The good, the bad, and the hungry: How is Wellington hospo faring?
Saturday, 6 September 2025
Hospo. The industry has been in the media quite a lot, lately, and most of it has been doom and gloom.
So far this year, bars Plonk and Concrete Bar have closed; brew bar Fortune Favours has closed; Wellington mainstay Avida shut its doors, with owner Russel Scott saying things were the hardest they had ever been; Daisy’s bistro on Tinakori Rd announced via email its final day of service was March 29.
Not to mention what happened last year. More than 20 Wellington eateries announced they were closing down in 2024, including restaurants Olive and Mabel’s; and bakeries Pandoro and Myrtle.
Economist Shamubeel Eaqub told The Post that, according to the latest data from Stats NZ, the number of businesses in Wellington had fallen by 1500, out of 60,000.
Nationally, the total number of businesses was up by 1.2%, but down 1.8% in Wellington.
However, looking at the enterprise trading numbers, hospitality and accommodation providers were up 4% nationally, Eaqub said.
“I think you know the headlines. Hospitality is dying. Well, yes, it's under a lot of stress, but the number of hospitality businesses is at a record high, right? So both of those things can be true,” he said.
“Have many businesses closed, or have we just given up some of those extraordinary gains that we had seen in the previous few years? To me, it seems more like the latter.”
New restaurants and eateries in Wellington this year included Amuse Snack Bar, TRÀ lounge, and Soup District among them (although Soup District closed a few months later).
Garage Project has purchased Fortune Favours’ Leeds St building to open its own brew bar and will retain the majority of its staff. People’s Coffee closed its cafes in Newtown and the central city, but two new cafes opened in their place: New Day and Sketchbook. Longtime staple Egmont St Eatery has been replaced by Wellington bakery Volco.
Olive was replaced by the Cuba St Tavern, and the former location of Mabel’s has become the new home of Vietnamese fusion restaurant Apache.
During the pandemic, Eaqub said there had been an extraordinary growth in new businesses as, nationally, there had been all the right stimulus: low interest rates and high government spending.
However, the change of government and its move towards austerity had slowed economic activity, he said. This had hurt Wellington in particular, but also gave context for the business closuresseeing.
Wellington was clearly finding it tough, but maybe less so than people realised.
“Is it most businesses failing, or is it those at the margin? It's always at the margin. That's how recessions work.'
What was more likely was that a few people would experience a catastrophic decline in businesses, and others would be okay, Eaqub said.
In fact, when businesses closed, other businesses were better off as the money was spread in a more concentrated way.
“It's a reminder that recessions happen at the margin, that the majority of businesses will survive, but it's exceptionally difficult. There's concentrated pain amongst a few.”
A Wellington hospitality success story
Thomas Millot owns Supra, which recently won the New Restaurant of the Year award at the Cuisine Good Food Awards.
Supra seems less a restaurant and more a friend’s inner-city flat. Only a small sign made with masking tape marks its entrance on Eva St, and the eatery is at the site of the former Six Barrel Soda shop.
Customers must take a flight of stairs up to the brightly lit restaurant, where they find a cosy space consisting of a kitchen, bar, and a large window over Dixon St.
The eatery faces the notorious Te Aro park, and half of the Calendar Girls sign can be seen through the window. But, in the mid-morning, the light is beautiful.
The restaurant is run by owner/head chef Millot, who works with two other full-time employees. They run off bookings only, as the space is small, seating just 18 people at a time.
Millot called his eatery a “dynamic little space”. The restaurant has made a name for itself in that its food is cooked in a charcoal oven.
The menu is built around particular ingredients, Millot said: ethically farmed lamb and beef, locally caught snapper and oyster mushrooms. The restaurant’s staple dish is octopus claypot.
Millot said he had been cooking professionally since the age of 19, working in different cafes and fancy restaurants to end up in Wellington.
During the weekdays, Supra’s vibe was slower paced, he said, while during weekends there was more of a fast-paced, party vibe, with people often going out to shows afterwards.
Supra, which opened a year and a half ago, was doing well, Millot said. The owner was modest about the hat awarded by Cuisine, saying it was nice to get recognition.
“It felt good … It's been a pretty hard time to get through, so it was nice to have, like, a reward.
“We took the risk, and here we are.”
He felt there had been a recent boost to the hospitality scene, and winter had gone a lot better than he had anticipated.
“I think the worst is behind us, and it's been, it's time to bounce back now.”
Data shows more hospo businesses are going into liquidation
Data from Centrix shows hospitality is the second worst sector for business liquidations, up 49% from last year. Over the past year, the hospitality sector had 2564 closures, compared with 2158 the year before - a 19% increase.
Centrix chief operating officer Monika Lacey said businesses were doing it tougher last year than they were now, with more going into default.Across the hospitality and construction sectors, credit default was up 8% across the board nationally.
Increased costs, remote working and people being more careful with discretionary spending were all affecting hospitality, Lacey said.
While a 49% increase in liquidations was a big jump, when put into the context of the 30,000 hospitality businesses trading, it was a very small number, Lacey said.
“Don't get me wrong, it's not a great picture, and you know, we're talking about people and families that are impacted by this, but I think that context is really important.”
A large number of liquidations were being driven by Inland Revenue, she added. Over the pandemic, a lot of credit providers like the banks had put the brakes on chasing unpaid bills and took a softer approach: IR followed suit.
“There is quite a bit of activity that IRD is undertaking at the moment which is also having an impact on some of these liquidation numbers.”
She said the key message she wanted to get out was that people should contact their creditors as soon as possible if they were facing financial difficulties.
“The sooner that they engage, the more positive the outcome is likely to be.”
Brewery owner says businesses need a unique spin
Tim Ward owns Abandoned Brewery. He previously owned San Fran, but sold the business in 2023.
Ward said one of his first businesses was where live music venue Valhalla stands today - when Ward owned it, it was called Hole in the Wall.
He was proud that the business had been licensed for 32 years, Ward said, adding he thought businesses with a unique selling point were what customers were looking for these days.
“If you're copycatting, you will struggle and struggle in this environment.”
Ward said there had been a real churn in Wellington’s market. Some operators who may not have “renewed their offering for a contemporary setting” had closed their doors.
However, others were doing extremely well, which was “just brilliant”.
“It's a time of innovation and it's a time of experimentation, and the culture of hospitality is strong, still … You're seeing new places open with new concepts, and you're seeing anyone who's just trying to do the same old things just kind of fall away.”
Ward added he believed Wellington City Council needed to be more supportive towards people looking to start a business, as anyone looking to get a foothold in the industry in Wellington could find it difficult.
He has tap rooms in Petone and Porirua, and said he had found those areas’ councils much easier to deal with.
“They were excited about new business happening in their region. And I feel like Wellington doesn't have that same enabling culture within its compliance and regulatory side.”