‘We're feeling optimistic’: Hospo businesses plot bold moves for 2026
Friday, 30 January 2026
Will you be eating out more this year? Have your say in the comments
From Cuba St Tavern doubling down on private dining to Kajiken serving bold abura soba and Salut Pies adding an on-license, last year’s new eateries are finding fresh ways to win diners and make 2026 their year.
The tough times mean more hospo businesses have closed - Leuven Belgian Beer Cafe, Spruce Goose, and the Chocolate Fish Cafe this year - but this hasn’t stopped new blood from setting up shop in the capital.
The Post spoke with the owners of five eateries that had opened the previous year, asking them what they were hoping for the year ahead.
Howie Chen is the director of Kajiken, the Wellington location of the popular Japanese noodle franchise. The restaurant opened on Woodward St in August.
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Chen, who studied at Le Cordon Bleu and moved to Johnsonville with his family as a teenager, said his restaurant was a bit different as it offered authentic abura soba, a brothless ramen noodle dish from Nagoya, Japan.
Kajiken’s cuisine may be a bit far out for locals, with two dishes containing raw egg yolk. However, Chen assured the yolks came from the freshest of eggs, and the heat of the noodles cooked the egg when the noodles were mixed.
He acknowledged the previous year was a turbulent time to open a restaurant. With businesses closing left and right, Chen said he took a gamble on opening Kajiken, but he had been confident in the cuisine.
He chose to open in Wellington, not as simply a business decision, but as a way to give back to the city’s foodie culture, Chen said.
Diners in Wellington really cared about what they ate, and weren’t afraid to ask questions of their servers, he said.
“If they trust you, they will come back. This… creates pressure, but also the kind of pressure that pushes you to be better every day. In that sense, Wellington really suits the kind of food Kajiken serves.”
Cuba St Tavern opened in March the previous year. Owner Richard Walshe said the previous year had been “interesting”.
Setting up a new business - Walshe co-owns the Thistle Inn - was a brave thing to do last year, he said.
“I think we managed to scrape through it, definitely scraping through.”
However, he was feeling positive for the year ahead, he said, as the eatery’s overall package was strong, he believed.
Cuba St Tavern would be focussing on the basics, he said, and would be pivoting to do more private functions and private dining.
It was important to deliver the basics well, he said, so the eatery could build up its reputation, something that could take a while.
“It takes a little while to find your nation, find your people. And I think that we're still working through that as well.
“I’m optimistic that this year is going to be way better.”
Salut Pies moved down to Wellington from Ōtaki near the beginning of 2025. Owner Carey Player said she and her partner, Joe Player, were pleased with their business’ steady stream of customers over the previous year.
Their plan was to get an on-license for the eatery and to try to change the restaurant’s vibe from afternoon through to the evening, she said - plus, add more seating.
“I think [2025 was] quite tough for everybody. So I think maybe we're feeling pretty optimistic about 2026. We’ll be refining what we do, that will be our main focus.”
When the business had moved down from Ōtaki, they had assumed the main customer base would be the same - teachers and tradies, she said.
However, in the capital, it was mostly suits who were coming in, she said. Business had been less steady than on the Kāpiti Coast, with high and low periods, she said. In Wellington, the lunch rush was a big one, especially on Fridays.
“We get a lot of different types of people coming through, and a lot of tourists, which is quite nice. We serve a lot of them their first pie in New Zealand.”
The beef brisket continued to be the eatery’s most popular item, she said. While summer had been slow, more people have been coming back to the office, which had definitely helped, she said.
Amuse Snack Bar owner Dori Raphael says this year she plans to keep building her business’ relationships with Wellingtonians, and working to be more recognised by visiting tourists.
She had been unsure about what to expect in her first year but the encouragement from suppliers and her landlord had blown her away, she said, with both being instrumental in her success.
Raphael described the various groups that frequented the eatery: “a table of retired women enjoying their bottle of bubbly next to a student furiously on a deadline with their iced coffee… the flat white cyclists… the French ex-pats who visit us every week, and the customers who might be going through a hard time and know we love a chat in the afternoon.”
Through forming bonds with regulars, Amuse had found its niche, she said.
“It helped make Amuse a great LGBT-friendly space and comfortable for a very diverse bunch of people.”
Logan Collinge is one of the owners of Sketchbook Coffee, a coffee house on Lukes Lane. The cafe offers speciality coffees, including espresso and filter brew.
Since the cafe’s opening last year, business was going strong, Collinge said - even surprising its owners, who were expecting more of a gradual build up of business.
“Everyone sort of got behind it really quickly, which is cool… it's going really well.”
With the cafe’s first anniversary coming up, they were meeting to decide what the cafe’s ethos would be going forward, he said.
The team’s main goal for the following year was to keep doing what they were doing, and making sure they were “still here for everyone”.
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