A PAIR of brothers is disproving the adage that family partnerships don’t work.
Half brothers actually, Shepherd Elliott and Jesse Simpson – both former Logan Brown employees – have taken over the Wellington institution that was Katipo Café on Willis Street and turned it into a real family enterprise. They’re lucky that they’re not one of those families that never get along. Elliott’s the chef, and Simpson the barista and more.
“Throughout our entire relationships as brothers there’s never been an, ‘I hate you, I don’t want to be your brother anymore’,” Simpson says. Then: “Give us another six months and see how we go. [It might be] ‘no, I’ve actually divorced him’.”
Well, they’re far from fractious at this point. After being open just five-and-a-half weeks, they’re already turning people away at the door.
Perhaps it’s the new décor – they’ve completely stripped the café, distinctive for its red interior, back to its roots, with a new paint job and the timber clad walls stripped back to bare wood. Or perhaps it’s that they both learnt their skills off Al Brown 15 years ago, back when Logan Brown first opened.
Elliott, who worked with Brown before he opened the fine dining restaurant, was headhunted for the job by him. He then went overseas for 10 years, then the now executive chef Shaun Clouston headhunted him again.
Simpson was asked to be a dishwasher at Logan Brown for one day, and it was there that he, as a fresh-faced 18-year-old who had no idea where his calling lay, discovered there was no way he wanted to be a chef.
“Working with Brown took my will to be a chef. If he’s not in a good mood you don’t want to get anything wrong at all.” But Simpson says Brown taught him his work ethic and his standards.
“He taught me how to work your arse off for not much money.” And it’s that work ethic that’s allowed Simpson – and his brother – to branch out and work for themselves. And you can bet they’ll have a damn good time doing it. Elliott got into hospitality to travel, Simpson for lack of anything else to do. But the passion of both for this industry is undeniable.
“It wasn’t ever, ‘oh my God, I really want to work in hospitality’. So thank God I’ve ended up somewhere like here. Working for yourself is pretty damn good. I’m making the best coffee I can make,” says Simpson.
“To be turning people away because you’re too busy after five weeks is just amazing.”