Mr Coughlin is launching Hotel St Clair's restaurant and bar, Pier 24, for the second time after spending a year as executive chef at Olivers in Clyde.
The restaurant, which reopened yesterday, had been closed for refurbishment since January, when the hotel was taken over in what was thought to be a multimillion-dollar deal.
Returning to the restaurant he had spent five years at the helm of was about being closer to his family, who had stayed in Dunedin during the year he was in Clyde.
He had spent more than 30 years as a chef, juggling his career and family, and felt it was time to put family first, with his youngest son in his final year at King's High School where he was a prefect.
"We didn't want to pull him out of school and I didn't want to be away from my family for another year.
"Being away from your family for a year makes you start to think about what's important.''
The reopening of Pier 24 gave him the perfect opportunity to come back and he loved the challenge of launching the restaurant for the second time.
He was confident the second iteration of Pier 24 would provide a better experience than the first and denied rumours the quality of food would take a dip under the new owners.
In the past the restaurant had occasionally been let down by inconsistent service, but a new front of house led by Kevin Beckett meant this would no longer be a problem and the fresh decor was "amazing''.
The style of food would be similar to what it was before.
"The menu is designed around how I see it should be at the present point in time.
"I don't follow any kind of trends or anything like that.
"To me, when I'm writing a menu, it's like waking up in the morning and looking at my selection of ties and thinking ‘which one do I feel like wearing today?'.''
He was expecting a busy few months with the reopening, but was reassured by being able to return to his family home at the end of a long day at work.
Olivers co-owner David Ritchie said Mr Coughlin left two or three weeks ago, "for family reasons'' and his role had been filled.
"That's what happens in the hospitality industry. It's not unusual,'' Mr Ritchie said.
Mr Coughlin was appointed executive chef at Olivers when the restaurant and cafe reopened a year ago as part of the refurbished complex.
