I sit down with Alex Pearson, recorded while he was still Business Leader at Wynyard Pavilion in Auckland, one of the city's biggest hospitality operations, before he moved on to his next role at Hello Sailor.

Alex's path into hospitality started as a side hustle during his business degree in Leeds (a local pub), then a 70-bartender cocktail machine, then a champagne bar part-owned by Laurent-Perrier. A holiday to Bali turned into a move to New Zealand, and what began as a bar and restaurant manager role at what's now Wynyard Pavilion turned into nine years, a wife he met on shift, and eventually the top job running a venue that holds up to a thousand people.

He talks about what it actually takes to run a business you don't own; the financial systems built from scratch, the spreadsheet wizard who cut overheads by 25%, the SOP libraries, the floor-planning software down to the centimetre. He gets into leadership, trust, why he won't hire cocktail bartenders with two to four years' experience, and the philosophy that's shaped how he manages people through the hardest nights in hospitality.

And then there's America's Cup; 140 kegs in 22 hours, a keg of Little Creatures gone in seven minutes flat, and a night so packed Alex couldn't physically reach his own bar. It's the story that ended up shaping his whole team, and it's one you have to hear in full.