The Bowling Club Dunedin is $4 Lunch’s hot new friend. Though the joint is a bit far from campus, partners Jackie and Liam have set up a reliable, delicious eatery for anyone, no matter your price range.
When we got there, the line was nearly out the door. And it wasn’t hard to see why: for just $4, patrons can choose a well-rounded main (with plenty of veggie options), one of two desserts, and a drink. This week the menu ran through curry, smashed potatoes with mint and feta, focaccia with hummus and salad, and a cauliflower polenta bake - and there’s always mac ‘n cheese.
The physical shop has been open in Caversham for about a month, following an experiment with a food truck earlier in the year. The truck was popular, too popular for its own good. The tiny kitchen made for long queues, which wasn’t ideal for families. “If we wanted to continue, we needed a more suitable environment,” explained Jackie. “It was a bit risky. People told us it was a bad idea to grow this quickly, but so far it feels pretty good. We’ll see what happens.”
And it’s working. Despite completely overturning assumptions of how a business needs to run, the kitchen is chugging along. “It's not like the food industry inherently stops people from doing [stuff like this], because we're doing it,” said Liam. “We haven’t had any giant barriers.”
Liam explained that the biggest challenge, besides logistics, is people’s mindsets and how they think a kitchen needs to operate financially. “Their mindset is that we’re stupid kids who don't know what we're doing. That we have to charge 20 bucks for a main to make money. But you don't actually have to do that…you just keep working through problems as they come up.”
Jackie agreed, saying, “You kinda have to deconstruct the traditional way we think about businesses and how they run, and I think for a lot of people it's not easy to confront that, to sort out all the nitty gritty details of how things could be different.”
“A lot of people think ‘it's a bad idea, it's not gonna work’. They assume we're a charity and that the people who work here are volunteers,” said Jackie. “People don't really take you that seriously. So it makes you feel a little crazy, like is what you're doing actually real?” But it certainly is real - just ask any of the dozens of people packed into their shop. Liam has been working in kitchens for ages, including some fine-dining restaurants across the ditch. The food is as real as it is tasty.
The whole operation was inspired by J-Ma’s 4$ lunch at OUSA: hearty, healthy food that brings people together from all walks of life. “I used to volunteer there,” said Liam. “So I was like, this is a pretty cool idea, why don't people do this outside of uni? At $4, you can't buy groceries to cook a meal for yourself. And it’s such a great way to bring people together, over food.”
You can check out The Bowling Club at 337 South Road or online at dunedinbowlingclub.com. Their service is open from 3:30-8pm, and it always slaps.