In this post, we share our business updates from April 2025, a month when we've tried to be very honest with ourselves and our business, to remember why we're here, and to keep working towards making a business that flourishes (for both the community and ourselves). These updates were originally posted on our Facebook page.
April 6th
Wee weekend biz update #8:
Over the past months, we’ve realised that the season of ‘bowling club HYPE’ has passed. 🍂
This isn’t a bad thing. It’s a necessary phase. Our ‘season of hype’ carried us through our first 2.5 years of business. It seems like people were initially so excited about this new concept, curious to try it out. We’d regularly feed 1,000 people each night. We felt like we could never keep up, and it all felt a bit chaotic. 🌀
Now, we sometimes feed 1,000 people (or more) in a single night, but it’s not the norm. We feed more like 600-900 people each night, which is still so awesome! Thank you for coming over! 🧡
Our problem has been that we set up our business to feed 1,000+ people every night we open. The growth rate over our first years of business was exponential. So, we set up our business to feed the masses. Even though we’d still have slow nights, we’d make enough kai & staff enough people to feed 1,000+ each night (until now)…⭐️
Recently, we’ve realised that this business model (one focused solely on feeding 1,000 people the same meal over a 4.5 hour period 4 nights a week) isn’t realistic. We can still feed heaps of people & all share in the same meal, but we need to change some of our structures & income streams so that the business can be stable & secure without relying on being chaotically busy every time we open our doors. 🐝
To keep The Bowling Club around, we’re focusing on other areas too (like deliveries, lunch, selling bread, muesli). We have many more ideas to pursue too. It’s all very exciting (and also overwhelming). These creative opportunities are the reason we love running a business. We get to dream & try new things day-after-day. 🌞
We’ve also realised that to keep The Bowling Club around, we need to simply accept that the ‘hype phase’ has passed. We need to cut our costs in some areas - like the cost of wages during service. We used to staff 6 servers every night. Now, we reckon we can improve our systems & staff 3 servers each night for a shorter-length service, and still be able to feed up to 1,000 people. On a more regular night, we’ll have to serve about 3 meals a minute, but we know our team can do that. 💪
And, you can help us be more efficient & flowy too! Please always remove the lids on your containers before you get to the bar. You can use one of our handy dandy trays to help you out! And, if you have a big or complicated order, please write it on a sticky note before you get to the bar. Thank you! 💙
Thankfully, all these changes have come at a good time for our team. A lot of our FOH teammate’s life circumstances have changed (or are actively changing), so we ended up not having to reduce many people’s hours by too much. Part of the reason we haven’t done this before is that it feels really bad to cut back on teammate’s hours when we feel responsible for providing them a steady income.
Running a business is really hard, and we definitely didn’t realise what we were getting ourselves into when we launched our food caravan almost 3 years ago. 🛻
This morning, I was actually looking through some of my old journals. One entry was from about 3.5 years ago. This sounds really silly, but I wrote out a ‘life plan.’ “In 2029: become real adults…. Cheap food project?” I wrote. 🙃
Liam and I had many other plans & dreams that didn’t come to fruition (I wanted to do research on women’s rights in Morocco. Liam wanted to pursue a PhD, we both wanted to walk the Silk Road). But, we ended up started our “cheap food project” many years earlier. It’s funny how life is full of surprises. 🎉
I think this Bowling Club surprise has served us well. We’ve learnt so much, and we will continue to learn every single day, for many years to come. Thank you for journeying with us. Hope to see you around soon. ☮️🧡🥣
With love,
Jackie & Liam
April 22nd
Business update #9:
Our friend & builder Darren has been a busy beaver 🦫 over the weekend, and whipped us up a new queue room! We think it’s looking spiffy, and we hope it can add to the joy of coming to the bowling club. ✨
As you may have noticed, we have made many changes to the serving room over the last weeks. We have realised the need to streamline our services to reduce the cost of opening for a night. So we’ve made a longer, more functional bar, we’ve simplified our menu, and made more room for storage to tidy the shop up. ✨
We’ve come to the conclusion that the business cannot run on a model that needs close to 1000 customers a night. It is impossible to sustainably get that number of people in, and trying to reach those targets has been driving us mad with worry. So we want to focus on the people who regularly come here. Thank you to our hundreds of regulars. We truly wouldn’t be here without you. 🧡
We want to go back to our roots: of welcoming people in, and making them feel at home. When we do this, we feel it is a business worth running, and we feel hope for the future. ✨
We have also installed some beautiful new display shelves, because we are gearing up to start selling sauces! Stay tuned in the next couple of weeks. ✨
We hope you have an Easter weekend full of peace and joy, and we can’t wait to see you today. ✨
April 27th
Business Update #10:
Kia ora everyone, it’s me Jackie. This week’s business reflection is more of a personal reflection. For better or for worse, Liam’s and my personal lives are very enmeshed with The Bowling Club.
I’m currently flying back to my first home (the usa). Liam has previously shared with you all that I’d be going away for a while, and now the time has come. A dear friend of mine was diagnosed with breast cancer, and I really want to spend time with her. And, I feel I also feel I need to go away to spend some time with myself and my blood whānau.
We try to share honestly and transparently, so you probably know that we haven’t found running a business very breezy. It’s taken a toll on both Liam’s and my minds.
My mind hasn’t been very well for a while. I call this state “in the pit,” but I think most people call it depression. Whatever it is: it’s sucked a lot of life out of me… to the point where even my vision is sometimes even affected. Colours are simply not as bright as they used to be, just like my mind, heart, and soul feel.
I’m not sharing this because I want you to worry or feel bad for me. I have lots of personal and professional support… and, I also have hope (what a beautiful thing to have!).
*
Last week was a week of newfound hope. Not in terms of business finances (I don’t think we even broke even). But, it felt hopeful because both Liam and I had some slow time over Easter weekend. We reflected a lot and decided to take action & make choices (even if the choices are hard). We formed a plan to support The Bowling Club at large (which includes supporting ourselves).
The plan itself isn’t that ‘fun,’ but it does give me hope.
*
Since I’m leaving Ōtepoti for a while, I’ve had to replace myself at work. It’s been a big ol’ journey to get to this point, and I’m so happy to have made it here.
When Liam and I started The Bowling Club a few years ago, we started it because we were feeling aimless. It was 2022, and we were passing through Ōtepoti so Liam could pursue an honours year and so I could meet Liam’s family. We thought we could start a food truck as a low-risk way to do something that felt fun and meaningful.
Turns out The Bowling Club had a life of its own. It’s not *just* a business. The Bowling Club embodies spirit and soul. Sometimes, I think of The Bowling Club as a child. Specifically, Liam’s and my child that we never planned to have, whom we certainly weren’t prepared for. (I’m sorry if this feels diminishing to all of you real parents… I don’t actually understand what that’s like).
Liam and I have both considered quitting many times, abandoning this “child” that is our business. Just last week, my plan was to leave for the states and never return to work at ‘the club.’ I was finding it all too much. I worried that eventually the financial stress of business & the emotional toll of management and community-support-work would eventually damage Liam’s and my relationship. We both want to protect our relationship, so I decided I was going to leave the business and find a more “normal” and stable job.
*
But life often surprises me, and this past week certainly surprised me.
I met with almost all of our workmates this week. It felt really special to just sit down with everyone. Some of these conversations were really hard. Even so, I felt so supported by each and everyone of our teammates. I felt hopeful about the future of The Bowling Club. I felt motivated and inspired - by our team & our shared mahi & mission. I also felt inspired by all of you whom we have the honour of sharing kai with. I realised that I deeply love and care for The Bowling Club, and I’m actually not ready to leave it.
*
Thank you for inspiring me to stick around. ‘I could squirm like a worm I am so grateful’ for our team, a group of people whom I think of as kaitiaki of The Bowling Club. Our team even organised a see-you-later-surprise-gathering for me. They gifted me a beautiful journal that is filled with letters of love. One of our teammates even wrote and recorded a song for me. It made me weep. I haven’t had the chance to read the letters yet, but I will on my next flight! I hope the person sitting next to me is ready for a big gratitude-weep.
*
On the first day we opened the eatery, I quickly wrote “thank you for being here” on the blackboard hanging behind the bar. It’s still there, and it’s still true. Maybe now more than ever. Thank you for being here.
I hope you all get to experience the love and magic that is The Bowling Club. I hope you enjoy some delicious kai with people you love. I’ve eaten almost e.v.e.r.y single bowling club meal, and I’m bummed to miss out over the next while! So, do me a favour, and savour every bite for me. And please remind our team how awesome they are.
I’m wishing you all peace in your minds and hearts (and lots of yummy kai in your bowls) ;)
☮️🧡🥣
Peace, love, and bowls,
Jackie