Latest / Best of Business / Business Panel: Dragonfly owner Tania Siladi and Nada Bakery owner Michael Gray

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Business Panel: Dragonfly owner Tania Siladi and Nada Bakery owner Michael Gray · Best of Business

0:09
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Speaker 2: Let's get done, let's get down to business. You monnight, you've.
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Speaker 3: Had seven minutes past eleven. As we do every second
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Speaker 3: Monday morning at eleven o'clock, we have our business panel today.
0:43
Speaker 3: Joining us for our business panel is Nada Bakery owner
0:46
Speaker 3: Michael Gregor Morti.
0:47
Speaker 4: Michael, good morning.
0:48
Speaker 3: How are you? Yeah? Great?
0:49
Speaker 4: Thank you?
0:50
Speaker 3: How's business? How was your weekend? Did you do plenty
0:52
Speaker 3: to make lots of money? You're happy?
0:53
Speaker 4: Oh, we definitely tried. The cold weather actually helps us.
0:55
Speaker 4: It gets people out and having a bit of warm food,
0:57
Speaker 4: so we're yeah, we're very happy.
0:59
Speaker 3: Oh, that's good. And Dragonfly owner and Orient owner Tania Salada. Tania,
1:08
Speaker 3: you have been in business a long time in Wellington,
1:10
Speaker 3: same as Michael. Your father even was one of the
1:15
Speaker 3: pioneers of Chinese dining in this country, in this city.
1:20
Speaker 3: I mean I used to go as a kid to
1:22
Speaker 3: his restaurants. I mean, you're your family's synonymous with food
1:26
Speaker 3: and Wellington, aren't you.
1:28
Speaker 2: I think so. I mean I grew up I felt
1:30
Speaker 2: like I grew up in the hospitality industry, although I haven't.
1:33
Speaker 2: I didn't work in it. I didn't work in it
1:36
Speaker 2: my whole life, but I definitely grew up in it.
1:38
Speaker 2: I mean, some of my earliest memories are of a
1:41
Speaker 2: child being in a kitchen. One of my really early
1:44
Speaker 2: memories is actually, and you may, I don't know if
1:46
Speaker 2: you remember this, but the Casablanca.
1:48
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, well the street, yes, so.
1:50
Speaker 2: My dad was. That's actually where my parents met. My
1:53
Speaker 2: dad was the cook and my mum was the waitress there. Wow,
1:56
Speaker 2: and they met. So one of the earliest memories I
2:00
Speaker 2: had was they used to get the sacks of potatoes
2:04
Speaker 2: in those days when they were sacks, and my older
2:06
Speaker 2: brother and I used to build. We'd be there and
2:09
Speaker 2: they'd make their chips out of a big one of
2:11
Speaker 2: those big potato peeling machines and make chips from scratch.
2:15
Speaker 2: But we would stack all the potato, the sacks of potatoes,
2:19
Speaker 2: and we'd sit on them and play on them and
2:21
Speaker 2: pretend we were had carriages and stuff like that.
2:23
Speaker 3: Oh good.
2:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I grew up in kitchens pretty much,
2:27
Speaker 2: you know, wrapping you know, one times for my dad
2:30
Speaker 2: and his restaurant and things like that.
2:33
Speaker 3: Those memories, Michael, you would have had those two because
2:36
Speaker 3: obviously Nada was your father's. But I remember as a
2:39
Speaker 3: kid going to Nada and High Ty Tie and that
2:43
Speaker 3: would have been your dad.
2:44
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's where that's where it all started. High Title
2:46
Speaker 4: fifty years ago actually, so we're celebrating a fiftieth year
2:49
Speaker 4: this year. But yeah, I've got the same memories as
2:52
Speaker 4: my brothers and sisters. You know, we used to go
2:54
Speaker 4: up and help out in the bakery and get told
2:56
Speaker 4: to go stand by the car when we went so good,
2:58
Speaker 4: and you know, it was it was just part of
3:02
Speaker 4: family life, was business and it was something that mom
3:04
Speaker 4: and dad discussed around the dinner table at home. And
3:06
Speaker 4: you know, I think that's.
3:07
Speaker 3: Actually the highs and lows. I mean, you know, we
3:10
Speaker 3: all go through highs and lows and being being in
3:13
Speaker 3: a family in business, and you know you go through
3:15
Speaker 3: highs and lows, don't you.
3:16
Speaker 4: Yeah, we often describe our business as like another family member.
3:19
Speaker 4: And you know, when the good times are there, you know,
3:21
Speaker 4: it's like having a family that's going through some great
3:23
Speaker 4: times and when things are a bit tough, it's know,
3:25
Speaker 4: you wrap around and give a bit of support, and
3:27
Speaker 4: you know it is a member of your family.
3:30
Speaker 3: How do you I'll come to you on this time.
3:32
Speaker 3: You're in a set, but I'm now in the flow
3:33
Speaker 3: with Michael here on this. How would you describe current business?
3:37
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, oh, it's definitely competitive. We know
3:41
Speaker 4: people out there are definitely definitely struggling out there. So
3:44
Speaker 4: you've got to be able to give them a good
3:46
Speaker 4: a good offering, something to be able to attract people
3:49
Speaker 4: and just be able to show customers that you care
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Speaker 4: and really genuinely appreciate their business.
3:54
Speaker 3: Right, don't you you? I mean, you know you've seen it.
3:57
Speaker 3: You've seen the highs and the lows.
3:59
Speaker 2: Definitely seen the highs and the lows. And I completely
4:02
Speaker 2: agree with Michael. It's business is really challenging at the moment,
4:05
Speaker 2: but it is at the end of the day, about
4:07
Speaker 2: taking care of your customers, listening to your customers, what
4:11
Speaker 2: they like, what they don't like, what they need, trying
4:13
Speaker 2: to meet that happy medium between having a product that
4:18
Speaker 2: is of value but still making money as well. So
4:21
Speaker 2: it's always a balancing act between giving the customer value
4:24
Speaker 2: but also being able to stell, pay your staff at
4:27
Speaker 2: the end of the day, and pay your rent and
4:28
Speaker 2: all of those things too.
4:30
Speaker 3: So I saw an interesting podcast last night, believe it
4:33
Speaker 3: or not, when I was just about and trying to
4:36
Speaker 3: get to sleep, and it was about restaurants that were discounting.
4:40
Speaker 3: Right well, you both were. All of us are into
4:43
Speaker 3: the food industry in some way, and it was saying,
4:45
Speaker 3: the worst thing you could possibly do, And right now,
4:48
Speaker 3: everybody's discounting, aren't they. Everyone's trying to give everybody the
4:51
Speaker 3: best deal they possibly can, but the worst thing that
4:53
Speaker 3: you can do, apparently, according to this podcast, The Scientific
4:57
Speaker 3: Great Podcast, that is to discount. Michael, what are your
5:01
Speaker 3: thoughts on that? Do you discount?
5:04
Speaker 4: We don't discount a lot. What we do we might
5:06
Speaker 4: value add and use that is a way to get
5:09
Speaker 4: people to come in, you know, and reward people for
5:12
Speaker 4: their loyalty and that sort of thing. But your discounting
5:15
Speaker 4: is not something that we've ever really gone. And because
5:18
Speaker 4: we don't want to disc we don't want to make
5:20
Speaker 4: our product for less, because at the end of the day,
5:22
Speaker 4: we wanted to live a great quality.
5:24
Speaker 3: That's exactly what this podcast said. Tani said that basically,
5:28
Speaker 3: once somebody gets used to getting something at a certain price,
5:31
Speaker 3: they think that's the value of that price, and you
5:33
Speaker 3: can't go back on it. I mean, I know that
5:37
Speaker 3: Dragonfly doesn't discount. I know your other companies don't discount.
5:41
Speaker 3: What are your thoughts on that should we have to discount?
5:45
Speaker 2: Well, I think it depends on the industry a lot.
5:48
Speaker 2: So there are some industries where they have if you
5:51
Speaker 2: have a really short life span for your product, for example,
5:56
Speaker 2: in fashion retail and shoes and things like that, what
6:00
Speaker 2: else are you going to do? How do you sell
6:02
Speaker 2: a cashmere sweater if you're in the middle of summer,
6:05
Speaker 2: So you know people will there are I think they
6:08
Speaker 2: set their business up knowing that there's a certain percentage
6:10
Speaker 2: of their stock they're going to have to discount at
6:12
Speaker 2: a particular time of the year if you are selling
6:15
Speaker 2: those types of seasonal items as well. For restaurants. I mean,
6:19
Speaker 2: we do run promotions at Dragonfly, but I believe that
6:23
Speaker 2: when we started, we started knowing that there would be
6:26
Speaker 2: quiet times of the week, so we kind of started
6:29
Speaker 2: doing promotions from day one. But the promotions are something
6:33
Speaker 2: that have become just part of our everyday business, and
6:36
Speaker 2: it just gives people an incentive to go out at
6:38
Speaker 2: a certain time of the week when it's quieter, and
6:41
Speaker 2: it's about filling those those spaces when it's a little
6:43
Speaker 2: bit quieter. So I think there's a way that you
6:46
Speaker 2: can discount or like Michael said, add value as well,
6:50
Speaker 2: or add incentives to customers that aren't going to degrade
6:54
Speaker 2: your brand. And I think sometimes when those places talk
6:57
Speaker 2: about don't discounting, it's more about becoming like dare I say,
7:01
Speaker 2: like a chemist warehouse where you feel like everything is
7:04
Speaker 2: on sale in there, you know, and that is there.
7:08
Speaker 2: That's the way they Yeah, that's the way they operate,
7:11
Speaker 2: and that's how they and again that's to them. That's
7:13
Speaker 2: a you know, a promotion. There are a lot of
7:15
Speaker 2: businesses around who do that type of promotion where they
7:18
Speaker 2: run on we always have a discount for you, and
7:20
Speaker 2: that's how they get people in there, and then perhaps
7:23
Speaker 2: those people will buy something that's not discounted, and that's
7:26
Speaker 2: how So I think if you run a promotion that's
7:29
Speaker 2: in line with your company values, then it will work
7:32
Speaker 2: for you and it won't degrade the core of your business.
7:35
Speaker 3: That's where I have a problem, Michael, because if I
7:37
Speaker 3: come and buy, you know, a chicken curry pie from you,
7:40
Speaker 3: and I pay seven dollars for it, and then next
7:44
Speaker 3: week you sell it for five dollars on special, I'd
7:47
Speaker 3: think that I got ripped off when I paid seven
7:48
Speaker 3: dollars for it. I mean, and I know that's how
7:51
Speaker 3: I think, so other people must think the same way.
7:53
Speaker 4: Yeah, and so we you know. I mean, I'm at
7:56
Speaker 4: a cafe owner a little while ago in Auckland, and
7:59
Speaker 4: she is very clever on the way she actually designs
8:02
Speaker 4: her products around price points and then formulates her ingredients
8:06
Speaker 4: and recipes around that, so that that way, through throughout
8:09
Speaker 4: her business she's got something at sort of every different
8:11
Speaker 4: price point. And I think that was quite an interesting
8:13
Speaker 4: way of looking at the business. I mean, we generally
8:17
Speaker 4: look at food trends and go what's coming around and
8:19
Speaker 4: try to create something a bit different. I mean, we're
8:22
Speaker 4: just talking before we came on here about the pistachio
8:24
Speaker 4: trend that seems to be taking the world by storm
8:26
Speaker 4: at the moment. Everything's turning green.
8:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, as you said, and it's marcher for us, it's
8:30
Speaker 2: marcher or yeah, pistachio for you mucha for us? Yeah,
8:33
Speaker 2: everything is turning green at the moment, which is a
8:35
Speaker 2: good color.
8:36
Speaker 3: What do you can you explain that to our listeners
8:38
Speaker 3: because even I, as as someone in the industry, doesn't understand.
8:43
Speaker 2: You're not one of my customers, then, are you know?
8:46
Speaker 3: I actually, if you look at our restaurant, all our
8:48
Speaker 3: plates are brought from your car.
8:50
Speaker 2: I know, yes, thank you very much.
8:53
Speaker 3: So, yes, we are one of your customers. And I
8:55
Speaker 3: definitely buy my bread when I'm in johnson Ville, Nada.
8:57
Speaker 3: So don't tell me I'm not one of you. Tell
9:00
Speaker 3: us what the screen? What do you mean by the screen?
9:02
Speaker 4: Well, I think it was a few years ago this
9:04
Speaker 4: whole trend of well with the pistachia, the do buy
9:07
Speaker 4: chocolate is what really came along. And that was the
9:10
Speaker 4: chocolate with the kataki inside and the and the pistachio paste,
9:15
Speaker 4: and that sort of taken off. And now we've seen
9:18
Speaker 4: lots of other brands pick up on this. We've seen
9:20
Speaker 4: it come into mainstream. Supermarkets have started important. So it's
9:25
Speaker 4: just it's just a pistachio and they're just making it
9:28
Speaker 4: into a into a paste, right and putting in there,
9:31
Speaker 4: and we all know the price of pistachio is one
9:33
Speaker 4: of the more expensive nuts out there, but they're pretty
9:35
Speaker 4: tasty too.
9:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, so how do you use it? Ty?
9:39
Speaker 2: We don't actually use the pistachio at the moment, But
9:42
Speaker 2: what we were discussing is that the other trend that's
9:44
Speaker 2: huge at the moment, which is in which we're using
9:47
Speaker 2: our business as MUCHA. So MUCHA is huge for us.
9:51
Speaker 2: So MUCHA is the.
9:52
Speaker 3: I'm going to hope you get explained, because I'm looking
9:54
Speaker 3: at you and thinking, what the hell's butcher? If I
9:56
Speaker 3: don't know, no one else does.
9:58
Speaker 2: So MUCHA is A is the green is a green
10:01
Speaker 2: tea basically, So it is a green tea. The green
10:04
Speaker 2: tea leaves that are dry, ground dry and then ground
10:09
Speaker 2: into a powder. So it's like a really pure form
10:14
Speaker 2: of green tea.
10:15
Speaker 3: And it's good for you, very good for you. How
10:17
Speaker 3: does it do?
10:18
Speaker 2: It's got a it has caffeine, and it's got more
10:21
Speaker 2: caffeine in it than coffee does, but it's a very
10:23
Speaker 2: slow release caffeine. But it's got a whole lot of
10:25
Speaker 2: other health benefits. So the Japanese have been drinking much
10:29
Speaker 2: so it's what's used in their tea ceremonies and they
10:31
Speaker 2: will drink it just as as a tea, and it's
10:35
Speaker 2: and there's a whole tea ceremony around it. So it's
10:37
Speaker 2: very traditional, but it does have huge health benefits. A
10:40
Speaker 2: lot of antioxidants, there are different there are a lot
10:44
Speaker 2: of different types of much of the lots of different quality.
10:47
Speaker 2: So liken it to coffee as well. But at the
10:49
Speaker 2: moment it's a huge trend to have it worldwide. Actually,
10:52
Speaker 2: so there's a global shortage of March Now.
10:55
Speaker 3: Business panel today with Michael Gray from Nada Bakery and
10:59
Speaker 3: Dragonfly and Orient owner Tania Salada. I want to talk
11:04
Speaker 3: to you and I'm going to start with you, Michael
11:06
Speaker 3: on this one. The mood of Wellington. All right, give
11:09
Speaker 3: us thirty five seconds on what you think the mood
11:13
Speaker 3: of Wellington is right now?
11:15
Speaker 4: In your words, I think I think Wellington's in a
11:20
Speaker 4: real holding pattern at the moment. We know that we're
11:23
Speaker 4: going to have a change of mayor and all of
11:27
Speaker 4: those sort of things that are going to come with that,
11:29
Speaker 4: what that's going to shape up and look like, I
11:31
Speaker 4: think people are just a little bit uncertain. So everyone
11:34
Speaker 4: out there at the moment's really waiting to see what
11:36
Speaker 4: the next sort of vision for Wellington's going to be
11:38
Speaker 4: for the next three years.
11:39
Speaker 3: What do you think what's the vision for Wellington From
11:43
Speaker 3: Michael Gray from Nada.
11:45
Speaker 4: Oh, I think we're want to have a vibrant city.
11:47
Speaker 4: Not to sound cliche, but we want to have a
11:50
Speaker 4: city that people want to come to, that's easy to
11:53
Speaker 4: get around, that's not you know, you can come from
11:56
Speaker 4: any part of Wellington, whether you're out in Pottodo through
11:59
Speaker 4: to the Heart Valley and you can come and you
12:01
Speaker 4: can find a car park and get out and do
12:03
Speaker 4: what you need to do. Somewhere you can bring the
12:05
Speaker 4: family in. There's call activities happening around the place and
12:09
Speaker 4: it's just a friendly, exciting place to be.
12:12
Speaker 3: Right and right now. I mean I think of your
12:15
Speaker 3: your shop. If I think of Nada Bakery, I think
12:17
Speaker 3: at Johnsonville, which you know, I mean your main factories
12:20
Speaker 3: in Tawa, I believe. So you know you've got and
12:23
Speaker 3: you've got a food truck at the railway station. So
12:26
Speaker 3: you're all over the place, you know, all over Wellington.
12:29
Speaker 3: So what where does it feel more buoyant? Because I
12:31
Speaker 3: went I'm just going to say, I went to a
12:33
Speaker 3: cafe in Tawer or a pub more than a cafe
12:36
Speaker 3: a couple of weeks ago and it was really busy.
12:38
Speaker 3: It felt like vibrant. Are the suburbs better than the city?
12:41
Speaker 4: I think they are at the moment. I mean, you're
12:43
Speaker 4: definitely obviously seeing throughout the week more people working from home.
12:46
Speaker 4: You know that that changed significantly for us, you know,
12:48
Speaker 4: five years ago as everyone did sort of that whole
12:50
Speaker 4: working from home thing, and we noticed that the suburbs
12:53
Speaker 4: became busier throughout the week. People would pop down and
12:56
Speaker 4: have more meetings out in those areas because people are
12:59
Speaker 4: working from home. And so I think that's been a
13:01
Speaker 4: significant shift that we've seen over the last of five years.
13:04
Speaker 4: And I don't don't really see that changing because even
13:07
Speaker 4: though they're trying to people back into the city, some
13:10
Speaker 4: of these some of these businesses don't actually have the
13:12
Speaker 4: office space to have their whole teams and every day
13:15
Speaker 4: throughout the week.
13:16
Speaker 3: TARNI, that's not music to my years. What are your
13:19
Speaker 3: thoughts give us your view of where you think the
13:21
Speaker 3: vibe of Wellington is.
13:22
Speaker 2: That I think there's a lot of mixed emotions in
13:25
Speaker 2: Wellington at the moment, as there has been for a while.
13:28
Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of anger, disappointment, frustration, but
13:33
Speaker 2: I think there is also a lot of hope in
13:36
Speaker 2: the city as well. Otherwise you wouldn't have, you know,
13:39
Speaker 2: key people still living and contributing to the city.
13:43
Speaker 3: So we don't know any We don't know anything else.
13:45
Speaker 3: I mean, I ask myself that question every day. You know,
13:48
Speaker 3: why am I still here? Why it's tough?
13:51
Speaker 2: Do we know?
13:52
Speaker 3: We just we love our city so much that we
13:53
Speaker 3: just stick to it is do you reckon? That's reason.
13:56
Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of reasons why people stay
13:58
Speaker 2: in Wellington, and part of it is because we have
14:01
Speaker 2: a love for the city. It is our home. It
14:03
Speaker 2: is a beautiful city. I've lived in many cities around
14:06
Speaker 2: the world and to come back here. I was born
14:09
Speaker 2: and raised here and I could have stayed overseas. I
14:12
Speaker 2: could have come back and gone to Auckland or anywhere really,
14:15
Speaker 2: but I chose to come back to Wellington and I
14:18
Speaker 2: love it here. I chose to have my businesses here,
14:21
Speaker 2: and there are a lot of things that make the
14:24
Speaker 2: city great and I think we've all seen the city
14:28
Speaker 2: at its peak. Unfortunately, it is not in a good
14:31
Speaker 2: state at the moment, but I believe it will come
14:34
Speaker 2: back there because of people like you know, all of
14:36
Speaker 2: us sitting here, we have a passion for it, and
14:38
Speaker 2: all the people who for example, the people who are
14:41
Speaker 2: doing Vision for Wellington, they have a passion for the
14:44
Speaker 2: city and they are some you know, big names who
14:47
Speaker 2: have a lot of investments in the city and want
14:48
Speaker 2: to see it grow. So I think if we all
14:50
Speaker 2: just keep working towards a common goal of positivity and change,
14:56
Speaker 2: we'll get there.
14:57
Speaker 3: We will talk about Vision for Wellington later in the hour.
15:00
Speaker 3: But you know, I still did you get concerned when
15:04
Speaker 3: you heard Michael say that everything seems to be happy?
15:06
Speaker 3: I mean, your businesses are city based, you know, are
15:09
Speaker 3: you concerned that this suburban swell hasn't come back into
15:13
Speaker 3: the city.
15:15
Speaker 2: I think there's enough business to go around for everything,
15:18
Speaker 2: and I believe if you've got a really strong offering,
15:21
Speaker 2: that there's enough room for everyone to grow, for every
15:25
Speaker 2: business to grow. And the city isn't that big like overseas,
15:31
Speaker 2: that it's not difficult to get from you.
15:33
Speaker 3: But we make it so hard to get into town,
15:35
Speaker 3: don't we. I mean, yes, I agree with you. If
15:37
Speaker 3: you could park your you know, if I could park
15:39
Speaker 3: out in the front of your orient shop and go
15:41
Speaker 3: in and buy stuff. You can, I know I can,
15:43
Speaker 3: But I've got to be lucky that there's a park here,
15:45
Speaker 3: did I You.
15:46
Speaker 2: Know, Yes, it does have some transport issues the city, definitely,
15:50
Speaker 2: But I do believe that there's a room for everyone
15:53
Speaker 2: in the city. Like I said, it is small, and
15:55
Speaker 2: yes we've got transport issues. We're not alone in that.
15:58
Speaker 2: Around the world though, you know, there's a lot of
16:00
Speaker 2: cities with a lot of challenges. And I'm not here
16:03
Speaker 2: to be negative. So I'm not to be positive.
16:05
Speaker 3: No, no, and Nora am I. I'm just asking the
16:08
Speaker 3: question is just just try and get answers for people
16:10
Speaker 3: that are that are thinking to you it's tough and.
16:14
Speaker 2: There are you know, there's lots of good initiatives that
16:17
Speaker 2: I've heard that you know, some of the people in
16:19
Speaker 2: politics that want to bring into the city. So it's
16:22
Speaker 2: about finding the right things, I think to make everybody
16:26
Speaker 2: want to come back to the city. I wouldn't want
16:29
Speaker 2: to have a business down Lampton Key unfortunately at the moment,
16:31
Speaker 2: I feel like that what was our golden mile and
16:34
Speaker 2: what was that the crowning gloriates It just doesn't feel
16:39
Speaker 2: as vibrant as it used to be. I think the
16:41
Speaker 2: area around you know, College Street and those kind of
16:44
Speaker 2: smaller streets has feels more vibrant.
16:47
Speaker 3: Then that lane Melbourne exactly what's.
16:51
Speaker 2: Your fantastic Yeah, and it has, and it's great for
16:54
Speaker 2: a city like Wellington to have those like lane ways
16:57
Speaker 2: kind of feel is exactly what is going to bring
17:00
Speaker 2: you know, international people to the city eventually too, because
17:03
Speaker 2: I'll discover these you know, great little stores that aren't
17:06
Speaker 2: you know, a chain store, that have an amazing unique
17:08
Speaker 2: offering and that makes the city unique.
17:10
Speaker 3: You're listening to the business panel with Michael Gray and
17:12
Speaker 3: Tarnia Salada. I'm going to do something I've never done
17:16
Speaker 3: on the show and the business panel before. I'm going
17:17
Speaker 3: to read out a text for you both. Hi, Nick,
17:20
Speaker 3: These business leaders have been far too kind and optimistic
17:23
Speaker 3: in what state house city's in. I'm a business owner.
17:26
Speaker 3: I'm really struggling. We need major international events at Skystadium
17:30
Speaker 3: at least once a month. We need this council to change.
17:32
Speaker 3: We need to remove cycle waves and restore CBD parking, urgently,
17:36
Speaker 3: fix the base and reserve flyover. Except that's my two
17:40
Speaker 3: cents worth. These are the absolute minimum things we urgently
17:44
Speaker 3: need to do. Thanks Sam, and I'm going to put
17:46
Speaker 3: it to Tarania, what do you think of that?
17:50
Speaker 2: I am came on the show to be positive because
17:53
Speaker 2: I believe that there is a lot of negativity out
17:55
Speaker 2: there and I didn't think that everyone needed to hear that.
17:58
Speaker 2: So I wanted to bring a positive voice to everything.
18:02
Speaker 2: Everyone knows things are tough. I agree completely with the
18:07
Speaker 2: caller who said that we do need more international events.
18:10
Speaker 2: That makes a massive difference to every single person's business,
18:14
Speaker 2: which means it's good for people we employ, which means
18:17
Speaker 2: they can go and spend more money and you know
18:20
Speaker 2: they can meet pay all their bills. So definitely we
18:23
Speaker 2: need more of those. But I did come on the
18:25
Speaker 2: panel to be positive about Wellington's positivity. If we don't,
18:29
Speaker 2: if we're not all positive, we won't get anything done.
18:33
Speaker 2: You know, it's a little bit like depression. If you
18:35
Speaker 2: really depressed, it's really hard to make a difference for
18:38
Speaker 2: the city. So I want to be positive. I want
18:40
Speaker 2: to tell people things will get better, because they will.
18:42
Speaker 3: And you've been brought on the show to be you.
18:45
Speaker 3: That's what you've been on. We don't want you to
18:47
Speaker 3: be what people want you to be. We want you
18:49
Speaker 3: to be, Tanya, and you are yourself.
18:51
Speaker 4: Michael, your thoughts, Well, I do think we need to
18:54
Speaker 4: get some more international events here. I remember back when
18:57
Speaker 4: the Sevens used to be in Wellington and how much
19:00
Speaker 4: how many pie is you sold? Yeah, and just the
19:03
Speaker 4: excitement that it brought to the whole city. And I
19:06
Speaker 4: went several times and they are great weekends and lots
19:10
Speaker 4: of people that came from out of Wellington for those
19:12
Speaker 4: sort of activities. But we don't have that same sort
19:15
Speaker 4: of pool. We don't have the same amount of concerts
19:17
Speaker 4: happening and things. So I would like to see Wellington
19:20
Speaker 4: become attractive to those international acts.
19:23
Speaker 2: Coming back to back here again, Okay, it's fantastic when
19:25
Speaker 2: they had the Sevens, the groups of people dressed up
19:28
Speaker 2: in theme running around the city. It just added so
19:31
Speaker 2: much vibrancy and interest to the city. So international events
19:35
Speaker 2: would be things that bring different people to the city,
19:38
Speaker 2: so we're not relying on just Valentonian to go to things.
19:42
Speaker 3: This morning we briefly talked about the Prime Minister was
19:45
Speaker 3: on with Mike Costing talking about the change in six
19:48
Speaker 3: sick days. It looks like there could be some change.
19:51
Speaker 3: It could go to five days or seven days, Tanya
19:54
Speaker 3: very quickly, because I do want to move on to
19:55
Speaker 3: some other stuff. What do you think about sick days?
19:57
Speaker 3: Do you think ten days is too much?
20:00
Speaker 2: I think in the current environment, when people are still
20:02
Speaker 2: concerned about COVID, that ten days for full timers is
20:08
Speaker 2: probably not unreasonable. But I think what the issue is
20:12
Speaker 2: is when you've got part timers and they're still getting
20:14
Speaker 2: ten days. So to see it pro rated for part
20:17
Speaker 2: timers would be great because if you're a part timer
20:19
Speaker 2: and you say you have two or three part time jobs,
20:22
Speaker 2: you could get up to thirty days.
20:24
Speaker 3: That's a good point. Michael.
20:26
Speaker 4: Yeah, Look, I think it depends on the culture you've
20:29
Speaker 4: got in your business too, And we're really fortunate that
20:32
Speaker 4: a lot of our full timers don't really take a
20:34
Speaker 4: lot of leave. They're genuinely sick, they'll take sickly, but
20:38
Speaker 4: ten days, you don't seem to find a lot of them.
20:40
Speaker 4: Build it up to the twenty and that sort of thing,
20:42
Speaker 4: so we don't find too much of an issue with that.
20:45
Speaker 4: I think with the with the part timers, having it
20:47
Speaker 4: pro rated is realistic, And yeah, I don't see why
20:52
Speaker 4: it is how it is at the moment right.
20:54
Speaker 3: I want to talk to you both about Vision for Willington.
20:57
Speaker 3: A lobby group of some of the city's biggest and
20:59
Speaker 3: brightest down he's talked about them, have come up with
21:01
Speaker 3: a plan to save two point eight billion dollars in
21:04
Speaker 3: council cuts, including cutting social housing and getting rid of
21:08
Speaker 3: the zoo, which is quite a major Michael, what do
21:10
Speaker 3: you think of the plan? Do we do we need
21:13
Speaker 3: the council to start cutting the cloth and working to
21:17
Speaker 3: a better situation.
21:18
Speaker 4: Absolutely, we need to. We need to be realistic about
21:23
Speaker 4: what's right for the time right now, and it's good
21:25
Speaker 4: to have the vision of where we're going. But and
21:27
Speaker 4: I think we've all seen it with like the town
21:29
Speaker 4: Hall and how that's dragged on and sometimes things actually
21:33
Speaker 4: just pass the useful life and it's sad, but yeh,
21:37
Speaker 4: ex you just have to move on. It gives you
21:38
Speaker 4: an opportunity to create something new. And you go down
21:40
Speaker 4: to christ Church for instance, And I'm not saying we
21:42
Speaker 4: need to go to that extreme, but you know, you've
21:45
Speaker 4: seen how they've how they've gone and from a forced
21:48
Speaker 4: a force point of view to actually have to rebuild
21:50
Speaker 4: things that are sort of fit for purpose, and you've
21:54
Speaker 4: got to got to remember your heritage, but at the
21:56
Speaker 4: same time you've got to got to be realistic about
21:58
Speaker 4: what's right for the future.
21:59
Speaker 3: Business Panel with Michael Gray and Tania Saladi. Tania, your
22:04
Speaker 3: ideas on the vision for Wellington and what they've come
22:06
Speaker 3: up with. What do you think?
22:08
Speaker 2: I don't know a lot of it in detail. I
22:10
Speaker 2: did want to go to that meeting, but unfortunately I didn't.
22:13
Speaker 2: I do believe that any fiscally responsible entity should constantly
22:19
Speaker 2: be looking at ways where they can save money, and
22:22
Speaker 2: especially in a challenging environment economic environment like we are now,
22:27
Speaker 2: so there's always money to be saved in an organization,
22:29
Speaker 2: and the council or any council should be looking at
22:33
Speaker 2: themselves thinking how can I be more efficient? How can
22:35
Speaker 2: I make this work better? You know, how can I
22:38
Speaker 2: make my books work? So I don't think that, and
22:42
Speaker 2: sometimes the hard changes decisions need to be made as well.
22:46
Speaker 2: You know, sometimes we do need to look at it
22:48
Speaker 2: and say is this something we really need? We love it,
22:50
Speaker 2: but do we really need it? Is it going to
22:52
Speaker 2: be good for the city in the long term? And
22:54
Speaker 2: you need somebody really strong to come in and make
22:56
Speaker 2: those changes and say let's do this a different way,
23:00
Speaker 2: let's look at things differently.
23:02
Speaker 3: That's a great segue for my next question. We have
23:05
Speaker 3: seven candidates running and the running to be willing to mayor,
23:08
Speaker 3: with Ray Chung and Andrew Little as the front runners.
23:10
Speaker 3: I think I've put Carl Turpen Barker in there as
23:12
Speaker 3: well as probably three of them that are all neck
23:16
Speaker 3: and neck. Michael, what do you make of the current
23:19
Speaker 3: candidates money for the one for the mayoralty? Do is
23:22
Speaker 3: anyone you really like? Is anyone that really excites you?
23:27
Speaker 2: Well?
23:27
Speaker 4: I don't know about reading about each of them. I mean,
23:30
Speaker 4: my first view is I personally think that central government
23:33
Speaker 4: politics don't really have a place in local body. And
23:37
Speaker 4: I you know, and I'm not saying anything bad about
23:40
Speaker 4: anyone that has that backing, but I really think that
23:42
Speaker 4: when it comes down to making decisions, if you've got
23:45
Speaker 4: an ethos that you're part of, a part of a
23:48
Speaker 4: political party that's got a certain ethos, does your thoughts
23:52
Speaker 4: get swayed to what that party's allegiances perhaps could be
23:57
Speaker 4: rather than what's actually right for a city. And I
23:59
Speaker 4: think that I'm more of a fan of independence and
24:04
Speaker 4: people that are truly independence and I'm sure they might
24:06
Speaker 4: have different views about where they sit, but but not
24:08
Speaker 4: to have that political allegiance, I think is something that's
24:11
Speaker 4: really important.
24:13
Speaker 3: Parney. You were about to jump in then, and I'm
24:15
Speaker 3: going to give you the opportunity to jump in now.
24:17
Speaker 2: Think you know, I also agree. I think years and
24:21
Speaker 2: years ago when we had councils when never affiliated to
24:25
Speaker 2: political parties, and I felt that's when the council ran better.
24:29
Speaker 2: I think I agree that if you have those you're
24:34
Speaker 2: aligned to a particular political party, you have to kind
24:39
Speaker 2: of toe that political line to a certain extent. And
24:42
Speaker 2: is that necessarily going to be for the good of
24:44
Speaker 2: the city. Is that what the city will actually mean?
24:46
Speaker 2: And it is always good to if you can be
24:49
Speaker 2: a non political so that you can work with any
24:52
Speaker 2: government that's in power at the time, and you can
24:55
Speaker 2: perhaps make more headway because you aren't politically aligned. You'll
24:59
Speaker 2: just work with who's there.
25:01
Speaker 3: Can I go a step further and ask you if
25:03
Speaker 3: any of the people that are standing right now, and
25:06
Speaker 3: I'll give you my opinion to actually excite you get
25:10
Speaker 3: you thinking, gosh, that's what we need and wanting to
25:12
Speaker 3: let's go with it, Michael.
25:15
Speaker 4: Look, look, I do like what Karl's been talking about
25:18
Speaker 4: a little bit. I like the fact that he's a
25:20
Speaker 4: Wellington business person, has been around and lived those ups
25:24
Speaker 4: and downs. So you know, I think Ray as Well
25:28
Speaker 4: has got some, you know, some very interesting things to say.
25:31
Speaker 4: I've met him on several occasions, and there's a lot
25:34
Speaker 4: more than meat, you know, a lot more than what
25:35
Speaker 4: you see at the surface, really with him.
25:37
Speaker 3: A lot more on the meat than the pie. I
25:42
Speaker 3: don't see no woman, well, I don't know you're I mean,
25:46
Speaker 3: you're a strong advocate for women in business.
25:48
Speaker 2: That's why I am a strong advocate.
25:51
Speaker 3: Why do you stand for mere?
25:53
Speaker 2: Because I don't have the time and I don't think
25:55
Speaker 2: i'd be good at it either.
25:57
Speaker 3: Sorry I should, I just know that's okay.
25:59
Speaker 2: I don't. I've never met any of the people I
26:03
Speaker 2: actually did meet Ray Chung once who are running, and
26:06
Speaker 2: I think they've all got really good quality. It would
26:10
Speaker 2: be good if you could get a combination of all
26:12
Speaker 2: of them together, you know, as to be a candidate,
26:16
Speaker 2: but no one at the moment as a forerunner. For
26:21
Speaker 2: me personally, I think I need to do a lot
26:23
Speaker 2: more research and listen to them thinking too.
26:25
Speaker 3: But I'm going to ask you this because I know
26:27
Speaker 3: that it's something that you're passionate about. You're part of
26:30
Speaker 3: a group of women that get together now and again
26:33
Speaker 3: once a month. I think you get together we do
26:35
Speaker 3: the Lunch Society. Yes, we do it once a quarter.
26:39
Speaker 3: Very sexius onnlyful woman.
26:41
Speaker 2: It's what though our next one coming up? We actually
26:43
Speaker 2: are inviting men to it.
26:45
Speaker 3: Okay, But my next question is why is there no fantastic,
26:50
Speaker 3: wonderful woman standing for the Wellington mayoralty.
26:54
Speaker 2: I'm not sure. Maybe they don't have enough time, or
26:59
Speaker 2: maybe part of it is because of the backlash that
27:01
Speaker 2: they do get. There is a lot of in politics.
27:05
Speaker 2: Women are targeted quite a lot in terms of you know,
27:08
Speaker 2: harassment on social media and I think that has been
27:11
Speaker 2: in the spotlight lately and maybe that puts people off
27:14
Speaker 2: because it isn't nice being threatened. So that could be
27:17
Speaker 2: part of it as well.
27:18
Speaker 3: But me and you both know one thing. Women are
27:21
Speaker 3: a lot tougher than men.
27:22
Speaker 2: I like to think, so I know.
27:24
Speaker 3: So, so why you still haven't given me a goal? Well,
27:28
Speaker 3: we could go on and on and it about it.
27:30
Speaker 3: One of the other things that I wanted to talk
27:34
Speaker 3: to you about. Was There was a photo over the
27:36
Speaker 3: weekend of the mayor Tory Farno hugging people living on
27:39
Speaker 3: the streets, with a caption all they need is a
27:41
Speaker 3: good hug, Tania, we have got a homeless problem, especially
27:46
Speaker 3: around where your businesses are and my businesses are. It's
27:50
Speaker 3: a serious issue. Do they need anything more than a
27:53
Speaker 3: good hug from the met Yes.
27:55
Speaker 2: They definitely need more than a hug. They need a
28:00
Speaker 2: lot of support around them. I don't know again what
28:03
Speaker 2: the solution is for homeless people, but I do believe
28:07
Speaker 2: that we need to support them more to get them
28:11
Speaker 2: off the streets and look at why they are on
28:13
Speaker 2: the streets. There is a lot of support out there,
28:16
Speaker 2: but it's why are they not reaching out for that support?
28:19
Speaker 2: Because there's a lot of support around in the city
28:22
Speaker 2: for the homeless, and I think the bigger question is
28:25
Speaker 2: why are they not seeking that help? Why are they
28:28
Speaker 2: not going and getting the help that they need.
28:31
Speaker 4: I agree, Michael, Yeah, I definitely need more than a hug.
28:35
Speaker 4: You know, there's a lot of people out there hurting,
28:36
Speaker 4: and there's a lot of people that are on the
28:38
Speaker 4: verge of going to the street too. And I think
28:40
Speaker 4: we need to find that way too to get that support.
28:45
Speaker 4: And I guess in a style and the language that
28:48
Speaker 4: they know that they're going to accept. Sometimes I think
28:51
Speaker 4: it could be too much of a solution designed by
28:54
Speaker 4: someone in a suit for someone that's living on the street,
28:57
Speaker 4: and it's not really quite the right fit.
28:59
Speaker 3: Great, great comment. We're just discussing just before we came
29:03
Speaker 3: on here. What we would do was someone very very
29:05
Speaker 3: special arrived, maybe is not to Wellington before, and you're
29:09
Speaker 3: picking them up at the airport in the morning, or
29:12
Speaker 3: haven't been here for ten or fifteen years, a family
29:14
Speaker 3: member coming back. Michael Gray, don't tell me you're going
29:18
Speaker 3: to take them to Nata and give them a nice
29:19
Speaker 3: the best pie that you've ever made, But please tell
29:21
Speaker 3: me what you would do to spoil them.
29:23
Speaker 2: YEA.
29:23
Speaker 4: Look, I quite often have people from overseas coming and
29:26
Speaker 4: visiting us and you're one of the first things to
29:30
Speaker 4: picking up from the airport, and I always got Mount
29:31
Speaker 4: Vick and just sort of show them a lookout, show
29:34
Speaker 4: them how how cool our little city is, how you
29:36
Speaker 4: can see everything from you know, right around from the
29:39
Speaker 4: airport the Hut Valley and through the city.
29:41
Speaker 3: And it doesn't look like a little city when you go.
29:44
Speaker 4: No, it doesn't, No, it doesn't. But it's just because
29:46
Speaker 4: you're a realization that once you get down there, that
29:48
Speaker 4: you know, we are highly compact and we've got so
29:50
Speaker 4: much to offer. So I normally sort of to start
29:53
Speaker 4: off there, taken down there, and they are quite often
29:55
Speaker 4: like going take them down to like more Wilson's down
29:58
Speaker 4: on Colla Street there, because I just it's such a
30:00
Speaker 4: cool showcase for some of very really cool artism producers
30:03
Speaker 4: in the area.
30:04
Speaker 3: Right, great, great idea, Well done, Tarani, what are you
30:07
Speaker 3: going to do well?
30:08
Speaker 2: Well? I like to show off some of our waterfront
30:12
Speaker 2: and our stunning coastlines. I think that part of the
30:15
Speaker 2: appeal of the city is how we're geographically blessed, you know,
30:20
Speaker 2: with the mountains and the ocean, and I like to
30:23
Speaker 2: show off. Depending on the kind of person they are,
30:25
Speaker 2: whether they're a city person or you know, like a
30:28
Speaker 2: country person. You can't beat the South Coast, you know,
30:31
Speaker 2: our red rocks and things like that. I mean, how
30:33
Speaker 2: many how many cities can you live and where you
30:36
Speaker 2: can go and see the seals, you know, that's just
30:39
Speaker 2: really special. But even if they're a city person, just
30:42
Speaker 2: the waterfront itself. It's such a beautiful city, especially on
30:45
Speaker 2: a daylight today. I mean they're saying you can't beat
30:48
Speaker 2: Wellington on a good day. Even Auckland is say it.
30:50
Speaker 2: It is a stunning city and I think the waterfront
30:53
Speaker 2: really shows that.
30:54
Speaker 3: And of course you're going to finish off with dinner
30:56
Speaker 3: at Dragonfly.
30:58
Speaker 2: Dinner at Dragonfly and drinks at Hummingbird.
31:00
Speaker 3: Oh you didn't have to say that, no, but it's true.
31:03
Speaker 2: I was then, I was there the other night, you
31:05
Speaker 2: know that.
31:05
Speaker 3: Yes, thank you, Thank you both for coming. And great
31:08
Speaker 3: to meet second generation Wellington business people. It's the first
31:12
Speaker 3: time we've had two second generation Wellington business people. Parents
31:18
Speaker 3: been through it all. Now you guys have been through
31:20
Speaker 3: it all. And I think that's for me. I'm a
31:22
Speaker 3: bit emotional about it. I think it's great to have
31:25
Speaker 3: Wellingtonian's talking business and on the show. Very proud. Thank you,
31:29
Speaker 3: Thank you both for what you do and thank you
31:31
Speaker 3: for joining us on the bank. All right, there is
31:34
Speaker 3: Tania Saladi and Michael Gray, Dragonfly and Nadia Bakery. I'm
31:39
Speaker 3: going to try a Nada Bakery pie. Maybe not this afternoon,
31:44
Speaker 3: but sometime this week. Hearing from the.
31:47
Speaker 1: Leaders that matter. It's the Business Panel on Wellington Bonnings
31:51
Speaker 1: with Quadovac Wellington's property management experts. Visit Quinovic dot co
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