We asked workers at some of our favourite food establishments to show us what they eat when the rush is over.

This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter The Boil Up.

Last week was Work Week on The Spinoff, dedicated to unpacking our relationship with the world of work. When I considered how I’d approach that in The Boil Up, far too many ideas came to mind. Work and food are intimately related. Whatever is on our plate, in our bowl or Tupperware container represents time, labour, skills, and knowledge. That is to say, at its most unsentimental level, food represents work.

So, what about the kai that those who work in the food industry eat? The staff meal is a long-held tradition in the hospitality industry. Simply by dint of the job, people who work in hospitality tend to be washing dishes, pouring wine, behind a deep fryer or frothing milk when most of us would ordinarily be sitting down to enjoy one of our three daily meals. As such, the staff meal is a tiny yet important instance afforded to workers when hospitality is reciprocated. It’s a pragmatic perk of the job for (oftentimes low-waged and time-poor) workers, often with gains in camaraderie among staff and knowledge of the menu built in too.

There may be tradition imbued within the staff meal, but how it takes place is bewilderingly diverse. It could be a communal affair, or eaten solo. Some set aside time before opening or after closing for a shared feed. For others, a staff meal is eaten unexpectedly, in a quiet lull of a shift. Frequently, a staff meal makes use of food that might have otherwise gone to waste. More often than not, and perhaps what makes the staff meal most intriguing, is that whatever is served is off-menu.

In some cases, staff meals and breaks are fraught. A recent survey of hospitality workers by AUT found that while the majority always received a break, a significant number either never received their entitled rest break on shift or only received their entitlements sometimes. I’ve spoken to hospitality workers recently who described having nowhere to eat their staff meals, or who are expected to pay for all or part of their meal. In an industry with the title it has, it’s a miserly reality.

I asked some of my favourites in hospitality to share their staff meals – here’s a peek at what they eat.

At Auckland northern Thai restaurant Kiin: “What the team had for lunch on Saturday was: Thai omelette, Panang beef slow cooked, pork bone tom zap soup, using the pork bones from our broth pot, and adding spicy and sour flavouring, and jasmine rice. My father-in-law (Somkiat Chatthai) and his wife (Nitchapha Kasanthia) are the ones responsible for all the great food at Kiin.” – Bon, manager 

At Auckland bar and bistro Bar Magda: “Pancit palabok is a popular Filipino afternoon snack/merienda of rice noodles, orange sauce (made of shrimp, garlic, ginger, onion, annatto), pork mince, shrimp, fried garlic, boiled egg, spring onion. Our staff meal is usually around 4.30pm, [for] about 30 minutes. Weather dependent, we either have it inside the dining room or by the sun deck outside. This particular dish was served as a platter, then dished out to each team member. Nothing fancy, just something hearty and tasty.” – Carlo Buenaventura, co-owner/ chef

At Wellington Burmese restaurant Mabel’s: “Our staff meals here at Mabel’s consist of mainly leftovers. Saturday is always the best night for staff meals as it’s the last day that we’re open for the week so the crew get the works. We all eat together after service, which is around 10pm. The team have their staffies and eat at the bar tables of the restaurant while playing a card game called Yaniv or doing some quizzes and crosswords. When Aunty Kamini, who works in the kitchen, cooks our staff meal, she makes us generous portions of the most delicious Sri Lankan curries. She knew my grandmother Mabel and it’s nice to have that connection.” – Marlar Boon, owner

At Christchurch cafe Tom’s: “I ate an American cheese, gherkin, mustard and mayo toastie at 11.30am to make logging into Xero feel a bit better. I sat in the sunniest window spot of the cafe and the break was for 30 mins.” – Tom Worthington, owner

At Christchurch vegetable and kaimoana restaurant Gatherings: “We sit down at a little old table in an alleyway around the back of the restaurant every evening to eat together. It’s an important part of the day, where we chat, catch up and socialise. We take our time and usually sit down for half an hour or so when all the guests have finished eating or have all left . We often have a bottle of wine too, to better understand what we are pouring at the time, and just because drinking wine is fun. In the photo we had a tomato casserole seasoned with harissa on toast with a fried egg and green salad. We take turns cooking staff meals. I cooked this one. Finbar, Holly, Dylan, Matt and Thomas were a part of it.” – Alex Davies, owner/ chef

At Auckland restaurant Ruang Thong Thai 4: “A staff lunch this week of chicken feet with vermicelli noodle soup.” – Anon

At Wellington Greek restaurant Oikos Hellenic Cuisine: “Fried rice and chicken adobo – the adobo was cooked by Francis, who cooks Greek food all day, he’s from the Philippines so it’s nice for him to share his food. Also you’ll see there are feta containers that staff use if they sign out first to take away. Everyone also gets a drink if we hit a certain amount of sales, which happens more often than not.” – Theo Papouis, owner/ chef

At McDonald’s Wairau in Auckland: “For me, it’s usually a Quarter Pounder and small Sprite No Sugar without ice. This was at 12.45pm Saturday, for a 15 minute break. We only get half-priced meals though. At my store a quarter pounder costs $8, so I get it for $4. We have a limited menu of what we can get for half-price. Small tea, filter coffee (which is just a long black with a splash of cold milk) and soft drinks are free.” – Xavier Walsh, staff 

At Auckland Japanese restaurant Sake Bar Icco: “This was our staff meal for Saturday dinner at the restaurant at 11pm, after work. Ikko (owner/ head chef), Hiroshi (second chef) and I ate it at the restaurant. Diced sashimi fish marinated in yuzu citrus dressing, tempura courgettes and crispy rice, pickled carrot, pickled cabbage, egg and rice.” – Junko, co-owner/ manager 

At Auckland cafe Coffee Pen: “Hashbrown-based bacon frittata on the counter seat of the inside of Pen at 11.45am, 15 min.” – Rassani Tolovaa, staff

At Auckland bakery Florets: “We work really hard to end the day with little to no food waste, so when it comes to team lunches we always use up bread ends, and any ingredients we have in excess. For breakfast we make mini buns with leftover dough for the team and serve these with Danbo cheese and plum jam. This mushroom sandwich shows how we used the stems of roasted button mushrooms that were not included in our sandwiches. We always have a batch of cold brew for afternoon coffee too.” – Maya Handley, owner

At Auckland bar and music venue The Wine Cellar: “I got this ‘summer salad’ because I’m brainwashed by TikTok viral food trends and it looked like the kani salad that was poppin’ off last year. It’s around 6pm now, I started work at 4pm and opened up the bar at 5pm. I work by myself once a week, so today I’m just here behind the bar having a lil casual munch. Soon I’m gonna eat cornichons, sage and onion Proper Crisps and some smoked cheddar from the fridge out back.” – Dorian, staff

At Auckland Indonesian restaurant It’s Java: “Pictured here is Fitri, our front of house manager, eating a simple yet action-packed meal of rice, Indonesian gado-gado with peanut sauce, and plant-based proteins tofu and tempe at closing time of 10pm last night in a corner of the kitchen.” – Adriana Ferdian, owner

At Christchurch Filipino restaurant Sari Sari: “Chef Deb Mendoza rewarded herself with Sisig in the main dining hall at Sari Sari after a busy lunch run. She enjoyed this Filipino dish made from chopped marinated pork as she took her 30 minute break at around 2pm before heading back to the kitchen to prep for the evening.” – Deb Mendoza, chef

At Auckland restaurant Cazador: “This is hasselback potatoes, kurobuta pork-end spicy braise, lentils, tomato, bitter leaves and dukkah. Eaten by the Saturday crew, Simon, Katie, Oli, Dariush, Sophie, Alex, Jack and Gauen. Saturdays are always quick, would have been 4pm -4.30pm then it’s go time.” – Rebecca Smidt, co-owner

At Auckland cafe Burnt Butter Diner: “Our go-to snack on the run – a slice of our purple wholemeal bread (which I bake for the daily sandwich) toasted up with the dregs of avocado, labneh & fermented chilli oil. A fried egg added if we’re feeling particularly fancy.” – Claudia, co-owner/ pastry chef

At Auckland new Korean restaurant Gochu: “Homemade subway with brioche bread, grilled cajun chicken and fresh greens, created by our sous chef named Ploy and enjoyed by our staff of seven at 3.30pm for around 30 minutes in our Restaurant.” – Nathan Lord, managing director

At Wellington bar and restaurant Margot: “We share a staff meal together at the end of every service. It feels really special that way because everyone sits down together, when almost everything is done – so even though you’re eating dinner at 11pm-ish, you can all relax a bit more. We try to do different meals quite often, but every week ends with Sfincione Saturday. Sfincione is a Sicilian style pizza, a bit thicker than the usual pizza & has breadcrumbs on top – usually ours will have some combination of tomato sugo, friarelli (turnip tops), mozzarella or smoked mozzarella. We also open a nice bottle of wine on Saturdays to share with everyone. It’s eaten on table 11, our biggest table by whoever is working that night, which is always everyone except one or staff members on a Saturday: Tom, Arthur, Taylor, Tom W, Molly, Nevad.” – Juno Miers, co-owner

At Waiheke wine bar Aperitivo: “A pork belly benny with a side of avocado: poached eggs, sriracha mayo, greens, toasted sourdough with a bit of olive oil and salt and with pork belly and avocado. And, also a little bite: slow cooked rib, parsnip puree, parsnip chip with fennel and nasturtium. This was during a proper double [shift], 11am till 11pm. We get breakfast at 1.30pm or so, dinner just after service, when it quietens down, be that 7.30 or 10pm.” – Anon

At Auckland Japanese Izakaya restaurant Tanuki: “This is the staff meal at Tanuki for tonight. Deep fried fish with tartare sauce and steamed rice.” – Hikari, co-owner

At Auckland Italian restaurant Pici: “Dish: Pork bánh mì made by Kia Kanuta. Before dinner service each day we have a staff meal together, accompanied by a big pot of coffee. This is the time when the whole team has a moment to sit down, usually outside the restaurant in the arcade.” – Gemma Hareb, co-owner