Dominique and HaydenMcMillan

Dominique and Hayden McMillan are the new part-owners of Wellington restaurant Floriditas, having worked in Auckland, San Francisco and Melbourne before moving to the capital for the job. Hayden, 35, is the chef, and Dominique, 37, runs front-ofhouse. The

DI was working for an onlinemagazine in Auckland called Gather & Hunt. Wewere invited to the Metro Top 50 Awards. I’m just under 5’10. Haydenwas the only person in the roomwhowas taller than I was. I kind of scanned the roomat one point being like, ‘‘Oh my God, I feel like a giant’’ and spotted the back of his head. He was talking to a friend ofmine. I walked over and muscled in on the conversation. As he turned around, I remember thinking, wow, he’s quite a striking guy.

A couple of days later, Iwas trying to find an excuse to go and speak to him properly. He had been doing pop-up dinners and I thought, oh, that’d be a fun thing to write about… I tookmy notepad, ready to ask some serious, hard-hitting questions. It turned into a two-and-a-halfhour conversation about our lives and ambitions and philosophies about hospitality and family and all of these different things. I didn’t write a single word down.

We moved in together threemonths after meeting.

Hayden and I’ve done a few really fun things since then. We moved to San Francisco to open the Waiheke Island Yacht Club for the America’s Cup in 2013, and then came back to Auckland, unwillingly.

When we left San Francisco, we went through a really rough patch. For Hayden especially – landing back in Auckland felt like a failure in many ways. We had started this incredible adventure overseas. We didn’t want to come back to Auckland, but we had no choice – theywouldn’t give us a visa.

We felt a real sense of restlessness and ended up taking awalk on themorning ofmy birthday that year. I just said, ‘‘F..., let’s leave the country. What aboutMelbourne?’’ And he was like, ‘‘Sure. OK.’’ We booked tickets andwent.

I had a really hard time fitting into the industry there. It’s very tight-knit and it’s a huge step up fromwhat I was familiar with. You’ve got to go through a two-or-three-or-four-interview process to getmostwaitressing jobs. Here, you have a conversation with somebody – you don’t even ask them that many questions, you just get a vibe. I really struggledwith anxiety and depression.

We had Etta in Melbourne, our first own restaurant. In 2018, Haydenwas invited to do a collaborationwith Floriditas forWelly On a Plate. We’d never been to Wellington before.

It was on that trip that we met James and Julie, the owners of Floriditas. Whenwe got onto the plane to go back to Melbourne, Hayden and I looked at each other and I said to him, ‘‘I don’t think that’s the last time we’llwork with James and Julie,’’ and he said,

‘‘I was just about to say the same thing.’’

We had already started to think about moving home. Hayden is incredibly patriotic and reallywanted to be cooking New Zealand food, amongst his peers. James and Julie flew to Melbourne and said, ‘‘Why don’t you buy into Floriditas?’’

HI remember meeting her at the awards ceremony and talking to her at the after party. I had a little bit too much to drink… We sort of connected on Twitter. Her profile picture was just a picture of her mouth, so I could not put her face to the experience. It wasn’t until she came and interviewed me that I was like, ‘‘Oh!’’ As soon as shewalked through the door, I felt that chemistry. I must have been 26. I had never felt it that strong before. You hear stories about when you meet ‘‘the one’’, you’ll know. Iwas like, yeah, yeah. Butwhenwe shook hands, itwas like fireworks, really. I couldn’t stop smiling.

One of the toughest things about being in a relationship as a chef is, usually your partner’s not in the industry. So there’s a lot of ‘‘I’ve got something special on Friday night and I really want you to be here’’ [and you can’t go]. I’ve had partners like that in the past. With Dom in the industry, she knows the game, she’s got an understanding of the commitment it takes.

Dom and I are pretty driven people. Wewant to do things that push us. We like to stay enthused about what we do. Having Sasha – your perspective and your goals sort of change around that. Youwant that bit more stability and stuff.

The sameweek we opened [ourMelbourne restaurant] Etta, we found out we were having the baby. It just doesn’t compare. People like to say [a restaurant’s] ‘‘my other baby’’. But it’s not really. That child’s going to be with you until you die.

Working together definitely has its challenges. When it’s really busy, it can get a little bit flustered. You need to take control of that moment and sometimes that sounds like, ‘‘OK enough chit-chat, just go to table 10.’’ I always think, marriages should never be put under that pressure… Actually, at Floriditas, we’ve found it really good to work together.

She’s a complete natural at that role. I’ve been cooking since I was 17 – I’ve only seen a handful of people like it. There’s a lot of people that can do it, but she’s got something extra. She knows how to look after people. She’s very engaging, people love watching her, she’s always got a beaming smile. She’ll have customers come up to her and say, ‘‘You didn’t even serve us, but we watched you tonight. And itwas a pleasure.’’

Whenwewere in Auckland, early in our relationship, shewas at Gather& Hunt, working a little bit part-time at [Al Brown’s restaurant] Depot. My old boss came over for dinner – Michael Meredith. Hewas looking for a restaurant manager, and he calledme and asked for her number. She’d had experience but not in managing. And then to get to manage one of the best restaurants in New Zealand at the time…

I’m already proud that she’s my wife but the fact that she’s so good at her job, it’s always like, ‘‘Yep, that’smywife.’’

Floriditas is participating in Visa Wellington On a Plate, October 1-31. See visawoap.com