Goodness Gracious, it's time for a bagel

Goodness Gracious is a cafe that started in 2014 here in Tāmaki Makaurau. With their iconic bagels, friendly team and multiple locations they've become a huge part of Auckland Hospitality.

There is something very comforting about the humble bagel which Goodness Gracious has nailed. Whether you’re sitting in or grabbing one of their bagel kits to takeaway you won’t be disappointed.

Goodness Gracious was one of the first customers here at decent packaging, which is pretty special to us. We were lucky enough to chat with founder Greg about all things Goodness Gracious, Bagels, go-to playlists and more…

Hey Greg, thanks for chatting with me. Can you please tell me about Goodness Gracious and how it started?

At its inception, GG was a cumulation of 15 years of ambition to have a hospitality business subsequently turning into 15 years of industry experience. I set out to develop an unpretentious space with an accessible and tasty product delivered with a high level of attention and care.

All of your bagels sound amazing. How do you come up with each combination on your menu? 

We drew on the experience of both myself and our head chef Steph Ahdo to create a menu that was antipodean in nature and that would work with the demographic of our first neighbourhood. The bagels were a great capsule and worked with our tight space. We looked at combinations that had been received well looking to tweak and improve on them as well as coming up with a few “interest” items. It involved a research trip to Melbourne, some café hopping and a great week of product testing at home!

Tough questions, what’s your go-to bagel currently?

Currently on the Kransky – It’s the house made sauces with the Westmere butchers touch with makes this a winner.

What does your day to day Goodness Gracious music playlist include?

A lot of hip hop new school, old school and everything in-between.

How did you come up with the idea of creating bagel kits? Such a great idea! Especially for our Level 3 picnics.

Out of necessity – within the first lockdown and realising that there were likely more restrictive trading conditions to come, we looked at ways to continue to deliver our product. It was a great way for people to still engage with our brand and not miss out on their GG bagel fix, while still adhering to the government health directives. So it was pleasing to be able to deliver these as they’ve become a great product of ours in their own right and are now a mainstay of our online retail store.

What have been your highlights so far since opening your first Goodness Gracious?

The whole thing has been a trip. Through all the trials and tribulations I wouldn’t change a thing.  In the first instance seeing the café flourish and being able to go on and open a couple more stores has been super satisfying.  Hospitality has always been a challenging industry at the best of times and maybe more so in the current and recent environment - coupled with this coming February being our eighth anniversary, simply being here and being able to continue at this point leaves us feeling very grateful.

We’re stoked that you use our packaging! What made you decide to use compostable packaging for your takeaway options?

We were/are decents first customer! Tony was a friend of mutual friends. After a couple of conversations, it was easy to see that he was going to be a leader in this field. The product meets all our requirements and desire to be a better business so, it was a great fit. It was a great synergy to be involved in each other’s journey early on. 

Lastly, can you please run us through all your locations for our customers to visit?

Eden Terrace, 2A New North Road

Parnell, Shop 10, 109-115 St Georges Bay Road

Takapuna, Unit B 72 Taharoto Rd,  Goodside Food Precinct, Smales Farm, Takapuna