Relentless - S07:E24 - Episode 138 - Heleena Alatsas

From family kitchens to building multiple businesses on her own terms.

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJkuXaD7_0JPNzYKMuIaMeZxA-F16YgzN

The latest episode of Relentless: Life On Your Terms features a guest who embodies resilience, adaptability and entrepreneurial thinking — Heleena Alatsas.

Heleena is the driving force behind Bahari and the founder of Gringlish.co and Phlavour — three ventures built on passion, creativity and a deep understanding of people.

Through her journey, Heleena is:

🍽️ Building standout hospitality experiences in one of the world’s most competitive food cities

🚀 Scaling a catering business that’s become part of life’s biggest moments for clients

🧠 Applying marketing and business strategy across industries

⚡ Leading with adaptability — especially when it matters most

But what truly stands out is how it all started.

At just 14, she was already working in her family’s hospitality business — learning the ropes from the ground up.

By her early 20s, she was managing large-scale venues, juggling multiple jobs, and developing the ability to think on her feet, solve problems fast and stay calm under pressure.

No shortcuts. Just real experience.

What followed was a journey through marketing, working across major global brands — before taking the leap into building her own ventures.

And then came one of the toughest tests.

When COVID hit, the hospitality industry was brought to a standstill.

Within just 4 days, Heleena and her team completely pivoted their business model — transforming a dine-in restaurant into a fully operational takeaway and delivery business across multiple platforms.

No roadmap. No guarantees. Just execution.

In this episode, we explore:

🔥 The power of starting young and learning by doing

💡 Why adaptability is one of the most valuable business skills

🧭 How marketing and hospitality skills translate across industries

❤️ Building businesses that balance ambition with lifestyle

One of the most powerful takeaways:

“If you’ve got options, you’re okay. Stay calm, work through them — there’s always a solution.”

This is a conversation for founders, operators and anyone navigating uncertainty while building something meaningful.

🎧 Now live on Relentless: Life On Your Terms

#RelentlessPodcast #Entrepreneurship #Hospitality #Leadership #WomenInBusiness #BusinessGrowth #LifeOnYourTerms

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Every problem has a solution. I don't feel like something is gonna come to you and you're just gonna say, okay, well, I can't solve that. We've got to make it work. Whatever it is, we've got to make it work. We've got to do something.

SPEAKER_03 0:17

Welcome back to another episode of Relentless Life in Your Term. I'm joined by Helena Alexas. How are you, Helena?

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Very well, thank you.

SPEAKER_03 0:25

Now, um, you have a very interesting story. Now we've worked together in the past. Yes. You've actually catered for my charity event lead with kindness with Green Glish. So we'll talk a little bit about that. But before we do, let's start at the beginning.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Okay, the beginning.

SPEAKER_03 0:39

14 when you started working.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Yes. Uh thrown into family business from a very, very young age. Uh technically it was in the kitchen, but I was also behind the bar, but we won't go there. Uh and we had like a big hospitality business that my dad would oversee and uh loved it. Learned every aspect of it, kind of climbed through all the different areas and was in and out of there from 14 up until into my twenties through uni, studying marketing at Monash, uh, whilst having a few other jobs at the same time, really wanting to.

SPEAKER_03 1:16

What different jobs? You're working four jobs at one stage or something. What sort of work? Hospitality, what else?

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Hospitality. I had a call center job.

SPEAKER_03 1:23

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Um, which was probably one of the worst jobs I've ever had in my life.

SPEAKER_03 1:26

I love that. I work in a call centre too.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Wow. Um, you just would just get abused every single day, but you know, just still tell people to have a nice day and hang up and move on to the next one, you know?

SPEAKER_03 1:36

So call center, hospitality.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Hospitality. Uh yeah, a few hospitality jobs in there. I was also coaching um for a a school. I was coaching some soccer boys.

SPEAKER_03 1:46

Um Did you played soccer yourself so did you?

SPEAKER_00 1:48

I did, yep, yep. So for many years. So coaching was always a I loved doing that. And that was a nice little side side job as well. And really just trying to make as much money as I could to go overseas and you know.

SPEAKER_03 2:02

Travel. So you worked with your father, learned the hospitality trade.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Yes, and was thrown into management roles very young, probably younger than you know you normally would, as being in a family business, you get exposed to a lot of different things. So at around 20, the manager moved on, and my dad kind of looked at me and was like, You, you're the manager, you know. And people I remember people, you know, we used to have massive functions, you know, 400, 600 people, and it would be chaos, and things would be going on. They'd be asking for the manager, and they'd look at me and be like, No, the actual manager. And I'm that's yes, what is your problem? Let me solve it.

SPEAKER_03 2:40

What did you learn from that experience?

SPEAKER_00 2:41

I think just how to stay calm and to problem solve under stress. That was one of the things. When I look back into all of that as an experience, and obviously looking at my dad as an example, he's quite a calm person in a stressful uh very ungreek of him. Quite ungreek of him, yes. I mean, can be quite Greek also. Um, but he, you know, I guess it's just sort of dealing with lots of different people coming at you with different things and just sort of staying calm and looking at the big picture in that situation.

SPEAKER_03 3:15

Um demanding role in so many areas. And when you mentioned problem soul and think on your feet, a lot of people, um as you know, I'm in the financial services sector, but a very, very good grounding and schooling is people that are working in hospitality.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:27

Because they're good with people and they're good with clients.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

And it's yeah, it's also with sorry to yeah, with I think because I was thinking about this as well, with hospitality, you don't have time to it's on the spot, right? So that issue needs to be solved on the spot. It's not an error, a grammatical error that you can go back and fix later. You know, it's really that on on your feet. You've got to think really fast, solve the problem, and move on because there's a million other things that you need to get to, you know. So it is a really good foundation for a lot of things.

SPEAKER_03 3:58

And it is teaching a skill that I think's diminishing in this current environment due to all the social media, is just people's skills, how to relate, how to have a conversation. So problem solving now, be people are becoming so obsessed with digital that they're actually forgetting how to communicate. And I think hospitality gives you one of the it's not even a skill, it's a life skill, really. It's beyond a skill. Yeah. Because you're dealing with humans all day.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

All day.

SPEAKER_03 4:23

So that's helped you immensely. So talk us upon that. Then you went to university, studied marketing.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Studied marketing at uni, and we sort of graduated uni at a time when a lot of the marketing roles for grads, this it was sort of at a kind of recession time. Everyone was cutting back, and a lot of us couldn't really find jobs after uni. Um, I ended up being accepted into a grad role at the Weston in Melbourne.

SPEAKER_03 4:48

I saw that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

Yeah, and I was an operational management trainee there, which was a little bit of a, you know, side sort of step or, you know, a different one that I didn't think I would be doing. But it was actually, as we were saying before, that grounding of hospitality, it just kind of furthered those skills. I was put into a, you know, that new job feeling when you walk in. You don't know what you're doing, you don't know what you're doing, you don't know where to put your things, you don't know who you're reporting to, what your role is. That unfamiliarity was every six weeks. So I was in a new department every six weeks, new manager, new team. So I got I got used to that feeling.

SPEAKER_03 5:26

Uh so the uncertainty is basically what you what you thrived in. What did you learn through that?

SPEAKER_00 5:31

Just knowing that it's gonna take a day or two, but you're gonna figure it out.

SPEAKER_03 5:36

So don't stress.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

Don't stress, like it's new, just sit with the new, sit with the unknown, you're gonna figure it out. And within a couple of days, it's gonna become familiar again, you know? And that's a very interesting training.

SPEAKER_03 5:49

Good dynamic though, because you're really adapting to change. You're not even being questioned, you have to.

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 5:56

That's a very very, very good situation to be put in.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Yes. And after doing quite a few different rotations in the different areas, I uh spoke with the general manager at the time and convinced her to let me do a marketing rotation, even though it wasn't in the program. And from there, you know, after being in so many of the departments, I would then get called on by every single department in their busy period to help. Uh, and it was just a lot of just being thrown in and dealing with so many different issues at one time and again, people and solving problems on the fly, which was a really good grounding.

SPEAKER_03 6:34

How long did you work at the Western for?

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Just short of a couple of years. So a while. Short of a couple of years. Yeah, a while. And I sort of, after doing the rotation into the marketing, I realized that I didn't want to work in marketing for a big hotel. I it wasn't really as creative as I thought it was going to be.

SPEAKER_03 6:51

Too much red tape? What is it?

SPEAKER_00 6:52

Too much red tape. It was all sort of siphoned from overseas. Um, and it was a lot of templated sort of marketing. The ideas and everything was sort of here it is and roll it out. You know, it's come a long way since then, obviously, but back then it was very just run by the, you know, the parent brand that was overseas.

SPEAKER_03 7:12

Understand.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

So I really wanted to sink my teeth into an actual, you know, a real marketing agency, that type of role. And there was an agency that we studied um at uni that I always wanted to work for. So I just picked up the phone and asked someone to volunteer. And I just said, I'll just come work for free. You know, I know you don't have a job, just let me come in and work for free for the experience. And fortunately, within three weeks, they then created a role for me and I was there for a couple of years working with some really amazing friends.

SPEAKER_03 7:46

Uh what was your what was your reasoning to say yes, I'll do it? I know it was the experience, but what were you hoping to achieve?

SPEAKER_00 7:53

I was hoping to achieve that.

SPEAKER_03 7:54

So get my foot in the door and I'll show what I can do.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

That's it. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's something that I still I say to a lot of the younger kids that are asking me how to get a job in different places. And I just can't, you know, I can't get a job. Just work for free.

SPEAKER_03 8:08

You've got to push through. Like I remember I placed a call, I was 19. My partner at the time saw an ad. It said it was in the newspaper. 120,000 plus sales professionals wanted. Do you have a car? Do you have a phone? Do you have a fax? That's how long ago it was, yeah? Yeah.$1.99. And she goes, uh call this number. Attitude, whatever it is, call this number. So I called. The lady who answered was Robin. She was the uh executive to the CO at the time. And as I'm talking to her, she goes, How old are you? Said, I'm 19. She goes, You're too young. I said, Don't hang up the phone. Please don't hang up the phone. Let me come to the office and can say that on my face. Please don't hang up the phone. Let him just meet me.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:49

I got in the door and I actually um did an interview and he interviewed me, my boss at the who was then became my boss, with someone else. She probably thought, I'm not going to spend half an hour with a 19-year-old kid. I ended up getting the job in the rest of this history. That's how I got in this industry.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:05

Through the persistence to just push through.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

Yep, that's it. And that that's what it takes, you know. And a lot, I think that's kind of a little bit that that's kind of lost its way a little bit with the younger generation. I think it's it's obviously hard to work for free, the cost of living now. You know, you can't sit there doing it for a long time. But, you know, if you've got the luxury of you haven't moved out yet or something like that, like just give it a go, just get in there.

SPEAKER_03 9:29

But you've backed yourself in a sense. But yes, it is hard. But I think what that story shows is that where there's a will, there's a way. Yeah, for sure. Now, of course, everyone needs money. You can't work for free, but it's that persistent in the land of that job, which is fantastic. So from then you got into hospitality?

SPEAKER_00 9:45

Well, from then I was working at that marketing agency for a few years, and I worked on lots of big brands, you know, Cadbury, Schweppes, Lacoste, um, Origin Energy. We worked on some awesome brands, got some great experience there.

SPEAKER_03 9:59

What were some of the things you learned from these big brands? What were some of the similarities or some of the things that really stood out to you from working with some of these global brands?

SPEAKER_00 10:07

I mean, they've obviously got big budgets, which is uh, you know, which is handy. Uh, look, I mean, it's very competitive. It's very competitive.

SPEAKER_03 10:16

To get the contract, you mean?

SPEAKER_00 10:17

No, I I mean those brands have to be very competitive with I mean with their competitors in a sense. You know, once you're at a Schwepp's level, you've got massive competition, you know? And that's why they're all spending big on marketing and they're constantly doing it. Like it's a new it's a revolving door. It never ends, you know? And you learn the processes they go through, the creativity that can be applied, how they're trying to, you know, who is their audience, how they're trying to reach their audience, so many things. Um, and how it all comes together and all the different elements. I mean, marketing is so broad, you can do so many things. And we did a lot of like guerrilla marketing, um, you know, activation type of marketing.

SPEAKER_03 10:59

So for our audience, explain what gorilla marketing is.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

Uh things that kind of pop up, you know. Uh we put a car in the middle of Fed Square. Um, that was very challenging. Uh, you know, we would we did some tough mudder sort of uh activations and people would finish the, you know, they'd be at the finish line and they'd get showered in solo. You know, some very random things to connect people closer with those brands.

SPEAKER_03 11:24

And to get people to to take notice.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

Take notice and to connect with the with the right people who, you know, would be interested in their product. So really just getting in their face. Um, and a lot of that I've taken through with now running our own businesses and you know, doing our own sort of activations. If we've, you know, launched a new time slot that we're open, all of a sudden I'm a restaurant, I'm activating on Swanth Street. You know, um, it's really things that you probably wouldn't think about normally, but once you've been exposed to them, it kind of becomes either.

SPEAKER_03 11:57

You look at there's no matter there's not one industry that marketing and sales does not touch or affect. So once you understand those core principles, they're really transferable across any platform.

SPEAKER_00 12:09

Yes, definitely.

SPEAKER_03 12:10

Your ability to market, and then the two highest paid professions in the world is sales and marketing. No matter where you go in the world, if you have those two abilities, you can make money and you can make a lot of money.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:21

And it's in any industry.

SPEAKER_00 12:23

That's it, and it makes sense as well. You know, you can have the best food in your restaurant, but if no one knows about it, you know, where are you going? You know, and that's just how it is this in this day and age, you know. You can wait for the referrals and people to talk and all of that, and that's all very important, but you've got to couple it with being online and being, you know, accessible to people and then being able to find you.

SPEAKER_03 12:47

Top of your top of mind mind. Top of mind. And it keeps people coming back. Yep. You run a very beautiful restaurant with your husband as well. Tell us a bit about that.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

Yeah. So well, I met Phil um a similar time to when I was at that agency and I was doing a little bit of uh work on the in-marketing. Yeah. Yes. And uh I was actually running uh my own event at the time. And uh I long story, but I was getting some sponsorship and Phil made some beautiful desserts, and he actually did some desserts for an event that I was running at the time. And from there, it was pretty clear that Phil wanted to open his own restaurant. Uh, and you know, I thought, well, I'll market it. You know, let's where do you want to go? What do you want to do? You know, and I've always been very interested in business. It's just kind of been something that I've just grown up being familiar with. So we just, you know, found a place on Swan Street and named it, you know, at two in the morning with a Greek English dictionary uh with a business partner at the time. And I was sort of part-time working. I'd left a marketing agency and gone and worked um for some a children's charity at the time. As you were saying, you know, what did I learn from big organizations? After doing campaign and campaign and campaign, it just kind of lost a little bit of its impact for me. And I really wanted to You mean meaning and purpose? Meaning and purpose. I really wanted to work for an organization that contributed more to the community and gave back a bit more. And that's when I started shifting my skills to more of the non-for-profit sector. So I worked, yeah, for a couple of children's charities and then for an agency that worked for different uh organizations as well. So we would do campaigns, marketing campaigns for them, which was really nice. And the restaurant was all happening at the same time.

SPEAKER_03 14:40

Yeah, you mentioned you took out the Greek dictionary, the name is Bahari.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

Which means Baharika means spices in Greek, and Bahari Bahari is actually all spice. So we just really liked the sound of it. Phil is uh, well, a bit of background on Phil. Phil was an accountant uh who then got onto MasterChef and essentially moved from Tassie to Melbourne uh after that experience, was part of a restaurant, and then um now has been running. Yeah, we opened Bihari.

SPEAKER_03 15:11

Met his now wife.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

With his now wife, yes. We've been um one little one, yeah. He's two and a half now. So yeah, when I met Phil, I was on my way to London to work in marketing agencies, and he was thinking of going back to Tassie and opening a restaurant there, and we both stayed in Melbourne, so you know that was 11 years ago.

SPEAKER_03 15:31

So obviously, so is that 11 years Bahari's been open for?

SPEAKER_00 15:34

10 years. Wow this year.

SPEAKER_03 15:36

That's well, congratulations. Thank you. Um previous guests had Stanley's business and going for 30 years. I'm close to my 20 years. It's a big accomplishment to be in any business for five years, never mind 10, which is fantastic. Very competitive market. Melbourne does have some of the best colouring experiences in the world. Now I remember speaking to you when I came to a restaurant, actually, with my partner. You you blew me away when you were talking to me about when COVID hit and things were very challenging, especially for our hospitality. All the ideas you came up with, and you were trying to reinvent how you can bring in revenue. Share some of them with him. But now speaking to you more, I can understand how your marketing brain was thinking.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

Yeah, I think, and that's something that I've reflected on too when thinking about, you know, what would sort of come up in this conversation and thinking on the fly and adapting. I guess that's something that I've sort of been trained at in a way, um, trained on. And we had, you know, the world shutting down all around us and people saying, What are you gonna do? The you know, the restaurants are closing. And we're thinking, is this for real? You know, they can't close our business, you know.

SPEAKER_03 16:45

Um from the most livable city to the most locked down city.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

And you think, you know, a lot of people, yeah, a lot of people say, you know, well, you take risks going into business, like that's part of it. This is very different, you know, and this is not that. This is very different, you know, this is the government is telling you you cannot operate. And we didn't have a takeaway shop. We had a restaurant. We have a restaurant, you know. So at the time, you're thinking, okay, we've got to become a we've got to become a a takeaway shop here, you know? And within four days, it we literally, I mean, I remember we had a Phil was doing a masterclass at the time and people were sort of thinking, do we come? Do we not come? Is it on? Isn't it on? We were thinking, well, it's on. No one's told us it can't be on, you know, and we did that. And the tears, you know, that people were coming in saying, we don't know what's going to happen to you. And we're thinking, we don't know either, you know, but we've we've got to make it work. Whatever it is, we've got to make it work. We've got to do something, you know. And it was a very emotional, very strange time. And we didn't do takeaway before then. We didn't have Uber Eats before then. We were purely a restaurant, and some customers would call us and order food to pick up. So we got on the phones to all of the apps and got the photographer in, and we were literally at takeaway shop four days later on four different apps. It was crazy. We organized our packaging, we adapted super, super quickly with our menu, making sure that our menu could travel, all of these things. Not every, not every restaurant's food could become takeaway. You know, we were fortunate in that sense that Greek food adapted properly is a pretty good takeaway option. You know, if you were fine dining, that was a pretty difficult challenge.

SPEAKER_03 18:29

Of course. And then they did uh, what is it? What was the app food food or provider or whatever it was? Yeah, it's different apps, but lots of different things. Though to pivot on four apps, yeah, it's pretty quick, but you gotta be nimble, don't you? Because you've got no time to figure it out. It's like you said in the start, when you're in hospitality, you don't have time. You just gotta move, you gotta move, move. Yeah. So and also you have another business which I mentioned at the start of this podcast called the Greenglish, which you you cater for events.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 18:58

Now you catered for my lead with kindness uh this year, which we had had at Let Lesiel, which you looked after me on price too because it was for charity. So I appreciate that. Everyone was very happy with the food. Tell us a bit about Greenlish.

SPEAKER_00 19:11

Yeah, so Greenlish uh sort of was a bit of a side hustle. Uh I was in marketing back when the restaurant was starting and still having my part-time jobs, and then people kept asking for, you know, can you cater our event? Can we have Bahari's food at this location at our house? Was that idea born from COVID? No, it was before COVID. Yeah. So that was before COVID, back in sort of 2016, 2017.

SPEAKER_03 19:36

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

And it was a it started to really take off. It was a quite a busy catering business um pre-COVID. And then obviously COVID really killed the events industry, not just the restaurant industry, but the events industry was really, really crippled. Obviously, you couldn't have any events, you know. So we chose to focus on the restaurant. Um, we had to. That's where the lease was, you know.

SPEAKER_03 20:01

So that's where the expect the big overhead is.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

That's where the overhead was. So we sort of just put a stop to doing we couldn't do events anyway. And we thought once this, you know, open, closing 20 guests, now 10 guests, now 10, now five. You know, we were literally living announcement to announcement.

SPEAKER_03 20:18

Which was crazy because a lot of restaurants are buying food they have to throw away, people ordering. So there was a lot of it was crazy.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

It was a lot. There was one time when we had, you know, we were catering a wedding the next day and there was a lockdown at the Thursdays, Thursday, seven o'clock before the wedding on the Friday. You know, that food is that's it, you know, and we were trying to then we would then try to turn whatever prep we could into a restaurant takeaway option so we could try and sell the food. And I remember we had sort of pre-done some of the desserts and and things like that, which weren't fully prepped, but we were going to finish them on site. We just finished them and we gave them away to everybody who ordered the next day on the Friday. We just gave all the desserts away as a as a freebie so we wouldn't throw the food away. You know, there was just a lot of wastage potential in that time as well. But yeah, basically the catering business grew from there. It's definitely more of a, you know, it's a side hustle. It's something that we sort of we do and then, you know, we've been part of, it's been really nice. We've been part of a lot of people's 18ths, 21sts, engagements, you know, the same family. Um, there's a lot of that nice feel to it, which is really nice. Uh and yeah, I guess having the little one a couple of years ago, that was something that I could sort of dial down a little bit during that time. Tried to dial it down uh and take some time off, which yeah, to my own fault didn't really happen because I always say yes.

SPEAKER_03 21:41

When you've got an entrepreneur mindset, it's very, very hard to switch back.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

It is.

SPEAKER_03 21:45

It's a lot harder for a mother, yes, obviously, than it is for a male, because obviously it's you you gotta carry the kid, you it's a lot harder.

SPEAKER_00 21:53

That's it. And but it's a choice though, as well. You know, I chose to take on certain things, and for me it it worked well, fortunately. Unfortunately, he was a good sleeper. So could get a lot of work.

SPEAKER_03 22:04

So what's next for you guys?

SPEAKER_00 22:06

Well, we've just recently launched uh flavour with the PH. So this is something that's been in the works for quite a while, and we're really proud to it's sort of about six months young. So it'll be interesting to sort of see where it takes us. So flavor is ready meals, uh, but it's actual food uh that we like to enjoy.

SPEAKER_03 22:30

And I think you're trying to say high quality, nice meals.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

High quality food, no preservatives, and a lot of it is Mediterranean food.

SPEAKER_03 22:39

What sort of meals would it be?

SPEAKER_00 22:40

We're talking about, you know, like a spinach rice, um like a spana godizo.

SPEAKER_03 22:45

Spanagodizo spana.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

Yes, which uh with it with roasted chicken, we've got a lamb and vegetables, we do the bastizo musaka. We've also, our first client was Richmond Football Club, which was awesome. So we were we do a lot of catering for the boys and we had sort of floated this idea with them and they were just wait, they're like, yes, we want Phil to cook for us. You know. So they were kind of a bit of a bit of a testing ground for it, um, which was really nice. And next year looking with, you know, working with um hopefully an NRL team as well, which is uh really exciting. So yeah, we're currently delivering to people's doorsteps, you know, busy professionals, working families. It's just food that can give people a helping hand during the week. It's not, you know, you're not gonna have it every night, but if you have a few meals up your sleeve, might save you that trip to the supermarket, save you the prep time. It'll definitely save you the cleanup time, you know, and you can actually eat really good food.

SPEAKER_03 23:44

And it's good quality food.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

Good quality food.

SPEAKER_03 23:47

Yeah. So how do people get where tell us you said Bahari, give us that, give us the address?

SPEAKER_00 23:52

Uh so 179 Swan Street. Um, flavor is all online. So people order by 10 o'clock on Wednesdays at this point um for a Sunday delivery. That's all, you know, constant evolution.

SPEAKER_03 24:04

How many meals can you buy for the week?

SPEAKER_00 24:05

As many as you like.

SPEAKER_03 24:06

It's it's it's okay for four or five days.

SPEAKER_00 24:09

Yeah, we've lab tested all of our meals, so it's been quite a bit of a process. We also like properly top seal them for shelf life. So they've got about seven days.

SPEAKER_03 24:17

That's what I was trying to ask.

SPEAKER_00 24:18

Yeah. And you can also put them in the freezer as well. So some people will, yeah, just buy up and fill their freezer. And once they're done, it's not a subscription, you can just buy as you need. And something that's really nice that's sort of coming out of this is that we are doing home care packages as well. So for the elderly um who are on home care packages. And a lot of people who have lost the ability to cook this type of food for themselves may not have, you know, access to really nice, good quality food, and it that's also subsidized by the government. So they're getting it at a reduced rate and it's delivered to their doorsteps fresh. So it's been really nice to speak to the wider community of that, like an elderly sort of community and see what kind of impact that's having. Because they look forward to their meals.

SPEAKER_03 25:06

Well, you're doing a great thing. You're helping people eat good food and they're getting a good price. So that's very rewarding.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

That's it. And I think through this, you know, Phil is very into his fitness, um, and he's a big jujitsu jujitsu person, yes. And he's just recently got another belt, so he's um very, very committed. And you know, he's I shouldn't say his age, but you know, for his age, he's not that old. But um, he's very driven. He's very driven and he eats well. And a lot of people were asking him to meal prep for them.

SPEAKER_03 25:39

He does look, he does look great. He does. I mean, you've got a a man that does martial arts and can cook, that's uh a very good combination.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

Yeah, I'm not complaining. And look, cooking is not my thing. You know, I don't I don't enjoy it. Me neither. Um and you know, my mum did try. I was too busy kicking a soccer ball around. Sorry, mum, but I prefer to work. I prefer I I love creating, you know. I'm not a workaholic in a sense, but I do like to have balance in life as well. But I do I love creating and working, and it's just you found your yin and yang. Well, that's it, you know. And if now I can outsource the food and also have this beautiful food in my freezer and I can help people do that, I mean, you know, you're welcome.

SPEAKER_03 26:26

You look at every single part of your journey from growing up in restaurants with your father, from your marketing to all your problem solving to where you are now. It when you look back, I always say it's easy to join the dots. You can never join them forward, but you look at your journey, and even my previous guest as well, he told me some of his experiences, and I thought, wow, it was kind of destined that he's gonna go a certain way. Sometimes you take the scenic route, but all the dots always fascinating to see. Yeah. Now, as it's become a custom in our relentless podcast, are you ready for our quick fire questions, Alina? Sure. I love the name by the way, it's my niece's name, so it's a very special name for me, Alina. Um, coffee or tea?

SPEAKER_02 27:04

Coffee.

SPEAKER_03 27:05

Sunrise or sunset?

SPEAKER_02 27:07

Sunset.

SPEAKER_03 27:08

Beach holiday or city adventure?

SPEAKER_02 27:11

Beach.

SPEAKER_03 27:12

Dogs or cats?

SPEAKER_02 27:13

Dogs.

SPEAKER_03 27:14

Early bird or night owl?

SPEAKER_02 27:16

Night owl.

SPEAKER_03 27:17

Sweet or savory?

SPEAKER_02 27:19

Sweet.

SPEAKER_03 27:20

Talk or movie. Mountains or ocean.

SPEAKER_02 27:26

Ocean.

SPEAKER_03 27:27

Pizza or pasta?

SPEAKER_01 27:31

Technically, try to avoid both. Uh probably pasta.

SPEAKER_03 27:36

Should you say lamb or chicken?

SPEAKER_01 27:38

Yeah, yeah, you've got to sort of change that up for me.

SPEAKER_03 27:41

Lamb. Texting or calling? Calling. What's the best advice you've ever received?

SPEAKER_00 27:50

So, best advice I've ever received, a couple of things. Um, I would say something that my dad always tells me, which is if you've got options, you're okay. You know, uh, I think when you're faced with a stressful situation, if you're not backed into a corner and you've got no options, you're okay. You've if you've got options, you just need to work through them.

SPEAKER_03 28:11

So did you think that means stay level-headed and figure it out?

SPEAKER_00 28:14

Stay level-headed and it's not the end of the world. You know, it's when you don't have options that you're in trouble.

SPEAKER_03 28:20

Which is why you said it was very calmage and hospitality. That's very, very good advice.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

And also, I think something that my uncle once said to me that he's he was um for 30 years a general manager of one of the largest hotel chains internationally. And he said to me, along the lines of just embody that role or that position before it's been given to you, you know?

SPEAKER_03 28:43

Of course.

SPEAKER_00 28:44

So if you're not that supervisor, take the opportunity to set up.

SPEAKER_03 28:47

So attract that what you bring into your life. So that's right. Act as if. So you walk in, already act in your mind like you have that role.

SPEAKER_00 28:55

That's it. And if people see you doing that, they'll naturally it's you're a natural fit and you're constantly moving forward. And that's something that I've taken. I don't even know if he would know that that stuck with me, that comment, but it's something I take that to in business, I've taken that with me across in business and brip building brands as well. That you know, don't just limit yourself to where you are.

SPEAKER_03 29:16

You're attracted in your life 100%. Now, if you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?

SPEAKER_00 29:24

Apart from my husband. I forget um you're gonna laugh. I'd probably say Mark Boris.

SPEAKER_03 29:32

The great man, Mark. Shout out to Mark there.

SPEAKER_00 29:35

It would just be a great conversation. I'd love to pick his brain.

SPEAKER_03 29:38

What's a moment in your life that you're most proud of?

SPEAKER_00 29:42

Oh I mean, becoming a mother.

SPEAKER_03 29:46

Other than that.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

Yeah, other than that.

SPEAKER_03 29:49

Um Professionally.

SPEAKER_00 29:51

Professionally, I think yeah, the way we pivoted through COVID is probably something that'll look back and you know, I do look back now and say that I'm pretty proud of the way that we went through that and your response times and what you did. Our response times and how quickly we, you know, just yeah, adapted, pivoted, and the fact that we're still here and you know, having a restaurant in such a difficult industry, which is only becoming more difficult for 10 years, is um, yeah, something I'm pretty proud of. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:22

What drives you to keep going when things get tough?

SPEAKER_00 30:27

I think it's just something that I just always feel like there's a solution. I always I feel like every problem has a solution. You know, I don't feel like something is gonna come to you and you're just gonna say, okay, well, I can't solve that.

SPEAKER_03 30:42

I like that. If you could make one change in the world, what would it be?

SPEAKER_00 30:48

That's a good one. I think I would like I mean it's a it's a big problem to solve, but I think that the the just the system of work and how much we have to work, which I mean it's a choice, but I think that people just they work so much of their life.

SPEAKER_03 31:05

Work life balance.

SPEAKER_00 31:06

Work life balance and I wish that, you know, I I would love people to just be able to change maybe their goal or their perspective so they don't look back in 20, 30 years and think, you know, I just spent so many years, you know, in that office and I miss this and I miss that, you know. It's a beautiful office. No, but you know, I mean that's something that I'm just trying to put into play and that I'm constantly workshopping in my life.

SPEAKER_03 31:34

That's what people say that one of their biggest regret is when they're before they die working so much. Last question on a scale of one to ten, how much have you enjoyed being on the podcast?

SPEAKER_00 31:42

Ah, 20.

SPEAKER_03 31:44

Thank you very much, Helena, for being on our podcast. Please go down and check out Meet Phil and Helena at the restaurant. It's a great restaurant. Or just look at some of their options. We'll put in the links below. Thank you.