He tells Rebecca Fox about looking for a change.
Having your priorities change after having children is hard to understand until it happens to you.
For Richard Highnam, having a daughter, combined with the experience of Covid and lockdowns, left him and his wife reassessing their life in Auckland.
"We wanted something different for our daughter."
So he started looking for opportunities in southern South Island, liking the idea of Queenstown or South Canterbury, when a mutual friend introduced him to developer Chris Meehan, who is behind the Ayrburn hospitality precinct near Arrowtown, which opened in December.
"I met Chris and was taken by his vision and excitement for what he was doing."
So he joined the team as executive chef overseeing the food options available on site, in particular at The Woolshed restaurant where he is head chef, the Burr Bar and fine-dining restaurant Billy’s, which will open later this year.
Pulling everything together had been an exciting time for the chef, who has been cooking since his late teens.
"I wanted to be a chef, it had been on my radar since my early teens but it wasn’t until I was 19, I think, that I decided it was time to work in a kitchen."
He says he was lucky enough to work under some good head chefs in his early years in Wellington, including Peter Thornley at Te Papa’s restaurant Icon, before moving to Auckland in the mid-2000s.
There he got his first senior role working under award-winning chef Simon Wright at the French Cafe (now Sid at the French Cafe).
That gave him the experience to head overseas, where he worked in various restaurants in the United Kingdom for five years.
Returning to Auckland, he rejoined Thornley, this time for the re-development of the former Kermadec, a seafood restaurant on Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour.
He moved to Hawke’s Bay for three years where he owned The Old Church Restaurant before heading back to Auckland for stints at The Tasting Shed and Regatta Bar and Restaurant.
Highnam then stepped up to become executive chef for the Good Group, overseeing its five restaurants, including Botswana Butchery, White and Wongs and Harbourside.
Highnam says it was a great learning experience for him as his background was more European-style food, so it required him to learn more about cooking Asian food.
"I had always enjoyed eating [Asian food] but had never cooked it, so it was a good learning curve from a chef’s perspective."
He is now drawing on all of that experience at Ayrburn.
The new role allows him to still be hands-on in developing the kitchen teams and head chefs for the various restaurants, as well as at a more managerial level.
"I quite like that. It still gives me the variety."
Part of that has been to build on his philosophy of good food done simply, using as many local ingredients as possible in his menus.
While he has found some "really good" produce, he admits there are fewer options than further north.
"The product we have found you can’t fault. We hope to develop that even more and hope to get some more traction with smaller suppliers."
He is also looking forward to the butchery and bakehouse getting under way and is hoping to be able to tie in both offerings with the restaurants. They hope to advertise in the New Year for a head butcher and baker.
Highnam says it has been tough recruiting staff and finding accommodation for them, something he experienced himself when he first moved down.
He has now found a place to rent and his family have moved down.
"My wife and daughter are loving it down here. As a family we ski a lot, so that has been great."
