By anyone’s standards, Ben Bayly is a high achiever. The TV chef and dad of three owns five restaurants, and runs an organic garden in South Auckland, growing seasonal produce for his Auckland eateries.
He’s also fronted several TV shows, including My Kitchen Rules plus A New Zealand Food Story, and now he’s back on screens for the second series of The Restaurant That Makes Mistakes, in which a cast of 10 Kiwis with early onset dementia learn to run a hospitality establishment.
But Waikato-born Ben says his success is due to the unbreakable bond he has with his work partners and close friends, general manager Chris Martin and executive chef Mike Shatura.
“They are quite simply my best mates,” tells Ben, 44, who has three children, Ella, 15, Mila, 12, and Bowie, nine, with wife Cara. “We know what each other is thinking, we have similar moral values and work ethics, and we all have families that mean the world to us.
“We understand that to be successful, it’s important to have a healthy work-life balance. Chris has three kids under five, and Mike has a 12-year-old daughter and an adult son. We all want to spend more time with them than at work.
“We speak about 100 times a week, but we won’t necessarily see each other because family comes first. Before we write the work roster, we write our family rosters.”
Ben compares his relationship with Chris and Mike to a marriage.
“The three of us work hard keeping our relationship healthy because our personal finances are on the line,” he explains. “This isn’t a case of ‘turn up, get paid, go home’. If we bail or if our friendship goes sour, our homes and our mortgages are at stake too. The success of our business is based on the success of our relationship. So we have to talk and be very honest with each other, and have those difficult conversations.”
As GM, Chris looks after the finances, the restaurants’ floor standards and beverage programmes. Ben says he’s happy if Chris queries one of his recipes.
“If Chris doesn’t like a dish, I don’t get defensive or offended. I thank him for telling me,” says Ben, who met the Australian-born restaurant manager in London 10 years ago. “Challenging each other in a respectful way is better for the business and ultimately it strengthens our brotherhood.”
Having worked with Mike in eight different restaurants over the past 16 years, Ben’s bond with his executive chef is just as unbreakable.
“I’ve been trying to get rid of him for ages but he never leaves!” he laughs. “I love the guy – he is such a beautiful man. He’s our rock. I’m the face people often recognise. My passion is making sure our food has a connection to the people who hunt, fish and grow it. However, Mike is the real creative force in the kitchen.”
Having 10 people with early onset dementia working with them could have been tricky for perfectionists Chris, Mike and Ben. But, teamwork and experience meant filming The Restaurant That Makes Mistakes at Ben’s Auckland bistro Origine was just another day in the office for the trio.
“We have teenagers working with us and we have to tell them how to do the same thing 10 times. This was no different!” laughs Ben. He has spoken in the past about his grandmother’s dementia diagnosis being a big reason for doing the show.
“Chris, Mike and I were most nervous about making sure we stacked up for the people who’d agreed to go on TV to raise awareness about their cruel condition.
“They are all lovely people who have had full lives, but have been given a prison sentence instead of the future they thought they’d have. They are struggling to come to terms with the physical and psychological effects of their diagnosis. We wanted to honour that. So if they did it wrong or forgot something, we just did it again and again until they got it right.
“Dementia is a very lonely place, but having it doesn’t mean you can’t learn something new. Chris, Mike and I were there to give them guidance, and were there to catch them before they fell. We are very proud of every one of them.”
As for the future with his best mates, Ben says fondly, “I never want to work with anyone else apart from these two. I want to retire with them.”
The Restaurant That Makes Mistakes screens Mondays at 7.30pm on TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+.
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