He might have served oysters to rap star Cardi B in the Viaduct, but Dane Wall never really felt completely at home in Auckland.
Whenever Mr Wall (34) returned home to Dunedin to visit and it came time to head north again, there was not just a sense of sadness about leaving family, but a feeling he was "leaving myself there a little bit", he recalled.
So when a job opportunity arose which meant he could move back to Dunedin, he jumped at the chance.
Now he has further cemented his roots back in the city with the purchase of The Swan cafe, taproom and eatery in Bath St.
From an early age Mr Wall wanted to be a business owner — not that there was a history of that in his family.
"I didn’t really have a desire to do any one thing, and I think working for myself just worked out better for who I am as a person," he said.
He attended St Leonards Primary School, before moving to Wānaka for several years and then returning to Dunedin where he attended Bayfield High School.
While studying management at university he worked for several years in "random" hospitality jobs. Finishing his studies, the timing was perfect as he was offered a role as a general manager with Cook Brothers Hospitality, the business where he had cut his teeth in hospitality.
That, in itself, was ironic; back in 2004, four 20-something-year-olds from Queenstown took the bold move of taking on the lease of the legendary student haunt, the Captain Cook Tavern.
After the acquisition, Cook Brothers expanded into a nationwide hospitality group, while Cook Brothers Construction also spun off.
Mr Wall recalled heading to the Cook Brothers-owned Velvet Burger with his then-girlfriend when he was about 18 and driving past the Captain Cook Tavern. He did not know the background to its ownership and she filled him in, and he remembered being "absolutely fascinated" by their story.
He started at the bottom of the ladder — doing dishes and cleaning glasses — and worked his way up. Leaving university coincided with a strong growth phase for the business, and he opened a venue in Ponsonby.
He described it as the most challenging time in his life — "you figure out what you’re made of" — as Ponsonby hospitality was a very different style of hospitality to what he was used to.
But he credited his Dunedin upbringing for keeping him grounded and for giving him a strong work ethic. He had always been a worker and, at multiple times, had two jobs.
"I wasn’t born into circumstances, and I want to get ahead and have nice things. I’m willing to do the work to get where I want to be," he said.
Keen to get into an operations manager role, he left Cook Brothers for another hospitality business which had multiple sites but that opportunity did not arise and, turning 30, he started to question what to do.
While hospitality was a passion, working late nights as a general manager "starts wearing you out a little", and he looked at what his next step would be.
Continuing to work in the sector, he had done a two-year diploma in web and user experience design. Graduating in 2019, he got an internship in user experience with the digital department at insurance firm IAG New Zealand.
Friends owned the Viaduct hospitality venue Saint Alice — where he served Cardi B — and he got a job there as well.
It was during that time he questioned whether he would move fully back into hospitality.
Out of the blue he got a message from Cook Brothers Hospitality, offering him the South Island operations manager role serving Dunedin, Christchurch and Queenstown.
Returning to Dunedin had always been in the back of Mr Wall’s mind but he never really saw how it was going to work job-wise. So when the role was offered, it "made a lot of sense" and he came back in 2020.
Around that time he decided he needed to buy a house. He had contemplated buying in Auckland; he was working two jobs, his income was good and he was working so many hours that he was not spending much money. In 2021 he was able to buy a home in Dunedin, near the Balmacewen Golf Course.
Several opportunities in hospitality in Dunedin arose in the last 18 months and, while there was a lot of economic uncertainty, Mr Wall said it was a good time to buy a business as prices were lower.
With the high cost of living, some people were looking to prune expenses, but the beauty of cafes was that they were not charging $100 for a meal. It was more likely people would cut those costs, rather than their coffee and cheese scone or cinnamon scroll, he said.
When looking at businesses, he wanted a hospitality offering that did not open in the late-night space. The hospitality industry had shifted towards a more food-focused experience.
New Zealand was following the international trend of going out earlier — usually between 5pm and 7pm — and there were much fewer night clubs in Auckland, he said. He also wanted something that would connect with the very strong community in Dunedin.
The Swan was previously owned by Patrick and Sarah Hussey, who also own The Perc.
Mr Wall had been a customer at both cafes, and when Mrs Hussey mentioned The Swan was on the market, it planted a seed he could not get out of his mind.
Back in 2014 he had been to the premises when it was then The Strictly Coffee Company.
He loved it but cafe ownership was not then on his radar.
Mr Wall, who is continuing to work for Cook Brothers Hospitality in a much scaled-down role, officially took over on Monday, and the first few days had been "amazing".
He had been overwhelmed by the feedback and so grateful for the support both from the public and also the existing staff.
There were so many things to learn and teach himself about being a business owner and he was very reliant on the team.
While he had been in hospitality operations for multiple venues for a long time, that was a very different role to being the owner-operator of one cafe.
What particularly excited him was the ability to implement and make changes.
At this stage, it was very much business as usual and the only real concrete plans were a desire to increase trading hours and open on Sundays. A new chef was joining the business soon too.
Having achieved business ownership, Mr Wall had no intention of sitting back and cruising.
"I have to work this business ... I’m going to be working in the business and on the business," he said.
Asked how he felt about the state of the hospitality sector, with many businesses on the market, Mr Wall said it was all about providing a good experience; that included a friendly greeting and good coffee and food.
As long as people felt like they were getting value for what they were buying then the business would be "safe", and that gave him confidence.
While he would eventually like to own multiple hospitality outlets, he did not want to take the business national, saying that could impact the quality of product offered. He would only grow the business if he could maintain high standards.
Mr Wall was enjoying being back in Dunedin; he had met his now-partner and the couple had an enthusiastic 18-month-old Labrador, which he quipped was available for any teenagers in the Wakari area wanting a dog to walk.
He was keen to start training for the Dunedin Marathon and he was thinking about doing it dressed in a swan costume, as a fundraiser for mental health.
He had no plan to change the name of the business, saying he loved the Swan brand and it was agile enough to slightly modify the offering.
A great fan of having skin in the game, Mr Wall was also keen to continue to surround himself with good people. If the business was going well then there might be an opportunity to offer a portion of ownership to staff, or bring somebody else in — provided they shared the same vision — as he believed that was a winning formula.
