a bit of
(05:17):
a no brainer for us.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Now, actually, I know a lot of people that you know,
your career and have and what you you know, because
I've been involved with it, A lot of people would
have said, and I want to get your opinion on this.
She's going to start in a small town and then
when she's got her confidence up, she's going to come
into the city and do something in the city. I mean,
(05:40):
is that? Am I right?
Speaker 3 (05:41):
A lot of people have said that, Yep, you won't
be alone in thinking that. I couldn't imagine doing that
right now.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
I would.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
I love being in carpety, close to my suppliers in
the community. It's only thirty five minutes driving it, come
on out. It's really not that far.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
As Mitchellan said, you know when you get that star
and then you know it's worth that drive. But maybe
it sudy only supposed to be for locals at the moment.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Well, we're being selected, so maybe that's a little lolly
in the jar to help you come along.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
But you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Yes I do know, and sure it's gone through my head.
How do you build? How do you develop? How do
you grow? How do you keep progressing with your business?
I think one of the key points for me is
like when you've got a team member that wants to
learn more, wants to grow more. You as the business
owner wants to support that. You don't want them to
move on. So how do you grow your business to
(06:36):
help developing one of the people that you employ? And
for me, still being in Carpety is the best place
to be.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
The thing is that And once again I'm from a
Wellingtonians point of view. Dan, when somebody is really good,
they want to get into a bigger place. Helen went
to Japan and Europe and did all the travel to
learn what she's going to do. If you had someone
that was really good, do they want to get out
(07:04):
of capity and get into the big city.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
I wouldn't actually know how to answer that question. I've
heard quite a few staff over the years go into
owning their own shops, having come out of college learning
straight on the tools with us and then now into
store ownership. So it's been great for us.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yeah. So do you not have that situation where people
think that they're still in working and living in a suburb.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
No, No, there's no. They're not small minded. They love
it there that they feel at home there. They're obviously
comfortable having me as an employer. It's been great.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
It is a beautiful part of the country, isn't it.
We're talking Caperity because these women women women women women
are both business women from Capiti. Is capity still, Dan,
I'm going to come to you on this and far
enough away from you not to get a slap. Still
sort of classified. I mean people are willing to classify
(07:59):
it as the greatest retirement suburb in New Zealand.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
That's a bit of a stereotype. Nick, I completely disagree,
all though I do have a lot of grandparents in Papriam.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
So is it still a place where people want to
go and retire because it's close enough to Wellington that
we know that absolutely know the weather is better. So
is it a place that you would go to retire?
Speaker 4 (08:24):
I think so.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
It's accessible now because of transmission Gully, you know, to
get to hospital visits or whatnot. They can come quite
easily and it's not a whole day trip.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Helen.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
I mean, yes, people retire and carpety. It's often three
degrees warmer than Wellington. But I think we're seeing a
huge shift in that. There is definitely an increase in
young families, professionals working remotely entrepreneurs and creatives choosing Carpety
because of the lifestyle and people want different things now
(08:55):
as people grow and change and it's a really diverse
and energetic community that's changing.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
So yeah, sure.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
It's a great place to retire, come and retire, but
I think the balance of Carpety is really really changing.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Do you actually get to then get sick of it
be called God's waiting room? Do you? I mean, is
it something that really annoys you or doesn't annoy you? You
just don't give a damn.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
I actually haven't heard that before at all.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Well, you're a local, you're born of bred locals.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
There might be why I haven't heard it.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Did it never occur to you that thinking, Well, I'm
born and bred here, but it's time to move out,
not once. No, good on you, Good on you. Why
are more and more people moving from Wellington to Capity now?
You must have heard that? I mean, because you know
they like the council, they like the idea. What do
you what are you hearing? The people, your customers that
come in with looking for some new tires.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Particularly accessibility. That transmission Gully Road probably cut twenty five
to thirty minutes off the trip, so it's become really
super accessible Capit is also really pretty. It's beautiful there.
You go to the beach, you get to see the island,
you can go up into the hills and you look
out over the whole town.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
It's How do you keep an eye on so many
different locations based out there? Do you have to do
a lot of travel?
Speaker 4 (10:12):
I don't know. I work from home a lot. I
was talking to Helen before about some of the data
that I see about how people spend in different areas.
I've been lucky enough to have stores across the country,
some up as far north as Auckland and down through Rotaora,
so I have seen a lot of different demographs and
the way they spend, types of spending, how they spend
(10:35):
is quite a broad area for me. I guess do.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
They spend better when they're more relaxed, you know what
I'm saying. I mean living in a relaxed environment. Not
a lot of traffic, although the last time I wentn't
there I had a bit of traffic jam. So not
a lot of traffic stress, not a lot of stress.
So you go through. Is it easier to do business.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
That way they do? Yeah, it's a feel good factor.
When people feel good, spending money is a bit easier,
I guess.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Helen, I like that. Do you find that people are
more relaxed and they I mean they just down the road.
They just come in and chill out and you know,
wait to be served.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
I have a regular guest. I'm just thinking of right now.
There are a couple they used to live in Whitby
and they moved around the corner from fifty to fifty
so they could walk to dinner. And that's what they
told me. They deliberately moved house.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Whatever. When you move out and open your big restaurant
in Wellington, well they have to move back into Wellington.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
I'm letting you know I'm not doing that.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
You know that it's going to happen.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Hey, don't tease anyone there.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
You know that's going to happen. Okay, let's talk about hospitality, Helen.
You've obviously just been awarded this Mitchellan Award, so congratulations
on that. You were you were in our list of
people that were going to get a stars, so we
pumped at the stars. So you know you didn't quite
get there. Would do you reckon that? If you had
fifty to fifty in Warrington, you would have got a start.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Oh no, I don't think I would be delivering anything different.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
But I think wonder whether the judges felt that giving
a star in a smaller place in New Zealand, did
they give stars to smaller places?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Well, at the moment, Michelin has just gone Auckland, Auckland, Wellington.
Christ Church in Queenstown Essences, which got two Michelin stars,
is quite far out of I think. Oh, actually, don't
quote me on that exactly their location, not sure, but.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
A couple of the so called experts told me that
might have gone against you. Do you reckon?
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Well? I am really proud of what I do at
fifty to fifty, and so it wouldn't be any different
if I was doing it in town because I love
what I do and what I share with my guests.
So I guess that's really up to them. From what
I've seen on the judge and criteria of Michelin and
our chefs briefing before the event last Tuesday, that that
(12:58):
wasn't something that they mentioned, So I'm not sure. I
just think that.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Much has been made about that event. I mean I
haven't I wasn't there. You should have come nex reat
tell me about it, because I mean, I've been listening
to a lot of the shows that have been sort
of being quite critical on the actual people with the
actual event itself. How was it?
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Well, I was outside and lots of chefs were arriving,
and We're all standing outside in our chef's jacket, which
is super weird because I only ever wear my chef
jacket in the kitchen. And I'm introducing myself to lots
of chefs and everybody's really nervous. It's like we're about
to do the biggest, hardest service of our life. And
then we get invited in for our chef's briefing, which
(13:37):
takes about an hour, and they tell us what's to
expect and give us a large history on Michelin, which
I found really interesting in the way that they judge it.
Did you know that if you're a Micheline expector inspector,
you are expected to eat at three hundred establishments a year.
That's a full time job. If you just quickly do
(13:59):
the maths, like that's.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
A lot of it's hard to impress.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Yeah, and so that's that's a big commitment. I'm pretty
sure from my observing, my guess is that they've definitely
came into fifty to fifty at least three times, maybe four,
and so I feel like they really do commit to
what they say they are going.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Did you have any inkling at all that you were
going to receive something?
Speaker 3 (14:22):
No? I was just so excited to be there. I mean,
I was invited to Michelin. It's amazing. Who would have
thought that that was going to happen?
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Well, I mean, to be fair, I'm not trying to
downgrade you excitement that three hundred restaurants were invited to
go to that, weren't they?
Speaker 3 (14:37):
No, one hundred and ten chefs were there.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Yeah, but I'm saying, I mean, we were invited to go,
we didn't have a chef and it you know what
I mean.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
You know what I'm saying, three hundred out of all
of the restaurants in New Zealand. That's pretty incredible.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
It is incredible. Yeah, Dean, coming back to you because
we're going to try and let it. Let Helen be
a little bit less excitable, which is great for her
excitable because it is. I called it the Oscars for chefs.
Speaker 4 (14:59):
It is.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
It was amazing. I got my hair and my makeup done,
got some sparkly pants on. It was great.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Excitable Dan. It's hard to compete with that excitement, isn't it.
But I want to ask you about how you and
your partner your husband started the company, and how did
did you decide that you wanted to grow the company,
and how do you how do you keep in your
mind why you want to keep getting bigger.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
I tend to refer to Chris and myself is jumpers.
We don't often think about things for too long. Once
we get an idea and we think it's worth it,
we jump. Kefity went from wae to go in about
four weeks, so five weeks ago it wasn't an idea
and then it was open. So cool.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Now from being somebody that's involved in a business with
their wife, I mean, who's the one that makes those
decisions because there's only one of the two. Don't try
and tell me that the two of you make it out.
Helen's having a good giggle of this one.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
You know.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
I want to say, I'm the boss.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Mack, so you make that decision.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
It really is a fifty to fifty split. He does
a lot of work on the tools, but I do
all of the paperwork.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
But who decides when you like, look, there's a site
a state. This is how I think it would work.
A real estate agent would ring you and say, Dan,
I've got this great site in Tarwer. It would make
a great tire shop. Will you come and have a look.
Who goes and has a look and who makes a decision?
Speaker 4 (16:17):
Both of us, both of us would walk in. We
both we've been to get the nearly twenty years now,
so we're quite close and know the things we look
for in a store. So once it ticks all those boxes,
the two of us with what do you look for? Location?
Mainly we need that street visibility. We want that street visibility.
It's always worth the money.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
And how do you make that final decision?
Speaker 4 (16:40):
Just say yes?
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Do you? We just it's like sorry to use the pun,
like fifty to fifty. If you're sitting there thinking this
is a good site, that it's great and it's Tarwer
and there's nowhere other tire shops in Tarwe, but it
just doesn't something doesn't feel quite right. What do you do?
Walk or say yes?
Speaker 4 (16:59):
You follow your gut instinct, but doesn't feel right, don't
do it? If you can't think of more negatives than positives.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
And what if it doesn't go quite or anywhere near
what you expect? What do you do then?
Speaker 4 (17:12):
I haven't actually come across that yet, but I think
as a business owner, you're not ready to let it fail.
Just keep pushing more advertising more. Would a mouth be louder?
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Great? Great answer? Answer exactly like I want to hear
eight hundred and eighty ten eighty. You can't call in
and be part of the show. I just don't know
why I went to a I've had a week off
on them, but not right. And Helen's got me kind
of jittery. She's got me diittery. She used to do
that in service too. Do you know what she did once?
Can I tell that story?
Speaker 3 (17:44):
I don't know if it going to make me look good?
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Can I tell the story?
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Go for it.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
I can tell you how passionate Helen and I went
together at Hummingbird and she was magnificent. But a waitress
made a slight mistake. I don't know how big a
mistake it was. But I was standing at the pass
and Helen was on the chef and the chef and
she was yelling at this waitress and the waitress was
sort of big, a little bit complacent with her, wasn't
taking her serious enough. Now, I don't know whether you
(18:09):
know what a pass looks like the deane on a kitchen,
but you have to pass the food over, so there's
a bit of a distance between the past. So the
waitress was being a bit flippant. Helen just launched across
the pass and grabbed her head and smacked her like
she was a baby on the head. She was tapping
on the head. I've been telling you that five times.
Why don't you listen? And I went, Holy hell.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
And Melsey took me out the back and had a
chat with me.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Nothing. You can imagine what's trying to calm Helen down.
You imagine trying to calm him down. So her food
had to be that exactly presented. Is that a good
story to tell her? It's a true story.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Though it's a true story, it's the truth.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
It's in my book.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Are you writing a book?
Speaker 2 (18:54):
I don't know. I'm just telling you that one of
the things that I haven't I must ask you just quickly.
One of the biggest challenges right now, Deane, in business,
I mean, we know that insurance are going out. We
know that electricity costs are going up, but what is
your biggest hurdle in running a successful business?
Speaker 4 (19:13):
That cost of living doesn't just affect everyday people. It
affects local businesses too. So other than rents going up, power, internet,
phone bills, wages, fuel, literally everything it costs us to
operate has gone up.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
And how do you actually recoup that without feeling like
that you're not giving a good deal to your customers.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
That's a really fine balance. I'm not often selling to
the customers. We don't pass We probably don't even pass
fifty percent of that cost onto our customers. So we
really are keeping that margin as low as possible because
we're not the only one struggling. The everyday consumer is too.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
And how do you get that message across? How do
you actually make a different tell them that, look, look,
I know that this tire would have cost you one
hundred dollars five years ago. Now it's one hundred and sixty.
Week can't do anything about it.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
I guess the only thing we can do is be honest.
People trust honesty.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
They certainly do. Helen, what do you do? I mean,
it's everyone that goes to a supermarket knows how cost
ha gone skyrocking butter, you know. I mean, I've had
a shift that's filling in for the last couple of weeks,
and he's using butter like its water. Like it's like calm,
calm good.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
I wrote down some figures to research this just but
just when I first opened fifty to fifty and twenty seventeen,
I think butter was around three dollars a block for
five hundred grams. In twenty twenty two for me, it
was seven dollars sixty six. Now it's ten dollars fifty
two for five hundred grams. Like that is exceptional rises.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
And you would use a lot of button.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
Actually this year I have started making my own because
it works out more economic even with wages. But yes,
I do. It's hard. It's really tough. I think the
cost just keep going up, as you know, as you've
just said, it's and that's really difficult. You say, how
do we manage that and how do we get it
(21:11):
out there? I personally feel that, yeah, cost of living
has gone up. Everybody knows that everything is more experienced,
so you have to Therefore, I liked your term there
be louder you said earlier, go out and remind people
why they come, why they interact with your business. And
people want value, they want hospitality, and they want an experience.
(21:35):
They're going to pay for it.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Excuse me for asking, but I mean you're a dig station,
aren't you. Most of your now for those listeners that
don't know what digit station is is you sit down,
you pay a fee, and you whatever Helen wants to
make you. You just sit there and eat. That's the
reason why I haven't been out there. By the way,
I like to choose. I like to order what I
want would I want to eat it right? But diges
station is you don't get any choice. So that's a
(21:57):
hell of a lot easier for you to price it
because you can just bring in whatever you want to
at the right price and give it to your customers
because you know that you can make it great.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
So it makes it easier for you. Doesn't it against
me that puts out a steak that says on the
menu that it's a stake and it's suspeg and it's
for this price.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
I think well, I think the biggest difference is that
within that I have bookings, you might have bookings, but
you don't know what they're going to choose. So therefore
I have bookings. I'm going to serve this many people tonight.
I'm fully booked, which is like, is the best case scenario,
and therefore I can buy in the perfect amount of
product for that, so I have way less wastage and
(22:38):
less management of that wastage than an a la cartte restaurant.
So that's where I can save my costs is managing
that behind the scenes.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
And giving the menu that what do you know that
you know you're going to get phone calls every day
saying there's a special on prawns at the moment, Oh yes,
I'm going to do this and that, aren't they.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
And then but balancing that between buying something that is
a real premium product that doesn't take much work to
buying a cheaper end product or not that there's many
of those anymore, and spending a lot of wage costs
on that and time transforming that into something that's worthy
of that experience that you've come in for. Is the
balance between my menu and most menus.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
And the end is the same with you. I mean
you can actually you'll get tire companies that come to
you with specials. I know how it works, am I right? Absolutely,
and you'll be able to say okay to me when
I walk in with my carriage. This is not the
tire you normally have on it, but if you want
to actually save some money, you can get them.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
So the cost of freight lately has gone up, obviously
because of the fuel crisis. But did you know that
oils also used to make tires. Yes, so that the
cost of the tire itself have just skyrocketed.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
But you still would get deals, wouldn't you.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Yep?
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
I guess supplies are a bit more frugal with the
deals these days. You do get a lot of bulk
purchases and we try and pass on whatever we can
to the consumer.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Can you can say, for instance, I've got used to
getting mitchell and tires because we're talking about but you've
got some important ties that you know or just as good.
Do you actually often say, look, I know you're used
to having that tire in your car, but this tire
I can produce put on your car and do it cheaper.
Will people take that you sometimes?
Speaker 3 (24:14):
Yep?
Speaker 4 (24:15):
Most of our staff actually go through courses with different
tire brands, so they know, but I feel how a
tire would perform on a street compared to some of
the others. So it's their honest advice. We're giving realistic,
lifelike advice from experience.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
And really really quickly to you warrant fitness changes. Is
that do you reckon? That's a good thing or a
bad thing, streaking them out because the tire has obviously
got to have.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
For Warren, I don't really think that's a good thing.
I understand the idea behind it, but people just aren't
paying attention to their vehicles like they should be.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Yeah, and you know what happened to me a couple
of months ago. I was parked. I've got a ticket
a few months ago, a year ago, whatever, and the
guy giving me the ticket says, do you realize that
that tire there is down to the canvas? So I
didn't even think about it. I didn't even know and
didn't even notice it. But there's a guy giving me
a ticket, looked at my tire and was down to
camp which is bloody.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
Dangerous exactly yep, yep. Lots of the time, especially on
late model Europe vehicles, that canvas would be enough place.
The Redlicanssumer can't even see. You can't see it unless
you're under the car. And you're just not going to
lie on the ground and look under the car at
your own tires. It's just not going to happen.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
So you think it's a bad thing. It should keep
it to the one year in the six month.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
Yeah, you need to go and see the professionals. It's free.
One of the.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Questions that I really wanted to ask you, Dan, I'll
come to you first on this is do you think
that actually Capity Coast because it stands alone and that
gets enough attention from central government? Do you reckon the
government really think about you enough for considering how much
you mean to the economy and how big an area
you are. Do you do you think you get overlooked
a bit by the Wellingtons and the Lahats.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
And the I do think we do get overlooked. I
guess Wellington look at pair Praam is being over the hill.
It's slightly out of reach, you know, sort of the
end of the fence. No one sort of goes to
that area. I think it does get overlooked.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Do you think we could do something about it? Do
you think the government could do something about it.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
I don't know how to answer that question, Helen.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
What are your thoughts. Do you think that you get overlooked?
Speaker 3 (26:10):
I think that where you're kind of we're talking in
the ad break about the amalgamation amalgamation of the councils.
I think that's the fear that if we're brought into
a bigger picture that we will that carpety could get overlooked.
In the end, I think for me, it doesn't matter
what happens. It's making sure that we spend the time
(26:32):
looking at infrastructure so that that can be delivered well
to help support growth in our businesses. And look at
the way that we continue to listen to all the
local voices around, whether it's a bigger group or a
smaller group, making sure that we stay listening to the
smaller community groups so we can actually here and understand
(26:54):
what small businesses and individuals need and therefore look after them.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
I've got to ask you this, I've got to buttet
and ask you this, because you've done what business you've
you've dealt with one of the city council. Do you
lick a licensing and food requirements and stuff and you've
dealt with them at Capity, tell us the difference, Oh,
is it more like small town buddies, you know, because
you're a successful business in the town that they sort of,
(27:21):
you know, try and look after you and want you
to grow. Because we feel in Willington, as you know
from being part of it, they always trying to knock
you down. They're not trying to lift you up, and
they're looking for stuff to make it preventable rather than accessible.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Face to face, the people from Carpety Council that come
into my business to do their assessments and their regulations,
I find really good to work with. For example, there
is a lot of a lot more red tape these days.
No matter what anyone says, it's been increased, increase, increase,
and those charges from the councils have also increased dramatically.
(28:00):
In the last three years, heaps of my of those
kinds of costs has gone up over thirty percent. However,
when they come in and talk to me about my
business and assess my business and help with all those
things with my business specifically, they are very understanding and
thoughtful and respect and localized and localized. So I think
(28:21):
there's a bit of both going on.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, do you think the same thing. Do
you think that because you're a local identity and you've
got a successful local business that the bureaucracy around you
that you have to comply with want to work with you?
Speaker 4 (28:34):
Well, yeah, I was just thinking that being from Keepiti,
I don't consider myself a Wellingtonian. You know, no one
from so the heart would call themselves a welling Tonian Eedia.
That's sort of why we need to keep the independence,
why we need to be locals looking after locals, because
we tend to understand the area a bit better.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
So their malgamation thing for you, what do you I
mean You're don't like it? I can feel that. Sorry,
I can feel it.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
I don't think I sway either way, but I do
feel like Kepitie would need to keep staying loud to
make sure they know where.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
So if you're in London, downtown London, someone says, recognize
your accident, where are you from? What do you say?
Speaker 4 (29:08):
New Zealand?
Speaker 2 (29:10):
And then what do you say do you Helen?
Speaker 3 (29:15):
I would I really want to say, I say Carpany,
but I would say I'm from New Zealand and then Wellington.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Yeah, it's funny because I get abused from my wife.
But I haven't been away for a long time. And
when people say where you're from, I say New Plymouth
and I haven't been there since I'm four years old
because that's where I was born. You know, isn't that weird?
Speaker 3 (29:32):
That's crazy?
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Will we come back? I'm going to ask my luled
guests where they would take someone extremely special when they
picked them up at Wellington Airport. There's not enough flights
at Capity Airport anymore to actually suggest that you can
pick someone up from Capital's change that, well, you can
change that, only you guys can change it. Now, we
ask our guests on the business panel if someone really special,
(29:55):
really really special, someone you haven't seen for ten, fifteen,
twenty years, that really close to comes into Wellington Airport
unfortunately not airport, and what would you do with them?
Where would you take them? What would you do?
Speaker 4 (30:09):
Funny enough last night and said to my husband, we
definitely turned them to fifty to fifty. I had no
idea I was going to be on a business panel
with Helen here, so it's quite funny.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Yeah, of course, of course all the listeners believe you.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
I ate you're not going to take them to fifty
to fifty because you'd be working there. If you ain't
working there night open, that's true.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
I'd pick them up and I'd drive them straight to
Carpandy because Transmission Gully is amazing. The road along the
way is incredible. We'd probably come back via the old
way because that's also an amazing drive and I.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Haven't never done that since Transmission Gully open.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
It's beautiful, is it? Yeah, it's you really take it
like it's a real experience of a drive when you
get so used to Transmission Gully and then you go
on the old road and I just love it anyway,
So drive straight up to Carpany, grab a coffee at
Coffee and Flowers, which is just along the road from
me where I always go, which is dark Horse Coffee.
Everybody should try dark Horse coffee. Amazing, and we go
(31:07):
for a walk along the beach.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
The beach is amazing walk, isn't it. Yeah? I mean
I do that to you.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Carpety Island on a great day, you can see the
South Island and you know, when I've put someone up
that I haven't seen for ten to fifteen years. I
want to walk with them with a coffee and have
a great cake too.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Yeah, isn't it by the sea. If you walk with
someone that you care about by a sea, everything's got,
every worry is gone, hasn't it?
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (31:30):
You look at me and look, I'm strange. Have you've
not done it? Having your old hands have walked along
the beach? It's your area, that's what you'd be promoting
for an hour?
Speaker 4 (31:40):
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Okay, it took a bit of persuading. How much of
a difference one to ten transmission gullies made to capity
Helen ten.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
I don't think it can be explained. Unreal.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Yeah, from an outsider, it's unreal, so it should be
unreal for you if you lived in there. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
I also love the one hundred and ten as well.
Speaker 4 (32:02):
Oh the speed limit, Yeah fantastic.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yeah, let me tell you all fear about my story
about the one hundred ten.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Anyway, we've probably all been there.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
Dan Milgrave, thank you very much and best of luck
with your business. I mean, I think it's an amazing story.
I think you and your husband deserve all the accolades
they could get. Horizon Horizon Tires, not Horizon Orizon Tires Orison.
I will never forget that again. So good luck for
the future and keep expanding. It's a great story. Thank you, Helen.
Great to see you again. Most time we spent together
(32:34):
for about eight years. I'm sorry, how long did you
leave me?
Speaker 3 (32:38):
I was talking to Dean about that before. I thought
it was about maybe eleven years ago.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Thank you both very much. We've been separated eleven years.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to news talks It'd be Wellington from nine am wee days,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from news Talk said, b.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
A's promised, it's a business panel. Helen Turnbull, head chef
and owner of Fifty to fifty restaurant, part of part
of Umu Beach, good morning, good morning and welcome.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Thank you, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
That was a long time ago in the nicest, possible,
cleanest way that could have ever come out. Helen and
I work together.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
It's great to be here in your workplace.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
I haven't been to your workplace yet. Diane Melgrove, Horizon
Tires founders and owners of the camp can't be living
live in and Patoni. But you're also in Tawa too
in Tower.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
You've got a few more up up the North Island.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
But can I just read a text out to you?
Can I start the show with a text, A very
positive text? I like being positive? Hello, Nick, I just
heard you mentioned Horizon Tires Orison Tires, O Rise and Tires.
It always feels like you want to say Horizon Orizon
get the tire bumped up. And would like to take
this opportunity to give them acknowledgment of their amazing service.
(01:11):
Were Capiti Coast shuttles. Can't praise them high enough. They
go beyond the call of duty whenever needed, which is
what a well run business needs. Most regards Kathy, Capitty
Coast Shuttles PS. I'd love to phone them, but I'm
very busy. There you go. How does that feel make
you feel?
Speaker 4 (01:27):
That's fantastic. I love hearing from my customers like that.
That's most my heart beat.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Can you come a little bit closer to you, Mike, please?
Deane right now. I don't want to make this one
hundred percent on Capany, but I do really want to
mention Campany because we have a lot of listeners out
there and it's a great part of New Zealand. You
both built really successful businesses on the Capity Coast. Helen,
I'm going to start with you, what's the biggest difference.
(01:54):
I mean, you've run businesses in Wellington. You might not
have owned businesses in the city, but you've run businesses
in the CBD. What's the main difference between Capity and
Wellington or Lower hard or anywhere else?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
For me, I really wanted to open my business in
a suburb. I wanted to be part of a community.
I wanted to be a part of my guest lives
and grow with them and celebrate all their little milestones.
So I looked for a location in a suburb around
Wellington region and the wider Rallington region. To be honest
(02:31):
with you, Carbody has surprised and exceeded all of my
expectations because that sense of community is huge there, that
support and that wanting to how do I put it?
I think everybody gets up in the morning and carpeting goes,
how can we make Carbody better? Let's go out and
spend money in small businesses and take the time to
(02:51):
interact with the person that's in line waiting for a coffee,
and everybody seems to put effort into building that community.
So I'm really lucky to be there, and that's one
of the greatest reasons that fifty to fifty exists because
of that community support, and I wouldn't want to be
where else.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Dad heard egg to follow, isn't it?
Speaker 4 (03:10):
I completely agree. I was born and raised in pair Pream,
so I'm a big advocate for it. It was part
of the reason we started our first store there nearly
ten years ago, other than the fact we got to
raise our kids and both sides of my family are
still there. It is a great community. We all look
after each other and all the local businesses tend to
work together and make sure that we're all going where
(03:30):
we need to go.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
So what's the difference. I mean, you've got places in Tawo,
so you know you're around. You know, what's the difference
between the CBD and Capity. That's what I'm trying to
get to.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
I guess for me personally, capit is a bit more homely.
The locals will know each other. Yes, most of them
traveled to Wellington for work, but that's sort of the
only thing we think about as Capity locals, that the
only reason you would go to Wellington is for work.
You come home and you get comfortable in pair.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Param I think that's a really good point. Like at
fifty to fifty, it's one of the greatest moments for
me is when you've got this table. They've arrived and
they've sat down half an hour ago, and then somebody
else away and they're like, oh wow, hey Jeff, I
haven't seen you for ages, and they have a chat
and they do that. Everyone does seem to know each
other and connect with each other, and they don't see
that happen so much in the central city. It probably does,
(04:20):
but to I mean, I know it does, but to
the regularity that it happens in Carpitty is amazing.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Yeah, it's probably a bit more of a two degree
separation in pair Praam.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, you see, but you've moved on from part of
param as well. So I mean, think about that and that,
and that's why I'm going to come back to Helen
on that. Because you know, people either start their business
career in a in a suburban city. I mean it
is a city, and I'm not trying to make it
into a small town because it's not, but they sort
(04:51):
of almost start or finish there.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
Yeah, So we decided to grow outside of Pea Praam
mainly for our customers. We know that as a key local,
most of us travel for work, whether it be to
Wellington or Lower Heart, So we decided the best place
for our second store would be down a Potoni. We
can look after our customers when they're at work during
the work break and then again when they come back
home to pay prem So it was a bit of
(05:17):
a no brainer for us.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Now, actually, I know a lot of people that you know,
your career and have and what you you know, because
I've been involved with it, A lot of people would
have said, and I want to get your opinion on this.
She's going to start in a small town and then
when she's got her confidence up, she's going to come
into the city and do something in the city. I mean,
(05:40):
is that? Am I right?
Speaker 3 (05:41):
A lot of people have said that, Yep, you won't
be alone in thinking that. I couldn't imagine doing that
right now.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
I would.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
I love being in carpety, close to my suppliers in
the community. It's only thirty five minutes driving it, come
on out. It's really not that far.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
As Mitchellan said, you know when you get that star
and then you know it's worth that drive. But maybe
it sudy only supposed to be for locals at the moment.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Well, we're being selected, so maybe that's a little lolly
in the jar to help you come along.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
But you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Yes I do know, and sure it's gone through my head.
How do you build? How do you develop? How do
you grow? How do you keep progressing with your business?
I think one of the key points for me is
like when you've got a team member that wants to
learn more, wants to grow more. You as the business
owner wants to support that. You don't want them to
move on. So how do you grow your business to
(06:36):
help developing one of the people that you employ? And
for me, still being in Carpety is the best place
to be.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
The thing is that And once again I'm from a
Wellingtonians point of view. Dan, when somebody is really good,
they want to get into a bigger place. Helen went
to Japan and Europe and did all the travel to
learn what she's going to do. If you had someone
that was really good, do they want to get out
(07:04):
of capity and get into the big city.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
I wouldn't actually know how to answer that question. I've
heard quite a few staff over the years go into
owning their own shops, having come out of college learning
straight on the tools with us and then now into
store ownership. So it's been great for us.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yeah. So do you not have that situation where people
think that they're still in working and living in a suburb.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
No, No, there's no. They're not small minded. They love
it there that they feel at home there. They're obviously
comfortable having me as an employer. It's been great.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
It is a beautiful part of the country, isn't it.
We're talking Caperity because these women women women women women
are both business women from Capiti. Is capity still, Dan,
I'm going to come to you on this and far
enough away from you not to get a slap. Still
sort of classified. I mean people are willing to classify
(07:59):
it as the greatest retirement suburb in New Zealand.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
That's a bit of a stereotype. Nick, I completely disagree,
all though I do have a lot of grandparents in Papriam.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
So is it still a place where people want to
go and retire because it's close enough to Wellington that
we know that absolutely know the weather is better. So
is it a place that you would go to retire?
Speaker 4 (08:24):
I think so.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
It's accessible now because of transmission Gully, you know, to
get to hospital visits or whatnot. They can come quite
easily and it's not a whole day trip.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Helen.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
I mean, yes, people retire and carpety. It's often three
degrees warmer than Wellington. But I think we're seeing a
huge shift in that. There is definitely an increase in
young families, professionals working remotely entrepreneurs and creatives choosing Carpety
because of the lifestyle and people want different things now
(08:55):
as people grow and change and it's a really diverse
and energetic community that's changing.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
So yeah, sure.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
It's a great place to retire, come and retire, but
I think the balance of Carpety is really really changing.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Do you actually get to then get sick of it
be called God's waiting room? Do you? I mean, is
it something that really annoys you or doesn't annoy you? You
just don't give a damn.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
I actually haven't heard that before at all.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Well, you're a local, you're born of bred locals.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
There might be why I haven't heard it.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Did it never occur to you that thinking, Well, I'm
born and bred here, but it's time to move out,
not once. No, good on you, Good on you. Why
are more and more people moving from Wellington to Capity now?
You must have heard that? I mean, because you know
they like the council, they like the idea. What do
you what are you hearing? The people, your customers that
come in with looking for some new tires.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Particularly accessibility. That transmission Gully Road probably cut twenty five
to thirty minutes off the trip, so it's become really
super accessible Capit is also really pretty. It's beautiful there.
You go to the beach, you get to see the island,
you can go up into the hills and you look
out over the whole town.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
It's How do you keep an eye on so many
different locations based out there? Do you have to do
a lot of travel?
Speaker 4 (10:12):
I don't know. I work from home a lot. I
was talking to Helen before about some of the data
that I see about how people spend in different areas.
I've been lucky enough to have stores across the country,
some up as far north as Auckland and down through Rotaora,
so I have seen a lot of different demographs and
the way they spend, types of spending, how they spend
(10:35):
is quite a broad area for me. I guess do.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
They spend better when they're more relaxed, you know what
I'm saying. I mean living in a relaxed environment. Not
a lot of traffic, although the last time I wentn't
there I had a bit of traffic jam. So not
a lot of traffic stress, not a lot of stress.
So you go through. Is it easier to do business.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
That way they do? Yeah, it's a feel good factor.
When people feel good, spending money is a bit easier,
I guess.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Helen, I like that. Do you find that people are
more relaxed and they I mean they just down the road.
They just come in and chill out and you know,
wait to be served.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
I have a regular guest. I'm just thinking of right now.
There are a couple they used to live in Whitby
and they moved around the corner from fifty to fifty
so they could walk to dinner. And that's what they
told me. They deliberately moved house.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Whatever. When you move out and open your big restaurant
in Wellington, well they have to move back into Wellington.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
I'm letting you know I'm not doing that.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
You know that it's going to happen.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Hey, don't tease anyone there.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
You know that's going to happen. Okay, let's talk about hospitality, Helen.
You've obviously just been awarded this Mitchellan Award, so congratulations
on that. You were you were in our list of
people that were going to get a stars, so we
pumped at the stars. So you know you didn't quite
get there. Would do you reckon that? If you had
fifty to fifty in Warrington, you would have got a start.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Oh no, I don't think I would be delivering anything different.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
But I think wonder whether the judges felt that giving
a star in a smaller place in New Zealand, did
they give stars to smaller places?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Well, at the moment, Michelin has just gone Auckland, Auckland, Wellington.
Christ Church in Queenstown Essences, which got two Michelin stars,
is quite far out of I think. Oh, actually, don't
quote me on that exactly their location, not sure, but.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
A couple of the so called experts told me that
might have gone against you. Do you reckon?
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Well? I am really proud of what I do at
fifty to fifty, and so it wouldn't be any different
if I was doing it in town because I love
what I do and what I share with my guests.
So I guess that's really up to them. From what
I've seen on the judge and criteria of Michelin and
our chefs briefing before the event last Tuesday, that that
(12:58):
wasn't something that they mentioned, So I'm not sure. I
just think that.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Much has been made about that event. I mean I
haven't I wasn't there. You should have come nex reat
tell me about it, because I mean, I've been listening
to a lot of the shows that have been sort
of being quite critical on the actual people with the
actual event itself. How was it?
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Well, I was outside and lots of chefs were arriving,
and We're all standing outside in our chef's jacket, which
is super weird because I only ever wear my chef
jacket in the kitchen. And I'm introducing myself to lots
of chefs and everybody's really nervous. It's like we're about
to do the biggest, hardest service of our life. And
then we get invited in for our chef's briefing, which
(13:37):
takes about an hour, and they tell us what's to
expect and give us a large history on Michelin, which
I found really interesting in the way that they judge it.
Did you know that if you're a Micheline expector inspector,
you are expected to eat at three hundred establishments a year.
That's a full time job. If you just quickly do
(13:59):
the maths, like that's.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
A lot of it's hard to impress.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Yeah, and so that's that's a big commitment. I'm pretty
sure from my observing, my guess is that they've definitely
came into fifty to fifty at least three times, maybe four,
and so I feel like they really do commit to
what they say they are going.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Did you have any inkling at all that you were
going to receive something?
Speaker 3 (14:22):
No? I was just so excited to be there. I mean,
I was invited to Michelin. It's amazing. Who would have
thought that that was going to happen?
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Well, I mean, to be fair, I'm not trying to
downgrade you excitement that three hundred restaurants were invited to
go to that, weren't they?
Speaker 3 (14:37):
No, one hundred and ten chefs were there.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Yeah, but I'm saying, I mean, we were invited to go,
we didn't have a chef and it you know what
I mean.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
You know what I'm saying, three hundred out of all
of the restaurants in New Zealand. That's pretty incredible.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
It is incredible. Yeah, Dean, coming back to you because
we're going to try and let it. Let Helen be
a little bit less excitable, which is great for her
excitable because it is. I called it the Oscars for chefs.
Speaker 4 (14:59):
It is.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
It was amazing. I got my hair and my makeup done,
got some sparkly pants on. It was great.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Excitable Dan. It's hard to compete with that excitement, isn't it.
But I want to ask you about how you and
your partner your husband started the company, and how did
did you decide that you wanted to grow the company,
and how do you how do you keep in your
mind why you want to keep getting bigger.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
I tend to refer to Chris and myself is jumpers.
We don't often think about things for too long. Once
we get an idea and we think it's worth it,
we jump. Kefity went from wae to go in about
four weeks, so five weeks ago it wasn't an idea
and then it was open. So cool.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Now from being somebody that's involved in a business with
their wife, I mean, who's the one that makes those
decisions because there's only one of the two. Don't try
and tell me that the two of you make it out.
Helen's having a good giggle of this one.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
You know.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
I want to say, I'm the boss.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Mack, so you make that decision.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
It really is a fifty to fifty split. He does
a lot of work on the tools, but I do
all of the paperwork.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
But who decides when you like, look, there's a site
a state. This is how I think it would work.
A real estate agent would ring you and say, Dan,
I've got this great site in Tarwer. It would make
a great tire shop. Will you come and have a look.
Who goes and has a look and who makes a decision?
Speaker 4 (16:17):
Both of us, both of us would walk in. We
both we've been to get the nearly twenty years now,
so we're quite close and know the things we look
for in a store. So once it ticks all those boxes,
the two of us with what do you look for? Location?
Mainly we need that street visibility. We want that street visibility.
It's always worth the money.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
And how do you make that final decision?
Speaker 4 (16:40):
Just say yes?
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Do you? We just it's like sorry to use the pun,
like fifty to fifty. If you're sitting there thinking this
is a good site, that it's great and it's Tarwer
and there's nowhere other tire shops in Tarwe, but it
just doesn't something doesn't feel quite right. What do you do?
Walk or say yes?
Speaker 4 (16:59):
You follow your gut instinct, but doesn't feel right, don't
do it? If you can't think of more negatives than positives.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
And what if it doesn't go quite or anywhere near
what you expect? What do you do then?
Speaker 4 (17:12):
I haven't actually come across that yet, but I think
as a business owner, you're not ready to let it fail.
Just keep pushing more advertising more. Would a mouth be louder?
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Great? Great answer? Answer exactly like I want to hear
eight hundred and eighty ten eighty. You can't call in
and be part of the show. I just don't know
why I went to a I've had a week off
on them, but not right. And Helen's got me kind
of jittery. She's got me diittery. She used to do
that in service too. Do you know what she did once?
Can I tell that story?
Speaker 3 (17:44):
I don't know if it going to make me look good?
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Can I tell the story?
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Go for it.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
I can tell you how passionate Helen and I went
together at Hummingbird and she was magnificent. But a waitress
made a slight mistake. I don't know how big a
mistake it was. But I was standing at the pass
and Helen was on the chef and the chef and
she was yelling at this waitress and the waitress was
sort of big, a little bit complacent with her, wasn't
taking her serious enough. Now, I don't know whether you
(18:09):
know what a pass looks like the deane on a kitchen,
but you have to pass the food over, so there's
a bit of a distance between the past. So the
waitress was being a bit flippant. Helen just launched across
the pass and grabbed her head and smacked her like
she was a baby on the head. She was tapping
on the head. I've been telling you that five times.
Why don't you listen? And I went, Holy hell.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
And Melsey took me out the back and had a
chat with me.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Nothing. You can imagine what's trying to calm Helen down.
You imagine trying to calm him down. So her food
had to be that exactly presented. Is that a good
story to tell her? It's a true story.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Though it's a true story, it's the truth.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
It's in my book.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Are you writing a book?
Speaker 2 (18:54):
I don't know. I'm just telling you that one of
the things that I haven't I must ask you just quickly.
One of the biggest challenges right now, Deane, in business,
I mean, we know that insurance are going out. We
know that electricity costs are going up, but what is
your biggest hurdle in running a successful business?
Speaker 4 (19:13):
That cost of living doesn't just affect everyday people. It
affects local businesses too. So other than rents going up, power, internet,
phone bills, wages, fuel, literally everything it costs us to
operate has gone up.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
And how do you actually recoup that without feeling like
that you're not giving a good deal to your customers.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
That's a really fine balance. I'm not often selling to
the customers. We don't pass We probably don't even pass
fifty percent of that cost onto our customers. So we
really are keeping that margin as low as possible because
we're not the only one struggling. The everyday consumer is too.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
And how do you get that message across? How do
you actually make a different tell them that, look, look,
I know that this tire would have cost you one
hundred dollars five years ago. Now it's one hundred and sixty.
Week can't do anything about it.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
I guess the only thing we can do is be honest.
People trust honesty.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
They certainly do. Helen, what do you do? I mean,
it's everyone that goes to a supermarket knows how cost
ha gone skyrocking butter, you know. I mean, I've had
a shift that's filling in for the last couple of weeks,
and he's using butter like its water. Like it's like calm,
calm good.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
I wrote down some figures to research this just but
just when I first opened fifty to fifty and twenty seventeen,
I think butter was around three dollars a block for
five hundred grams. In twenty twenty two for me, it
was seven dollars sixty six. Now it's ten dollars fifty
two for five hundred grams. Like that is exceptional rises.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
And you would use a lot of button.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
Actually this year I have started making my own because
it works out more economic even with wages. But yes,
I do. It's hard. It's really tough. I think the
cost just keep going up, as you know, as you've
just said, it's and that's really difficult. You say, how
do we manage that and how do we get it
(21:11):
out there? I personally feel that, yeah, cost of living
has gone up. Everybody knows that everything is more experienced,
so you have to Therefore, I liked your term there
be louder you said earlier, go out and remind people
why they come, why they interact with your business. And
people want value, they want hospitality, and they want an experience.
(21:35):
They're going to pay for it.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Excuse me for asking, but I mean you're a dig station,
aren't you. Most of your now for those listeners that
don't know what digit station is is you sit down,
you pay a fee, and you whatever Helen wants to
make you. You just sit there and eat. That's the
reason why I haven't been out there. By the way,
I like to choose. I like to order what I
want would I want to eat it right? But diges
station is you don't get any choice. So that's a
(21:57):
hell of a lot easier for you to price it
because you can just bring in whatever you want to
at the right price and give it to your customers
because you know that you can make it great.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
So it makes it easier for you. Doesn't it against
me that puts out a steak that says on the
menu that it's a stake and it's suspeg and it's
for this price.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
I think well, I think the biggest difference is that
within that I have bookings, you might have bookings, but
you don't know what they're going to choose. So therefore
I have bookings. I'm going to serve this many people tonight.
I'm fully booked, which is like, is the best case scenario,
and therefore I can buy in the perfect amount of
product for that, so I have way less wastage and
(22:38):
less management of that wastage than an a la cartte restaurant.
So that's where I can save my costs is managing
that behind the scenes.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
And giving the menu that what do you know that
you know you're going to get phone calls every day
saying there's a special on prawns at the moment, Oh yes,
I'm going to do this and that, aren't they.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
And then but balancing that between buying something that is
a real premium product that doesn't take much work to
buying a cheaper end product or not that there's many
of those anymore, and spending a lot of wage costs
on that and time transforming that into something that's worthy
of that experience that you've come in for. Is the
balance between my menu and most menus.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
And the end is the same with you. I mean
you can actually you'll get tire companies that come to
you with specials. I know how it works, am I right? Absolutely,
and you'll be able to say okay to me when
I walk in with my carriage. This is not the
tire you normally have on it, but if you want
to actually save some money, you can get them.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
So the cost of freight lately has gone up, obviously
because of the fuel crisis. But did you know that
oils also used to make tires. Yes, so that the
cost of the tire itself have just skyrocketed.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
But you still would get deals, wouldn't you.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Yep?
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
I guess supplies are a bit more frugal with the
deals these days. You do get a lot of bulk
purchases and we try and pass on whatever we can
to the consumer.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Can you can say, for instance, I've got used to
getting mitchell and tires because we're talking about but you've
got some important ties that you know or just as good.
Do you actually often say, look, I know you're used
to having that tire in your car, but this tire
I can produce put on your car and do it cheaper.
Will people take that you sometimes?
Speaker 3 (24:14):
Yep?
Speaker 4 (24:15):
Most of our staff actually go through courses with different
tire brands, so they know, but I feel how a
tire would perform on a street compared to some of
the others. So it's their honest advice. We're giving realistic,
lifelike advice from experience.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
And really really quickly to you warrant fitness changes. Is
that do you reckon? That's a good thing or a
bad thing, streaking them out because the tire has obviously
got to have.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
For Warren, I don't really think that's a good thing.
I understand the idea behind it, but people just aren't
paying attention to their vehicles like they should be.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Yeah, and you know what happened to me a couple
of months ago. I was parked. I've got a ticket
a few months ago, a year ago, whatever, and the
guy giving me the ticket says, do you realize that
that tire there is down to the canvas? So I
didn't even think about it. I didn't even know and
didn't even notice it. But there's a guy giving me
a ticket, looked at my tire and was down to
camp which is bloody.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
Dangerous exactly yep, yep. Lots of the time, especially on
late model Europe vehicles, that canvas would be enough place.
The Redlicanssumer can't even see. You can't see it unless
you're under the car. And you're just not going to
lie on the ground and look under the car at
your own tires. It's just not going to happen.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
So you think it's a bad thing. It should keep
it to the one year in the six month.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
Yeah, you need to go and see the professionals. It's free.
One of the.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Questions that I really wanted to ask you, Dan, I'll
come to you first on this is do you think
that actually Capity Coast because it stands alone and that
gets enough attention from central government? Do you reckon the
government really think about you enough for considering how much
you mean to the economy and how big an area
you are. Do you do you think you get overlooked
a bit by the Wellingtons and the Lahats.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
And the I do think we do get overlooked. I
guess Wellington look at pair Praam is being over the hill.
It's slightly out of reach, you know, sort of the
end of the fence. No one sort of goes to
that area. I think it does get overlooked.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Do you think we could do something about it? Do
you think the government could do something about it.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
I don't know how to answer that question, Helen.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
What are your thoughts. Do you think that you get overlooked?
Speaker 3 (26:10):
I think that where you're kind of we're talking in
the ad break about the amalgamation amalgamation of the councils.
I think that's the fear that if we're brought into
a bigger picture that we will that carpety could get overlooked.
In the end, I think for me, it doesn't matter
what happens. It's making sure that we spend the time
(26:32):
looking at infrastructure so that that can be delivered well
to help support growth in our businesses. And look at
the way that we continue to listen to all the
local voices around, whether it's a bigger group or a
smaller group, making sure that we stay listening to the
smaller community groups so we can actually here and understand
(26:54):
what small businesses and individuals need and therefore look after them.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
I've got to ask you this, I've got to buttet
and ask you this, because you've done what business you've
you've dealt with one of the city council. Do you
lick a licensing and food requirements and stuff and you've
dealt with them at Capity, tell us the difference, Oh,
is it more like small town buddies, you know, because
you're a successful business in the town that they sort of,
(27:21):
you know, try and look after you and want you
to grow. Because we feel in Willington, as you know
from being part of it, they always trying to knock
you down. They're not trying to lift you up, and
they're looking for stuff to make it preventable rather than accessible.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Face to face, the people from Carpety Council that come
into my business to do their assessments and their regulations,
I find really good to work with. For example, there
is a lot of a lot more red tape these days.
No matter what anyone says, it's been increased, increase, increase,
and those charges from the councils have also increased dramatically.
(28:00):
In the last three years, heaps of my of those
kinds of costs has gone up over thirty percent. However,
when they come in and talk to me about my
business and assess my business and help with all those
things with my business specifically, they are very understanding and
thoughtful and respect and localized and localized. So I think
(28:21):
there's a bit of both going on.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, do you think the same thing. Do
you think that because you're a local identity and you've
got a successful local business that the bureaucracy around you
that you have to comply with want to work with you?
Speaker 4 (28:34):
Well, yeah, I was just thinking that being from Keepiti,
I don't consider myself a Wellingtonian. You know, no one
from so the heart would call themselves a welling Tonian Eedia.
That's sort of why we need to keep the independence,
why we need to be locals looking after locals, because
we tend to understand the area a bit better.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
So their malgamation thing for you, what do you I
mean You're don't like it? I can feel that. Sorry,
I can feel it.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
I don't think I sway either way, but I do
feel like Kepitie would need to keep staying loud to
make sure they know where.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
So if you're in London, downtown London, someone says, recognize
your accident, where are you from? What do you say?
Speaker 4 (29:08):
New Zealand?
Speaker 2 (29:10):
And then what do you say do you Helen?
Speaker 3 (29:15):
I would I really want to say, I say Carpany,
but I would say I'm from New Zealand and then Wellington.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Yeah, it's funny because I get abused from my wife.
But I haven't been away for a long time. And
when people say where you're from, I say New Plymouth
and I haven't been there since I'm four years old
because that's where I was born. You know, isn't that weird?
Speaker 3 (29:32):
That's crazy?
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Will we come back? I'm going to ask my luled
guests where they would take someone extremely special when they
picked them up at Wellington Airport. There's not enough flights
at Capity Airport anymore to actually suggest that you can
pick someone up from Capital's change that, well, you can
change that, only you guys can change it. Now, we
ask our guests on the business panel if someone really special,
(29:55):
really really special, someone you haven't seen for ten, fifteen,
twenty years, that really close to comes into Wellington Airport
unfortunately not airport, and what would you do with them?
Where would you take them? What would you do?
Speaker 4 (30:09):
Funny enough last night and said to my husband, we
definitely turned them to fifty to fifty. I had no
idea I was going to be on a business panel
with Helen here, so it's quite funny.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Yeah, of course, of course all the listeners believe you.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
I ate you're not going to take them to fifty
to fifty because you'd be working there. If you ain't
working there night open, that's true.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
I'd pick them up and I'd drive them straight to
Carpandy because Transmission Gully is amazing. The road along the
way is incredible. We'd probably come back via the old
way because that's also an amazing drive and I.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Haven't never done that since Transmission Gully open.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
It's beautiful, is it? Yeah, it's you really take it
like it's a real experience of a drive when you
get so used to Transmission Gully and then you go
on the old road and I just love it anyway,
So drive straight up to Carpany, grab a coffee at
Coffee and Flowers, which is just along the road from
me where I always go, which is dark Horse Coffee.
Everybody should try dark Horse coffee. Amazing, and we go
(31:07):
for a walk along the beach.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
The beach is amazing walk, isn't it. Yeah? I mean
I do that to you.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Carpety Island on a great day, you can see the
South Island and you know, when I've put someone up
that I haven't seen for ten to fifteen years. I
want to walk with them with a coffee and have
a great cake too.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Yeah, isn't it by the sea. If you walk with
someone that you care about by a sea, everything's got,
every worry is gone, hasn't it?
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (31:30):
You look at me and look, I'm strange. Have you've
not done it? Having your old hands have walked along
the beach? It's your area, that's what you'd be promoting
for an hour?
Speaker 4 (31:40):
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Okay, it took a bit of persuading. How much of
a difference one to ten transmission gullies made to capity
Helen ten.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
I don't think it can be explained. Unreal.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Yeah, from an outsider, it's unreal, so it should be
unreal for you if you lived in there. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
I also love the one hundred and ten as well.
Speaker 4 (32:02):
Oh the speed limit, Yeah fantastic.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yeah, let me tell you all fear about my story
about the one hundred ten.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Anyway, we've probably all been there.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
Dan Milgrave, thank you very much and best of luck
with your business. I mean, I think it's an amazing story.
I think you and your husband deserve all the accolades
they could get. Horizon Horizon Tires, not Horizon Orizon Tires Orison.
I will never forget that again. So good luck for
the future and keep expanding. It's a great story. Thank you, Helen.
Great to see you again. Most time we spent together
(32:34):
for about eight years. I'm sorry, how long did you
leave me?
Speaker 3 (32:38):
I was talking to Dean about that before. I thought
it was about maybe eleven years ago.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Thank you both very much. We've been separated eleven years.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to news talks It'd be Wellington from nine am wee days,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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