Takeout Kids returns for season two. Meet Phitcha, of Akaroa’s La Thai Restaurant.

Building on the success of its 2022 launch, Takeout Kids returns for a second season, following five tamariki and rangatahi growing up in the small businesses owned by their immigrant families. The latest season features young people from across Aotearoa as they sling doughnuts at an Auckland night market, scan the walls of polish lining their mum’s nail salon, serve hungry customers, and more.

Episode four introduces Akaroa’s Phitcha, quietly serving customers in the Thai restaurant where the chef is her father, who left Thailand years ahead of his wife and children to get a start in New Zealand. Despite the years that have passed, Phitcha still feels disconnected from her father for their lost time.

School friendships are easier, though a pepeha lesson in the classroom reminds Phitcha she’s far from home, and a call with her grandparents reminds her it’s been five years since she left Thailand for Aotearoa. The joy of sharing shrimp noodles with friends, dropped off from the restaurant by her mum during the school day, makes the burden of distance feel a little bit easier.

Takeout Kids is made with the support of NZ On Air.