Year 1 Reflections

Year 1 Reflections

We wrote these posts for our Facebook page at the end of June 2023, on The Bowling Club's first birthday.

It's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day of running a business (and simply trying to live life) that sometimes we forget where we've come from & what really matters to us. Reflection is a really important part of our business. Through regular reflections, we hope to create a business that can genuinely serve people for many years to come.




Anniversary Reflections, part 1


It is the Bowling Club’s one year anniversary of trading this week, which has us reflecting a lot. We decided we’ll post a reflection each day, starting with this one. 


One of the memories we cast back to this time last year was an interview on OAR FM Dunedin - Community Access Media. We were telling the host that we need to sell 300 $4 meals each night at the food truck in order to be a viable business. With incredulity he asked “do you think that is possible?” We both went red and fumbled around the question, because to tell you the truth, we didn’t really believe we would get such a strong response from the community.

On the opening night of the food truck, we served at least 300 people, and within weeks we regularly began to exceed our opening night numbers to our great surprise (and a little horror).


When we opened the food truck, we had unwittingly set in motion a chain of events that has swept us and the whole bowling club team on a wild adventure.


These days we serve about 700-800 people meals, bake 500 desserts and sell 100 drinks each day we’re open. We give away $1,000 of food each week. And what started as a food truck run by the two of us has grown into a community eatery run by a team of 13.


We still don’t really know how we feel about this roller coaster of a year, but there’s one thing we are sure of: none of this would have been possible if we had not been wholeheartedly embraced by the community from the beginning. In reality, the bowling club is a team of thousands. Our business has always relied on hundreds of people showing up, and the fact that you all do never ceases to amaze us.


Thank you for being a part of our “club,"

Liam & Jackie



Anniversary Reflections, part 2

 

Last year we contemplated potential business names while walking many loops of Ross Creek Reservoir. Eventually we landed on “The Bowling Club.” Partly because we’d encourage people to bring their own bowls (and puns are fun). But really, we chose the name because it provides a new context, challenging the ways in which we think.


Since then, people have rang us up asking to book a lane. A bowling club in Auckland has invited us to a tournament. Customer service people will tell us stories about their uncle’s bowling clubs, and on and on. These moments make us laugh, and also make us consider changing our name, but we keep it because it’s out of the box.


A frustration that we have is how box-y and insulated our world can be. Sometimes it feels that our society is organised in a way that separates us. We wake up in our box of a house, pour cereal from a box, sometimes turn on our entertainment box, then jump into another box to shower, get into our box of a car to drive to work where we work in a cubicle box. The way our lives are physically compartmentalised separate us, stunting us from seeing the humanity in each other.


The bowling club is an attempt to bring people out of our social isolation and be in the presence of one another. It’s not radical because the food is cheap or cooked in comically large quantities, but it’s radical because it invites us to step out of our boxes and be in the presence of one another.


We see some of the wealthiest people in Dunedin in the queue. In front of them are people getting free meals. In front of them is a kid zig-zagging his bike through the queue. This gathering feels like true treasure.


If a bowling club can be multiple things at once, then surely our isolating boxes can be more open too. Maybe we can collectively create spaces and systems that encourage more raw connection and surprise. We feel like we’re beginning to venture out of the boxes, together, of course. It feels like a great shared pursuit, and we’re grateful we are doing it together, with you.


Thank you for “bowling” with us,

Jackie and Liam


Anniversary Reflections, Part 3


One morning when we’re having a Kuku coffee with our friend Mike before work, Liam said, “you know, what we are doing is kind of like public transport, but for eating.” Similar to riding a train, eating at the bowling club is something that is not made for an individual experience but for hundreds of people at once. Because of that, it also becomes more efficient, cheaper, and better for the environment. Public eating. We like this name because it invokes the public spirit of togetherness, not of individual separation but of collective energy, and that is what we hope to foster most in the business.


Sometimes public transport can be a bit awkward though. We often hide away in our headphones and look out the window, tucked away in our own little worlds. Public eating feels different. Food brings vibrancy, and an inherent sense of life and togetherness. It encourages us all to connect and open up about ourselves.


Everyone on the team usually asks customers how they’re doing. We gradually all learn more about one another, weaving our lives together more intimately. One of our customers named Keri comes into the bowling club most days (sometimes rocking a onesie). “How was your day today, Keri,” we’ll ask. He’ll often say something like, “today was a special day,” and go on to explain what made the day more special. 


Usually something about a new experience at work, his health, the ordinary specialties of life. It’s these moments that turn the more ordinary, commonplace experiences (like buying food) into something special or maybe even sacred.


As we draw closer together around food, we begin to enrich our lives in other ways too.


Another customer of ours, named Claire, recently told us that her and her housemates are splitting the costs of her car so that they can take turns driving to the bowling club to pick up dinner for everyone. Sharing good food has brought out a cooperative spirit it seems.


We hope that as we begin eat publicly together, we can connect more and remind each other of the inherent “specialness” of our days too.


Thank you for making our days special,

Liam & Jackie



Anniversary reflection, part 4

Every now and then, we like to eat in the eatery on the weekends because we love the feel of the space our community built. Dozens of you all are woven into it.


We are calmed by the sandy tones surrounding us, painted over a whole week by Davo who lovingly poured hours and hours into the skirting boards and awkward cracks of our leaky building. Our friend Hughie keeps the space shining by washing our windows every Friday. Darren fixed our floors that were rotting out, and Gina & Angela painted the floor patches into new worlds.


The tapa cloths hanging overhead bring a sacred aura, not only because of the patterns and motifs of the beautiful cloth, but because of the woman who shared them with us. Nearly every day during our summertime renovations, our neighbour Vicki would come in and give us a new piece of beautiful art.


The building is not ours. It’s a gift from the hundreds who have nurtured it and continue to bless it with their presence by eating banana cake with friends, making new friends in the line, telling us about their days. All are beautiful and sacred acts. That’s why these posts are really a love letter to you all.


So many of you have helped bring the bowling club space and concept to life, and continue to nurture it and help it grow. It’s proof that we can create beautiful things and meaningful change when we work together. It leaves us wondering… how can the bowling club spread?


Everywhere we look in life we see areas that are in need of a bowling club: transport, housing, climate change action, and issues of social justice. We believe that we all have a common interest in being housed, being fed, and having people that love us. We choose to see our shared strength in pursuing our needs together, rather than surrendering to the weakness of facing them alone.


If the past year has taught us anything, it’s that many surprises await. We’re excited to see what’s to come. We had a blast celebrating with you all this past week. Thank you for being here with us now and sharing all that you do. We hope to keep growing closer (and stronger, together) in this journey.


Love,

Jackie & Liam