Roger Young is a true Cuba Street original - a hospitality rockstar whose venues helped shape the soul of Wellington. In this episode, Roger shares the wild, funny, and fearless stories behind building iconic spots like Little Gringo’s and Fidel’s, from scraping by in the early days to creating places that would become cultural institutions.
With no regrets and no filter, Roger talks about the chaos of hospitality, the importance of community, and why creativity and authenticity matter more than scale. He reflects on the risks he took, the lessons learned from decades in the industry, and a dramatic boating accident that mirrors the pressure and unpredictability of life in hospitality.
This is a candid, big-hearted conversation about resilience, storytelling, and what it really takes to build something that lasts - on Cuba Street and in life.
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The Kitchen Day Podcast is sponsored by Boring Oat Milk, a New Zealand owned company making oat milk right here in Aotearoa, from NZ grown oats.
We'd also like to thank the good folks at Upstock - if you buy or sell wholesale, this app has all your invoicing, ordering, logistics and payments in one place.
We're supported by the team at Droppah. Droppah takes the chaos out of scheduling with smart, skills-based rostering that helps you get the right people on, at the right time.
As always, we film pre-service at Loretta Restaurant, and our podcast is recorded and produced by Jono Tucker at Empire Films.
Thanks for listening!
Hey! Dom here. This isn't an ad, but I have a favour to ask! I'd love your feedback on Season 1 of the Kitchen Day Podcast. It'll only take 3 minutes of your time, but it'll help us shape Season 2. Tell me what you're loving, and what you'd like to hear more of in future episodes!
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