Ethan Phillips — coffee roaster, café owner, and one of the most quietly honest people I've spoken to on this show. Based in Hawke's Bay, Ethan has spent the last nine years building a wholesale roasting business and a café from the ground up, with very little money, a business partner who disappeared overnight, and more curveballs than most people see in a lifetime.

We talk about what it actually looks like to start a business on next to nothing — borrowing $25k to get a roastery going and $17k to open a café — and why not borrowing enough can be just as dangerous as borrowing too much. He takes me through the chaos of their first lease, a five-month battle with council, and the moment he went from saying "we don't want this space" to tripling down on the commitment in a single week.

But it's the stuff that happened after the doors opened that makes this episode. Three weeks after his first daughter was born, his business partner left under circumstances he's never spoken about publicly — until now. What followed was years of running a business solo while navigating his wife's postnatal depression, the Napier floods, Cyclone Gabrielle, the vaccine mandate, and a mental health reckoning he kept deferring until he simply couldn't anymore.

Ethan talks about the conscious decision he made to shut off his mental fitness and just survive — and what it cost him. He also talks about what's helped: two years of counselling, building the right people around him, and finding the things that genuinely switch him off (including a very niche hobby involving miniatures and strategy that I didn't see coming).

He's now stepping away from the café after eight years, passing the baton on, and heading south to build out a new roastery chapter on a six-hectare lifestyle block. He's excited. You'll understand why.

Alice Newport has been in hospitality since before it was legal for her to be in a bar.

Note: This conversation was recorded last year so some details may be out of date.

From Perth nightclubs to Christmas Island to brand ambassador for one of the biggest whiskey brands in the world — Alice's path into hospo is anything but straight, and honestly, that's what makes it so good.

In this episode we talk about what it actually takes to land a brand ambassador role, why community is more than a buzzword, and what Alice would tell her 18-year-old self arriving in Perth with no plan and a lot of nerve.

We also get into the stuff nobody really talks about — burnout, never switching off, and why loving your job this much can be both your greatest strength and your biggest challenge.

If you haven't had the pleasure of meeting Alice yet. You're going to love her.

I interview Alex about his hospitality ownership journey, which he describes as challenging, freeing, and a relentless pursuit of control — words that still ring true a decade in.
He shares his path from running plates at Cobb & Co in Hamilton to six years with the Phoenix Group, then a broken elbow, a stint at the Chateau, and a sleeping dream that led to opening Wonder Horse eight weeks later.

Alex explains how he funded his first venue on holiday payout and a loan secured against his mum's house, bought out his original business partners when the dynamic stopped working, and then joined forces with Matt and John to build Over Proof Hospitality — now nine or ten venues depending on how you count. He describes the unusual logic behind their growth: opening more venues not to chase revenue, but to create career pathways for a team that had nowhere left to go.

He also gets into the emotional reality of scaling fast; the partnership structure, dividing roles loosely across beverage, kitchen and FOH, the HR growing pains, and the cold-sweat nights wondering if it's all about to fall apart.

His key advice: know why you want to open a venue, get the doors open even if you're not ready, and treat it like it's someone else's money, because the moment you start mourning bottle rings on your bar top, you've already lost the plot.

I interview Rachel about her hospitality ownership journey, which she sums up as exciting and adventurous, shaped by changing realities after opening, including COVID and today’s tougher spending climate.

She shares her path from restaurant management to a long office-career hiatus while keeping hospitality as a side hustle, then opening Hey Palu in Edinburgh with her husband.

Rachel explains how they financed the business with savings, a small family loan, and a bank loan, how COVID forced pivots like takeaway cocktails that boosted brand awareness, and how staffing and awards followed.

She then describes opening an agave-focused second venue via a brewery lease, why it struggled (location, due diligence, rising costs, changing consumer spend), how they chose to close it, the mental toll, and the practical realities of shutting down a business.

Her key advice is to know your “why,” gain varied venue experience, talk to peers, and recognize that closing isn’t failure.

Hey Palu: https://www.heypalu.com/

Rachels Socials: https://www.instagram.com/mrs_mezcal/?hl=en

Overproof Socials: https://www.instagram.com/overproofff/?hl=en

00:00 Three Words In

00:37 Before The First Venue

02:32 Hospo Roots And Burnout

04:28 Opening From Oil And Gas05:54 Partners And The Leap

07:48 Original Vision And Menu Pivot

10:07 Buying Out A Partner

12:36 Couples Conflict And COVID Pivot

15:48 Funding And Bootstrapping

17:07 The Unicorn Venue Build

20:02 First Year And COVID Rules

23:01 Post COVID Surge And Growth

24:14 Staffing And Capacity

25:17 Thinking About Venue Two

25:27 Hunting the Right Venue

26:10 Awards and New Ambitions

26:53 Dividing Roles for Site Two

27:39 Mezcal Certification Journey

30:33 Sourcing Agave in Edinburgh

31:21 Funding and Legal Separation

32:10 When the Cracks Appeared

35:42 Deciding to Close the Bar

38:55 Burnout and Staff Impact

42:25 Closing Admin and Utilities

47:03 Advice for Future Owners

52:26 Highlights Lowlights and Edinburgh Picks

55:42 Final Lessons and Farewell

This week on OverProof, I sat down for a special bonus episode with Elijah Attard (ex-chef turned front of house) and Liam Allen (director/cinematographer) to talk about their short documentary film Awakened.

Awakened revolves around our connection to land, sea, and people. It's a creative project I am very excited to promote! I love seeing two people from different industries come together to create something with a unique perspective.

Awakened premieres at Ocean Lovers Festival: 1:00 PM Sunday, March 22 at Bondi Pavilion, with a Q&A after;

tickets are ONLY $5

Purchase your tickets here: https://events.humanitix.com/awakened-film-premiere

Elijah: https://www.chefelijahattard.com/

Liam Allen: https://www.liamallen.com.au/portfolio

Fabrizio Napolitano bought a one-way ticket to Hong Kong at 25 with no English, no contacts, and no idea what he was walking into.

What he built over the next 16 years (and what he lost) is one of the most honest accounts of hospitality ownership you'll hear.

We talk about his first restaurant in Hong Kong, the debt collectors calling at 3am, moving to New Zealand and opening Spiga, with a pavilion that got taken away a week after opening, a Cuisine hat followed immediately by making his whole team redundant, and why he now believes the numbers matter more than the food.

This one's raw, real, and essential listening for anyone who owns or wants to own a venue.

02:52 — Starting out at 14, washing dishes in Turin

05:17 — A one-way ticket to Hong Kong. No English, never flown before.

12:29 — Deciding to open in Hong Kong and why he wasn't ready

21:59 — The business bleeds money. Suppliers call the triads.

23:32 — His wife's ultimatum — and why it was already too late

39:59 — Opening Spiga, Covid, and the pavilion that got taken away after one week

51:32 — A Cuisine hat. The whole team redundant a week later.

62:24 — From worker to business owner. "You cannot buy yourself a job."

66:16 — "The numbers are more important than good food."

72:42 — Would he do it again?

Go support Spiga Restaurant next time you're in Auckland!

https://www.spiga.nz/

Follow them on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spiga.nz/

Check out Overproof on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/overproofff/

Want to track your bars numbers? Get the Bar Maths Operations & Profitability Toolkit at: https://www.getbarmaths.com/

This week I sit down with Leah Dunnigan, Bar Manager at Savile Row in Brisbane; a bar that’s equal parts thousand-bottle whisky temple, high-volume cocktail machine, and late-night dance party. Leah’s story is wild: from anxious uni student with a stutter to Baxter Inn head bartender, Bar Planet AVM, and now the woman steering one of Australia’s most-loved bars... all while being a mum and a recent Bartender of the Year winner.

We talk about the real stuff: night shifts with a toddler, what supportive employers actually look like, the pressure to perform, burnout, sobriety resets, and why “silly” cocktails absolutely have a place on serious menus. It’s honest, energising, and very Leah.

• 00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction

  00:47 Leah's Journey into Hospitality

  02:21 Transition to High-End Bartending

  06:13 Balancing Motherhood and Career

  08:23 Challenges and Support in Hospitality

  15:51 Future Aspirations and Industry Challenges

  21:53 The Excitement of Hospitality

  22:38 Creative Drink Innovations

  26:51 Memorable Bar Experiences

  29:48 Handling Burnout in Hospitality

  31:36 Quickfire Questions and Fun Stories

  39:10 Leaving a Legacy in Hospitality

• This episode includes discussion of mental health, burnout, abusive dynamics, and sexual assault within the hospitality industry.

  • Find Leah at Savile Row, Brisbane

  • Keep an eye out for Leah’s upcoming conversation series

  • Follow Overproof and hit ★★★★★ on Spotify/Apple

  • Share the episode with a friend in hospo who needs permission to set a boundary

  Host: Sarah Dawn Mitchell — Overproof
  Guest: Leah Dunnigan — Bar Manager, Savile Row (Brisbane)
  

  Here’s to slowing down and still having fun behind the bar.

Join Johnny G and myself as we discuss what Club Suntory is doing for the community, educations and diversity.Then listen up! We are talking all things NZ Bar Con, Suntory has gone all in this year with 4 events!Sign up to the events atnzbarcon.comand sign up to Club Suntory atClub.suntory.com