Collaborate.

The collaboration practice was shaped during the most unstable years in Melbourne hospitality.

Restaurants closed, teams shrank, labour disappeared and every venue had to pivot. During that period, I built an independent cooking practice from home: Indonesian set menus, dinner boxes, signature ijo chilli oil, early branding work and private consultation.

That work became useful immediately. Coming out of lockdown, I helped relaunch Eazy Peazy through unstable trading conditions, including converting a fully prepped Valentine's Day set menu into packaged pickup boxes when lockdown hit the day before service.

The same thinking carried into later collaborations, pop-ups and venue support: move quickly, protect the food, protect the revenue, and build something that can survive outside the perfect service scenario.

After that period, collaboration stopped feeling like a side project. It became a way to work with peers, contribute to the industry, and build food ideas with more freedom and trust. It was also the period where I became properly embedded in Melbourne hospitality, not just working in it.

Good food direction has to survive the room changing overnight.