Here's what it takes to open an eatery in a cost of living crisis

The restaurant business is a notoriously high risk venture. Mix that with the worst recession in 15 years and you'd think you have a recipe for disaster.

But there are plenty of food businesses showing that you can overcome tough economic times.

RNZ speaks to four owners who said bugger the recession, and opened their doors anyway.

'It's all on the line and it's utterly terrifying' - Rebecca Schmidt, owner of San Ray, Ponsonby, Auckland

After a year of searching, Rebecca Schmidt and her partner found the perfect home for their new restaurant on Auckland's Ponsonby Road - in the historic building that once housed Orphan's Kitchen.

San Ray serves up the bright flavours of Oaxaca in an elegant setting; an all-day eatery looking out at leafless trees, the Sky Tower in the distance, and big windows that let the light rush in. You can drop in for a coffee, a glass of wine, a light lunch, or an evening feast - whatever your heart desires.

It's the latest venture from the pair behind Cazador Restaurant & Delicatessen on Dominion Road. Schmidt says it helps having built a name for themselves, both in the hospitality industry and with patrons.

"I think people are curious to see what we're doing because it is a different direction from Cazador, and I think that is a really helpful thing.

"We're not trying to push a big experience on people, we're actually just trying to make a place where you can come and have a glass of wine and a piece of cheese, and it's fine to do just that."

It's not lost on Schmidt that San Ray opened up two weeks ago, at a precarious time, in a precarious setting, with the once-bustling Ponsonby Road now struggling to get foot traffic, and high rents pushing old vendors out the door.

"You can't sugarcoat it; the market is very difficult right now, we've opened up in a very challenging environment ... but on the other hand, the timing actually allowed us to get in. The reality of the situation is there were a number of sites available... however it was still really important for us to find the right one, so when this site became available, that's when we knew."

San Ray offers a different experience to Cazador; it has longer operational hours and a more casual approach to dropping in - and there's a good reason for that.

"In the good times, and let's hope they're fast approaching, there'll be a lot of foot traffic on the street and we wanna be able to embrace that traffic, that kind of spontaneity of, 'Oh yeah, I just feel like a light lunch, I can go there, have a salad and a glass of wine and be well looked after'. It's not necessarily something you need to plan a week in advance."

Schmidt sees the light at the end of the tunnel, and that's in part due to the Ponsonby site.

"Ponsonby is the heart of Auckland, it is such a dynamic, diverse and wonderful neighbourhood. We've done all our entertaining on Ponsonby Road since forever and to be part of that now in business is thrilling, it's wonderful.

"We know it will come right so we will just wait it out until it does."

Is it all a gamble? "Absolutely," Schmidt says.

"It's all on the line and it's utterly terrifying. But you have to embrace risk in business otherwise you don't get anywhere, so this is us doing that, and we'll know pretty soon if that was a good idea or not.

"The most important thing is being welcoming in this time when it's hard to go out ... all the rest will come later."

'When you open when times are tough, you work really hard' - Liam Kelleher, owner of Lillies winery, cidery and restaurant, Christchurch

Tucked away in Phillipstown, with panelbeaters, construction companies and aluminium fabricators for neighbours, you'd be forgiven for thinking Lillies was just another garage workshop. With no signage on the door or road signs pointing to it, it would be just as easy to drive past too.

But the curious new spot has Christchurch residents excited; Lillies, operated by Will Bowman and Liam Kelleher, opened just six weeks ago - serving cider, wine and woodfired pizzas out of a large warehouse in an industrial area that becomes residential some 200 metres down the road.

"We're not really in central Christchurch and we're not really on the outskirts, it's kind of a funny spot, we're in the middle of nowhere, but that's what we get, we wanted a warehouse," Kelleher says.

Lillies is an expansion of a winery the pair have owned for years; they had been making their own wine separately, and cider together, out of North Canterbury before deciding to move into town this year.

"We were like, 'we should get a warehouse and maybe we'll put a pizza oven in the carpark and sell some wine at the same time'. Then it snowballed into this huge half-winery, half-restaurant."

Kelleher explains that selling wine and cider to restaurants is "insanely hard" at the moment, not just in New Zealand, but worldwide.

"By doing this, we're able to hand-sell our own things to people with some food."

The restaurant has opened at a strange time economically, but Kelleher says Christchurch residents have been waiting for something new and exciting like Lillies for a long time.

"We've been really fortunate, we hit a unique time in Christchurch where there wasn't really anything interesting for a while, really formulaic stuff, and we're doing something that's completely different I guess... we get a lot of people sort of gingerly walking up to the door going, 'Oh okay, it is a restaurant.'

"We get zero footfall, but we get people coming looking for us because we've hit this sweet spot where people do want something new, they do want something else. It would be a different kettle of fish if it were in Auckland or Wellington."

It's not Kelleher's first time starting a business in tough economic conditions. In 2010, he opened a wine shop in London during the global financial crisis - and it's taught him a thing or two about being resilient.

"I was much younger so it didn't feel like a gamble, I wasn't old enough to understand the risks. There's something to be said for opening at a time like this; when you open at a time when it's really great and then it gets really tough all of a sudden, that can be quite complicated.

"Whereas when you open when times are tough, you work really hard, you try really hard, you want to be good, and then things get easier, you don't get that shock of when things do go bad. You go, 'Hold on a minute, we know how to run this business, we've been running it for years'."

'I'm a huge risk taker' - Ryan Dill-Russell, owner of The Gaff, Māngere Bridge, Auckland

After lots of chatter around Auckland's Māngere Bridge, a quaint corner villa opposite the school in the village opened as The Gaff on Anzac Day this year.

It's bustling - people popping in for coffees, couples sitting down for popular items like chilli scramble and fried chicken waffles, families standing around on the turf out the front while kids muck around (waiting on the playground which is coming).

Owner Ryan Dill-Russell is a "risk taker". But this one was calculated.

"I always say you're one site away from going bankrupt or making it... there's huge amounts of risk."

He's clocked 12 years in hospo, and that's just the time he counts owning and operating cafes. There's some other time spent in takeaway pizza joints and whatnot.

Before The Gaff, he was running a cafe and bistro in nearby Onehunga.

"Around that time people were saying to me 'we're gonna hit an economic downturn, it's going to be a recession', and I was like 'no time's a good time (to open a business)'."

Some friends had suggested the growing South Auckland suburb of Māngere Bridge was screaming out for some sort of modern eatery. Dill-Russell hadn't heard of "The Bridge", as it's known to locals. But after a visit, the community vibes were so alluring, he almost toyed with the idea of moving out of the North Shore.

"I always say you're one site away from going bankrupt or making it.

"The site selection is obviously your foundation, you can have the best concept in the worst location and you can go under. We all know that though in hospitality... you've got to put your best foot forward, but it is a fickle industry."

When a historic house became available, it demanded he pay respect (as did the council). He wanted to build an eatery that could seat enough people to keep things ticking over, but at the same time maintain the façade and the detailed roof of the "pretty looking" villa.

The Gaff has nine full-time staff at the moment. The baker and one chef are first in the door at 5am. They get the cabinet ready, laden with different baked goods - ciabattas, sweet pastries - depending on the day.

But Dill-Russell says the cafe is "sailing at half mast right now".

So, what will it look like when The Gaff fully sets sail? It has a liquor licence pending, with a plan to get going at nights by spring.

"People are singing out for it. It's not all about having a business and making money, it's about providing what the area needs. I think that's also what puts you in good stead, if you're ticking the demand off, rather than meeting your own selfish needs."

'You've got to give it a crack' - Mike Ny, owner of Glou Glou in Wellington

Allen St, where Glou Glou sits, has a long association with hospitality. In the 1900s the street was home to Wellington's fruit and vegetable markets, and it's still peppered with restaurants and bars.

The cafe (soon to be also wine bar) has a chic fit-out - polished concrete floors, avocado-green velvet booths and bench seats, and a lush living wall. It feels worlds away from the down and dirty of selling produce, but owners Mike Ny and Taz McAuley are still hustling hard.

The pair behind catering company Food Envy opened their first brick and mortar outlet in January, just a block from where their original food business sits in central Wellington.

At a time when some of the country's most iconic eating and drinking spots are being forced to shut up, Ny says their choice to expand was down to "probably a bit of naivety".

"I think that's what everyone in hospo is doing... you've got to give it a crack. You do it because you love it and someone's got to do it with all these places closing down.

"People still have to go out and eat, otherwise the city is gonna just be derelict and run down and it is really nice and a little bit refreshing."

Ny says keeping the vibe high with all nine staff is the greatest challenge, but also the greatest reward - when they're humming between front and back of house, that's a good day at the office.

"Obviously, it is a little bit doom and gloom and cost of living. But if our team can actually maintain that positivity and culture and we do the best that we can then that flows on to our customers.

"And then afterwards, if we just managed to create... a place that people want to be at... then hopefully, once winter clears up and the sun comes out and hospitality shines a little bit, hopefully it picks up and we get out of this little rut."

The first six months have been "not amazing, but not bad". They've got their regulars and Ny says there's heaps on the horizon which keep spirits up - evening hours, new menus and events.

"If we were just sitting on our hands waiting for the market to return, I think that would be really, really scary.

"If we can tell our team... we've got so much more in store, so much more to come, so let's just keep chipping away at that, keep working away at that. That's when the exciting stuff happens.

"If we're just waiting and just hoping that people come in, hoping it might be better... I don't think that's any time soon."