2y ago

National cafe chain Wishbone in liquidation

i.stuff.co.nz

Pretty shit for the staff, but honestly not surprising if they're charging $10 for a basic egg sandwich.

14 comments

Thank God, finally. Fuck Wishbone. Always thought they were shit. Hated it around 12 years ago when they seem to have been everywhere. But still, it is of course shit for the staff.
I’ll miss their paella.
- Its not hard to make their paella; the rice used to get died with turmeric rather than saffron too, so terribly inauthentic :)
  
  I just realised my typo, should have been dyed, but given how mushy the rice would sometimes be depending on which of the chefs was cooking it, died isn't wrong either ;)
- I liked their lamb shanks, was about as good as anything at Auckland airport. At least the Japanese place is still running there. Were wishbone still in Wellington hospital? That place needs some options.
Really overpriced, generally average food and a nightmare with packaging.... not surprised they didn't last
I sure won't miss them. Something about a franchise cafe just seems wrong
- I'm ok with franchise cafes in general. Sometimes you're travelling and tired and don't want to think about food. It's nice to be able to go somewhere and default to a known food option.
  But Wishbone sucked. Their food wasn't worth the price at all.
Was that a national chain?!
My mind had it filed under "just Wellington things".
- Seems to have been mostly Wellington, with a few elsewhere. From an archive of their stores page I count:
  Wellington: 14
  Auckland: 2
  Christchurch: 1
  
  The production kitchen and company headquarters was based in Wellington. I think they originally started out on Woodward street, and then had a big kitchen on Victoria St for a while - down near the Ghuznee St end.
  At various points the number of stores outside of Wellington grew; for instance i'm pretty sure they had stores in the Auckland CBD itself - on Vulcan Lane maybe. I had no idea that Wellington it had as many as it did but they also sold via supermarkets for some time as well as couriering direct to customers as well I think.
  Its interesting looking at their branding, doesn't look like it changed much from the mid 2000s.
I’d only ever go to one in an airport because it’s usually the only place past security in the domestic terminals. Didn’t actually realise they had stores elsewhere.
I recall they sold their microwave meals on the intercity trains for an arm and a leg...

14 comments