Joe finn

Born and raised in the UK, Joe emigrated to New Zealand with his family when he was 10 years old. Passionate about food and always keen to lend in hand in the kitchen while growing up, Joe learnt how to cook and interpret recipes from his Mum, creating delicious food for his family and friends.

Joe has always loved cooking with chicken, especially chicken wings as he believes they are an underrated cut, often a menu filler without too much thought given to their preparation. Joe’s goal was to change this mind-set and champion wings with his perfected recipe for frying and saucing.

Having spent some time in the USA where chicken wings are well-known and loved, Joe came up with The Wing Project.  His idea was to create an eatery in Auckland where you can get great wings every time along with sauces that compliment them.

With no experience in starting a food business, Joe worked on perfecting his recipes and trying to cost it all out.  Looking for help to take his business to the next stage, he came across The Kitchen Project.

“I am so pleased I applied for The Kitchen Project as the programme has been unbelievably helpful, supportive and informative, especially with the opportunity to use a shared commercial kitchen which can be the vital missing link when trying to start a food business.”

With a full-time job and 2 young children, the time commitment for running a business has been a challenge for Joe, although the support of his cohort has been a key highlight.

“The Kitchen Project team and my fellow entrepreneurs are so supportive that it is a huge morale boost each time we meet. There have been times when I felt the pressure of other things taking my time in life, and the business process has had to take a back seat, but every time we get together, I’m invigorated to keep pushing to reach each of my milestones.”

Joe’s vision for The Wing Project is to eventually have a restaurant where Joe can test new creations in his kitchen and customers can enjoy the best chicken wings in the city.